Who we are - [test] A Rocha USA

Who We Are

We are Christians doing Conservation.

A Rocha USA is a national community of Christians working in biodiversity conservation to protect and restore vulnerable habitats, species, and communities. We are part of a worldwide family of A Rocha organizations spanning more than 20 countries, with a 40-year history of caring for creation. Our name means ‘the rock’ in Portugese (our first initiative was a field study center in Portugal).

We envision a day when Christians and churches are fully engaged in creation care as part of our faithful discipleship and witness.

Mission: To live out God’s calling to care for creation and equip others to do likewise.

Vision: Christians and churches in the US fully engaged in caring for creation as part of their discipleship and witness.

A Rocha's 5 Cs

In all the countries where we work, A Rocha us identified by five distinctive commitments:

Christian

We follow Jesus Christ, who created the world and calls us to care for it.

Conservation

We protect and restore nature and are committed to local places and people over the long term.

Community

We invest in good relationships through our commitment to God, one another, and the wider creation.

Cultural Diversity

We celebrate the insights, perspectives, and solutions offered by our diverse cultures.

Collaboration

We seek to work with anyone who shares our mission.

We are Christian.

A Rocha's work is a response to God's love for the whole creation, revealed in the Bible and personally in Jesus Christ. As people we share a common Christian cultural heritage and interest in conservation, and do this out of the conviction that Christ is Lord. This makes us both grateful and hopeful. We believe we are called by Christ to the work, reflected in the methods we use. We pray for each other, encourage each other using the Bible, and the main objective of all our work is to give glory to God.

We speak beyond the church.

We are credible advocates for conservation beyond the church. While A Rocha is distinctively Christian, we choose not to speak exclusively to Christian audiences. We are working to show God's love to all creation, including people. Worldwide we work in many local contexts, so our projects reflect a great diversity of cultures, communities, ecosystems, and approaches. Our aim is that they are all characterized by good science and good biblical theology, by healthy involvement in local communities and local churches, and by being prepared to work alongside others who may not always share our beliefs. We work with nature, live out our convictions, and seek to communicate the significance of this to many audiences.

We are diverse.

In the context of the emerging realities of globalization and exclusion, A Rocha celebrates mutual relationships within a large number of A Rocha national organizations. We work not only with a diversity of local habitats and species, but also with a diversity of cultures. Our trustees and professional employees have a diversity of languages and national and ethnic backgrounds that is important to the effectiveness of our work. Our emphasis on community leads us to value both our exchange of worldwide perspectives and our learning from one another.

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