Church forests: the Gospel in trees?
Today I want to share a fascinating story of Christian celebration of biodiversity. In the highlands of Ethiopia, circular church buildings are surrounded by patches of the forest that once covered the landscape. Varying from less than a hectare up to thousands, these forests host a wide diversity of both animals and plants, and include individual trees hundreds of years old. But as farming has intensified, the church forests have been shrinking and their regeneration is threatened by cattle grazing.