The Au Sable Idea

The boundaries of Au Sable Institute are the boundaries of the biosphere. The reach of its service is the whole Creation. It works with others to support and restore all creatures great and small. It integrates science, ethics, and praxis using the resources of multiple disciplines. It respects Creation as both teacher and evangelist. This is the Au Sable Idea.

Caring for Creation is everyone's business, everywhere. From individual homes to the household of the biosphere, every person and every institution is a steward of Creation, serving and being served by the creatures and processes that nurture and sustain us all. By serving creation and one another, we serve and glorify God.

Au Sable exists to be a servant, supporting the stewardship activities of others as they seek environmental integrity, restoration, reconciliation, and peace. Au Sable does nothing by itself or for itself. It serves the whole Creation by serving people and institutions. Professing God's love for the world, it is an offering to those who work collaboratively to image that love.

Thus, through its links to collaborating institutions and individuals, Au Sable's reach is as broad as the biosphere; its boundaries are those of all Creation; its service is to the whole Creation and all it contains.

Au Sable's support for those who serve and keep Creation most often takes the form of education. Caring for Creation is not a matter of science alone, or ethics alone, or practical action alone. To be responsible and effective, it requires all three. Thus, Au Sable integrates sound science and Biblical teaching in projects and programs that enable people to protect and restore Creation.

Creation itself is a complex functioning whole of people, plants, animals, natural systems, physical processes, social structures, and more, all of which are sustained by God's love and ordered by God's wisdom. Thus, Au Sable brings together the full range of disciplines - from chemistry to economics to marine biology to theology - that we need if we are to be good stewards of God's household.

Finally, as earthkeepers we have Creation itself as a collaborator. God has provided humans with the capacity to learn from Creation, so that we may order our lives in harmony with God's purposes for Creation. And God has provided Creation as the great evangelist, awakening humility, awe and wonder at the divine power and majesty. In its beauty and integrity, Creation itself praises and points to the One in whom all things are held together, the One who calls us to serve and keep the garden. Au Sable accordingly leads its students out of the laboratory and classroom and into the vast "University of Creation" where they can behold for themselves the wisdom and glory of God.