This thesis concerns the relationship between poverty and the environment in Mozambique, and the response that is required from the Church. It is a way to describe and analyse the situation, and also to provide possible strategies for the Church. The thesis begins by providing a general overview of the environmental crisis in Africa at present. Then, drawing on field-work in the Matutuine District of Mozambique, and making considerable use of the Sustainable Livelihoods Framework, it provides an indepth description and analysis of people's livelihood strategies, noting the strong link between poverty and the environment, and how there is a cause and effect relationship between them. In order for the Church to respond in an adequate fashion, the thesis provides theological resources for caring for the environment, and then ends with a range of strategies which the Church can be engaged in. The key findings of the thesis are that, given the immense vulnerability of the poor in Mozambique, households have very little access to human, social, financial and physical capital, and so are forced to rely upon the existing natural capital for survival. Livelihood strategies involve subsistence farming, charcoal production and hunting, all of which deplete the natural resource base, and yet there is no commitment to restore the base which provides these things. Thus these strategies are unsustainable and require a response from the church. The thesis concludes with a range of practical strategies for the Church including awakening people to their obligations as creatures on earth, being involved in holistic mission, responding to pollution, deforestation and land degradation, contributing to and enhancing existing livelihood strategies, contributing to food security, and supporting people in small scale farming practices. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

This thesis discusses issues relating to development, sin and salvation. It examines the development visions of the Millennium Declaration and NEPAD Documents and compares them with the values of the Kingdom of God. It identifies some lessons from the Millennium Declaration and NEPAD Documents, and the Kingdom of God for the Union Baptist Church of Mozambique. These lessons are to help the denomination as it involves itself in the mission of the Kingdom of God in the community in Mozambique. The thesis argues that there is a relationship between the visions of the Millennium Declaration and the NEPAD Documents, and the values of the Kingdom of God on a number of issues such as the issues of sickness, orphans, vulnerability, gender inequality, poverty, the poor, hunger, unemployment, oppression, exploitation, wars, crime, violence against women and children, injustice and corruption. The Kingdom of God is about love, health, well-being for all, care, justice, unity and solidarity; harmony, life, peace, freedom, restoration, acceptance, righteousness, community, and salvation that includes both spiritual and physical salvation of the whole person both now in this life before death and after death. However, the thesis argues that the eschatological aspect of the Kingdom of God helps us see that sin is deeply rooted in human life, and even our best efforts at development will not rid the world of sin. The Church therefore has to remind society of this deeper sin, and to proclaim the gospel of the forgiveness of sins, while struggling with the evidence of that sin in poverty, sickness, injustice and violence. The church, especially the Union Baptist Church of Mozambique, has to be a key player in striving for Kingdom values. The church is called to holistic and integral mission. It should take a leading role in the issues that concern our people and society today, because that is doing the will of God. The commandment to love our neighbour as we love ourselves has to be expressed through our participation in integral mission, which is concerned with all human beings and all God's creation. The shalom of the Kingdom has to be experienced by all, and the church must be the means through which shalom is realised. / Thesis (M.Th.)-University of KwaZulu- Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2004.