The Sustainability Goals and the Gospel are One

"As a mission organisation, can you please stop taking political positions and not constantly talking about sustainability goals. Concentrate instead on proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ."

The person I was talking to referred to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which aim to make the world fairer and more equitable for all people by 2030. I was happy to respond to this person's request by pointing him to the Bible:

"Break your bread with the hungry." (Isaiah 58:7).
"If your brother beside you is impoverished and can no longer support himself, you shall take care of him as of a stranger or a sojourner, so that he may live beside you." (Exodus 25:35).
"Jesus says: Heal the sick." (Matthew 10:8).
"There is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:28).

Do you need more testimonies from the Holy Scriptures to realise that the sustainability goals are not an invention of man, but go back to God's Word itself? And yes, if you call them political, then God himself is political. He has entrusted this earth to us so that it is a living space for all people. They should be able to move freely and without worrying about tomorrow. As Christians, we have failed in the fulfilment of this mission across the board.

The man-made destruction of creation will be almost irreparable. Hatred of people who are different from the images I have formed and am comfortable with is the order of the day. It manifests itself in violence, even murder. Anyone who is prepared to share for the sake of a just world is portrayed as stupid. And no small part of this destructive power comes from people who claim to be followers of Jesus. Just read the pronouncements of the "Christians in the AfD". They have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the liberating love of Jesus Christ.

When Jesus says "I have come that people may have life in abundance" (John 10:10), then it is the mission of the mission to let other people share in this abundance. And it would be absurd and downright blasphemous to think that this promise of Jesus only refers to life after death. It can and should already happen here and now. Those who are convinced of this will organise their lives sustainably and will do so that others benefit as well. They will not allow their fellow human beings be deprived of their livelihood (and thus of the dignity that God has granted them) through war, injustice, hatred and exploitation. That is why life as a follower of Jesus is not an end in itself, but serves the common good.

And at the same time it is a dignity with which God honours us. After all, what could be better than helping to ensure that others are well? Anyone who has been freed to live through Jesus Christ will work for the freedom of others. But freedom without the goals set out in the Sustainable Development Goals is not freedom. That is why these goals are good and biblically based.

Thomas Wojciechowski