Sustainable Development and the Church.
By: Eli Pettersen
Tags: Human Rights, Gospel, UN, Sdgs, Jesus

This semester I've been taking part in a block course with U21 x Common Purpose, with a focus on leadership development vis-à-vis the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. This kōrero is a quick reflection following my first week on what I did not personally expect to be such an impactful side quest.

The SDGs are not brand new, having been agreed upon in 2015 (around the same time as the Paris Agreement on Climate Change) with a target year of 2030. In short, they're a set of goals seeking to achieve success in 17 different issue areas facing the world (like sanitation, poverty, and gender equality). Although each goal is independent, they're supposed to be taken on holistically. I'm really only a beginner in understanding the goals myself, however I do naturally have some reflections on their connection to local churches and the wider church. Bear in mind, reader, that I am a church member, not a church leader; I welcome any criticism!

The history of rights thinking goes back a long way, and in the West we stereotypically center ourselves in the story. We often use Athenian democracy as a point of origin for rights discourse, but sideline oral histories and perspectives of indigenous and religious groups who have longstanding rights perspectives. For me, decolonizing my mindset is an ongoing personal challenge. Regardless, for Christians the idea of rights originates from two words: imago Dei. We are not a part of God's creation on equal standing with the flora and fauna, but we have been made in the image of God. For that reason, as 'image-bearers' humans have a special relationship to and with our 'image-giver', and we are imbued with dignity, worth, and value (this is not to imply, by the way, that the rest of creation is of little value to God). David sings in Psalm 8,

"What are mere mortals that you should think about them; human beings, that you should care for them? Yet, you made them only a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor. You gave them charge of everything you made."

We are so valued, in fact, that God in Jesus died to cover all the things we do to dishonor the image of God in each other. Our mistreatment and disrespect of one another's humanity is the mistreatment and disrespect of the image of God in one another. Inversely, to honor and love other humans is to honor and love the image of God in one another. It is imago Dei that forms human dignity, and it is human dignity that forms the foundation for human rights.

Because of our call to uphold the dignity of others (as well as reconcile and redress past wrongs), churches are specially-placed to partner with global organizations and governments in sustainable development, particularly in areas where we have shared goals. Of course, the Christian challenge is to adopt these aspirations with the Gospel at the core; that is to say, we scrutinize, adapt, and adopt secular human rights objectives if and only if they are compatible with God's heart for humanity.

As it turns out, they generally are. Goal 1 challenges us to eradicate poverty everywhere. Goal 2 aims to end hunger. Goal 3 aims to promote health and wellbeing. Goal 4 aims to promote education. Goal 5 aims to empower women and end discrimination of women and girls. Goal 6 aims to provide clean water and sanitation. Goal 7 aims to steward the Earth's finite resources and provide clean energy. Goal 8 aims to promote strong labor laws and economic growth sustainably. Goal 9 aims to build resilience into our infrastructure. Goal 10 aims to narrow the gaps of inequality. Goal 11 aims to build resilience into our cities and communities, making them stronger and safer. Goal 12 aims to consume and produce sustainably and responsibly. Goal 13 aims to protect creation through climate change action. Goal 14 aims to steward wisely the resources of the sea. Goal 15 aims to steward wisely the resources of the land. Goal 16 aims to seek justice and strengthen the ways we do so. And Goal 17 aims to strengthen partnerships to make all of these things happen.

It may be the case that we need to adapt the specific targets and indicators to church environments, but this is an awesome and practical way to show the world what we're for. What I'd love to see is churches and church associations creating their own tangible sustainability plans, rooted in scripture, and showing the world that we are ready and willing to invest our hearts, time, energy, and finances to play our part to holistically accelerate our way towards these goals.

The world is generally doing well to progress towards the goals, albeit slower than necessary to hit the 2030 targets. However, one area where the world is doing poorly and actually regressing in many places is in SDG 16: peace and justice. Again, Christians are well-placed to advance this goal given Micah 6:8.

This will take all people in the church to develop robust plans. Churches will need to embrace the enthusiasm and passion of their youth, and the wisdom, stability, and experience of their old. They will need the leadership of their pastors, the guidance of their elders, the direction of their deacons, the support of their staff, and the gifts of their congregations. But I am encouraged and have faith that through Christ, we can make a real impact in an area relevant to every human being and show them what the love of Jesus looks like in practice.

I'll finish with this whakaaro from the President of North American Baptist Fellowship Jim Hill,