What are your views on the economic situation facing the nation and the world? What have you made of discussions in recent weeks around tariffs and globalisation? Such issues can often seem somewhat divorced from our Christian faith. And yet these are matters which affect all of us, every day, in many different ways.
At Evangelicals Now, one of the things we are interested in is “joined-up thinking” in relation to our faith and our world. In other words, if Christ is Lord of all, how does that Lordship affect every area of human life and thought? And that includes economics.
Distinctively evangelical thinking about economics is, it would seem, surprisingly scant. This is partly perhaps because, in general terms, economic forecasting is, if we are honest, both notoriously difficult and often wildly inaccurate.
Yet we should still try to think Biblically about these things. One evangelical paper (by Paul Mills, as part of the Cambridge Papers series, reproduced recently on the en website) argues that globalisation has lifted more people out of absolute poverty than at any previous time in history. It also highlights “welcome by-products of globalisation” such as easier communication and transport links, meaning transmission of the gospel has generally been easier.
It concludes: “The Bible has much to say about the path we should wish the process of globalisation to take. The potential for trade to benefit the poor is great but, too often, the rich do not play by the rules they insist that others respect.”
How might you apply the Scriptures to some of the world’s current economic battles and issues? And why?
Sing UP!
What is your church like at singing?Anecdotal evidence and the lived experience of many would seem to suggest that …