The Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, the world launched a set of goals which would “leave no one behind” in their ambition of ending poverty and hunger, ensuring healthy lives, education, clean water, sanitation, energy and decent work for all, while caring for the environment. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide “a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet, now and into the future”, which all 189 member states of the United Nations signed up to.
Read more: the world in the 21st Century
The Anglican Communion and the SDGs
Across the Anglican Communion, churches and agencies have long been engaged in many and varied activities working towards sustainable development, ending poverty, protecting creation, tackling violence and injustice—activities activated by God and pursued for the common good. Such action is grounded in our Christian faith and articulated in the Anglican Marks of Mission. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that many Christians discern “the footprints of Christ” in the Sustainable Development Goals, with their commitment that no one is left behind.
In May 2019, the Anglican Consultative Council passed a resolution recognising “the urgency and global significance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals” and encouraging all “Member Churches and agencies of the Anglican Communion, in the context of their own holistic mission, to continue and extend their contribution to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through both delivery and advocacy.” (Resolution A17:11).
The world in the 21st century is a place of profound inequalities. Chronic poverty and injustice limit people’s capacity to flourish. The Anglican Communion can help change this with intentional, strategic action that is grounded in our faith and the Five Marks of Mission and inspired by the transformative vision of Agenda 2030 for sustainable development.
Re-imagining Our World Together
Re-imagining Our World Together is a set of Contextual Bible Studies which seek to set up a conversation between the Anglican Marks of Mission and the Sustainable Development Goals. They aim to help Anglicans throughout the Communion explore both – always through a deep engagement with Scripture and always rooted in the lived reality of the participants. The Bible studies were developed by the Anglican Alliance at the request of the Anglican Primates and written by a group of theologians and development practitioners from across the world. Click on the image above or click here to view the resource.