Preface
When the Possessor of heaven and earth brought you into being, and placed you in this world, [God] placed you here not as a proprietor, but a steward: As such [God] entrusted you, for a season, with goods of various kinds; but the sole property of these still rests in [God], nor can be alienated from [God]. As you yourself are not your own, but [God’s], such is, likewise, all that you enjoy (John Wesley, "The Use of Money").
As United Methodists, we profess that all we are and all that we possess, belong to God. We are temporary stewards of the resources and material goods that we have accumulated. In our financial dealings and relationships no less than other aspects of discipleship, we are compelled to serve God and neighbor in all we do.
Few biblical themes are as prominent or as numerous as the scriptural injunctions to stand in solidarity with “the least of these,” including the poor, the orphan, the widow, the stranger, and all other vulnerable members of society (Amos 5:7–13; Matt. 25:3–46; James 2:15–16). Accordingly, we pledge ourselves to the establishment of just, equitable, and sustainable economies that work for all.
Contents
Economic Challenges
We believe that global cooperation often contributes to human and environmental flourishing. However, we lament that globalization has created significant obstacles to achieving economic justice in too many instances. Globalization is marked by the growing integration of national economies and the emergence of multinational corporations that play an outsize role in global market systems.
While globalization undoubtedly has provided certain financial and other benefits, it has also undermined established wage and labor standards, weakened environmental protections, and accelerated the concentration of the world’s wealth in the hands of a relative few. Additionally, globalization has increased overconsumption due to the ready access of cheaper goods and has undermined indigenous land rights in a rush to acquire raw materials necessary for expanded production.
As a church, we recognize the importance of creating just, equitable, and sustainable economies that benefit all members of society, especially marginalized and vulnerable peoples. Further, because globalization transcends the capacity of any single individual, community or government to manage, we call on international bodies, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the International Monetary Fund, and others, to hold multinational corporations and national governments accountable to provide for economies that promote people over profits and protect the environment.
B. Poverty and Income Inequality
As United Methodists, we follow in the footsteps of our founder, John Wesley, who sought to improve the lives of those who suffered from debilitating conditions such as poverty, starvation, illiteracy, imprisonment, slavery, addictions and disease.
We decry the widening gap between the rich and the poor and the concentration of wealth in the hands of ever smaller percentages of the global population. We lament that too many of the world’s people lack the basic resources necessary for survival and pledge ourselves to work toward the eradication of the roots and effects of poverty. We further lament the multiple causes of poverty, such as war, famine, diseases and desertification.
We reject religious teachings that view the accumulation of wealth as a sign of God’s favor and poverty as a sign of God’s disfavor. We confess that we have not always heeded the words of Jesus, who preached good news to people living in poverty, taught that they were not far from God’s coming reign, and challenged the rich young man to give up all that he had to follow him (Luke 6:20; Matt. 19:23–25).
We commit ourselves to be in active ministry with impoverished communities by sharing the good news of Jesus Christ and by supporting their efforts to secure equal opportunities and meet human needs, including food, water, health care and education. We reject preferential treatment in the church on the basis of wealth and income. We also commit to work toward eradicating unjust practices, policies, and systems that have condemned entire generations to live in unrelenting poverty.
C. Human Trafficking and Slavery
We condemn human trafficking and slavery as profound violations of the inherent dignity and worth of every person and of their fundamental rights related to autonomy, including the ability of every individual to make personal life choices. We understand slavery to be a repudiation of the basic Christian understanding that all people are created in the image of God.
Human trafficking entails the buying and selling of human beings for purposes of forced or indentured labor, including private and commercial sexual exploitation. We consider such trafficking to be abhorrent because it violates basic human rights and exploits the vulnerabilities of the weakest members of society. Those who are especially vulnerable include minor children and women, migrants, displaced people and others living in poverty.
We support the abolition of human trafficking and slavery of any kind. We commit ourselves to work toward the elimination of the social and economic inequities that provide fertile ground for the flourishing of these evils. We also reject the practice of using enslaved, indentured, imprisoned or coerced laborers in extractive industries or in the production of commercial goods. We urge individuals, families, congregations, and retailers to practice socially responsible consumerism by educating themselves about the sources of labor and the working conditions involved in production processes.
D. Graft, Bribery and Corruption
We oppose graft, bribery, and other forms of corruption as breaches of the public trust and impediments to the creation of just and equitable societies. We deplore the involvement of government officials, business executives, church leaders, and other people of authority in these practices, not only because of their illegality but because such practices erode public confidence in legitimate forms of authority. Additionally, they subvert basic principles related to equality under the law and serve as obstacles to establishing just and equitable economies. The consequence is the diversion of public funding and manipulation of public contracts that undermine projects and services that could benefit the entire society.
Economic Justice
I entreat you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, act up to the dignity of your calling! No more sloth! Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with your might! No more waste! Cut of every expense which fashion, caprice, or flesh and blood demand! No more covetousness! But employ whatever God has entrusted you with, in doing good, in every possible kind and degree to the household of faith, to all people! (John Wesley, "The Use of Money")
Our commitment to achieving economic justice is rooted in the covenantal understanding that God’s creation is meant to be shared by all humans and sentient beings. Just as the oikos or household served as the heart of the economy in ancient times, our belief in the inclusive nature of God’s global household motivates our pursuit of just, equitable, and sustainable economies.
As members of God’s oikos and followers of Jesus, who taught that we must “give to those who ask and not turn away from those who want to borrow,” we embrace our charge to share the abundance of God’s creation in just and equitable ways (Matt. 5:42). We, therefore, urge governments, businesses and civic associations to ensure that individuals, families and communities not only survive, but also thrive.
Socially responsible consumerism is critical in life today. We urge individuals, families, and congregations to adopt life habits that reduce unnecessary waste, promote just and equitable compensation, promote sustainability, and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.
We urge consumers to exercise their economic power to encourage the manufacture of goods that are beneficial to humankind while avoiding those produced through exploitative labor practices. We support peaceful and nonviolent efforts, including boycotts, letter-writing campaigns, appeals to stockholders and divestiture, as effective means of expressing collective dissatisfaction with companies that engage in unjust or harmful practices. We also call upon stockholders and employees to exercise their moral agency by seeking to influence corporate policies. When such actions are necessary, we urge that they be in alignment with the teachings of the Gospel and the church’s commitment to the dignity and worth of all beings.
In recognition that developed nations now consume the vast majority of the world’s natural resources, we also support international policies and cooperative efforts aimed at producing economies that are more just and that promote human flourishing.
B. Farming and Agricultural Production
The emphasis placed on the necessity of “daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. 6:11) serves as a crucial reminder of the importance of daily sustenance and the crucial roles that farming and other forms of agricultural production play in meeting the nutritional needs of a rapidly expanding global population. We, therefore, call for the establishment of policies and practices to guarantee the safety and security of these lifelines and to ensure that the decision-making related to agricultural production, and the benefits of that production, are open to all.
We support local and family farms and appreciate their value in feeding the vast majority of the world’s population. We deplore the growing monopolization of the means of agricultural production by corporations and large agribusinesses. These monopolies raise significant concerns about the loss of local input and decision-making power, and accelerate the degradation of ecosystems, including soil, water and forests.
Large agribusinesses, in particular, have exacerbated practices that reserve the best lands for the exclusive production of exportable crops, rather than using those resources to feed local populations. They also have accelerated the depletion of the soil through monocultural farming, increased the release of methane gas by livestock, contributed to environmental degradation, and exposed workers to unsafe levels of pesticides and herbicides.
We endorse measures that protect the continued operation of local, family, and communal farms and call for the elimination of government programs that disproportionately benefit large corporations and agribusinesses. We support efforts to restore local input and decision-making regarding the use of land, the production of crops, the raising of livestock, and the protection of local habitats in hopes that this will enable local communities to reap more of the benefits of farming and other forms of agricultural production.
We urge farmers, large and small, to engage in sustainable practices that preserve the integrity of the food chain, ensure that farmworkers and other laborers are justly compensated, and protect the natural environment.
We believe in the dignity of work, not merely as a means of subsistence, but as a way for individuals to contribute to the flourishing of their families and contribute to the common good. This afrmation of the dignity of work leads us to support the right to safe and secure working conditions, free from health and safety hazards. We also endorse the establishment and enforcement of policies that guarantee workers fair and equitable compensation, sometimes referred to as a living wage. We recognize that full employment is a distant dream in many communities and cultures and, in such situations, the challenges in establishing workers’ rights are significant. Still, the church advocates for the fair and decent treatment of workers and supports policies that expand opportunities for more people to find meaningful work with just compensation and benefits.
We oppose the widespread reliance on child labor, which forces children under the age of 18 to relinquish their childhoods and forgo educational opportunities, and instead to work in commercial agriculture, industrial manufacturing or extractive industries.
We support workers’ freedom of association, including their rights to organize unions, to engage in collective bargaining, and to protest both unsafe working conditions and unjust employment policies and practices. We also support workers’ right to strike. We reject efforts to permanently replace workers engaged in strikes or to make organized work stoppages illegal.
We support measures that limit the length of both the workday and workweek and endorse policies that guarantee every worker paid time of, including but not limited to sick time and bereavement leave, opportunities to vote and carry out other civic duties, holiday or vacation time, and parental leave for those caring for newborns or newly adopted children.
We recognize Sabbath as a gift of God for all people, remembering that God rested on the seventh day of Creation (Genesis 2:2; Exodus 20:8-11). We affirm the importance of taking time away from work to rest and renew the mind, body, and spirit, engage in play and recreation, and serve the needs of our communities. We further affirm that Sabbath is also a time to provide rest for others in the human community.
We encourage all United Methodists to honor the Sabbath by actively participating in the worship life of a local congregation. We urge governments and businesses to promote policies and practices that allow people of all religious faiths to take ample time away from work to engage in worship, renewal and fellowship opportunities.
We believe that corporations and businesses, like all other human institutions, are charged with doing good, promoting equity and justice, and making positive contributions to communal life. Rather than merely producing profits for their shareholders, we believe corporations and businesses have significant roles to play in promoting the social and economic health and welfare of society.
We call on corporations and businesses to place people above profits and to observe the highest ethical standards in conducting their business. We, therefore, urge corporate leaders and stockholders to comply with all laws, regulations, and international accords related to the defense of the environment, the safety and security of the workplace, and the guarantee of basic rights.
We lament the long history of injustice and of violations of formal treaties and agreements. We hold corporations, businesses, and governments responsible for any violations or infringements of the rights and lands of individuals and communities and commit ourselves to advocate and work for justice.
We commend socially responsible investment as an important mechanism to hold corporations accountable for promoting the common good. We, therefore, urge individuals, families, congregations, and other church bodies to educate themselves about the use of their investment funds and to leverage their economic clout by mandating the redirection of their funds from industries that negatively impact people or the environment. After all other avenues have been exhausted, other effective strategies include direct dialogue, joint shareholder actions, and boycott and divestment efforts.
From The Book of Discipline of The United Methodist Church - 2020/2024. Copyright 2024 by The United Methodist Publishing House. Used by permission.
