In advance of the Christian Economic Forum, the World Evangelical Alliance’s Business Coalition gathered a group of Christian financial leaders in St. Moritz (Switzerland) in order to strategise and discuss faith-based investment guidelines from an evangelical point of view.
In the sense of living in a broken world Christians have to emphasize their call to see God’s kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. A deep and sustainable impact on the economic, social, environmental, and spiritual health of the world will require a radical approach on how to steward and utilise resources.
Timo Plutschinski, International Director of the WEA Business Coalition, said: “Responding to the cry of the poor and the cry of creation is a biblical calling which evangelical business leaders can do something about through their investments.”
Already in October 2017, financial investors and religious leaders, who represent over 500 faith investment groups, eight religions, and approximately three trillion dollars in assets, met together with leaders of the United Nations for a unique international meeting on “Faith in Finance” in Zug, Switzerland.
Now, it was time to follow-up this discussion and to work on evangelical investment guidelines, define strategic investment targets, and to develop tools that could measure the full range of impact that evangelicals are concerned about, including spiritual transformation.
The Principles
Investment is the means of allocating capital to where it can be most productive for the flourishing of humankind and the earth to build and preserve. It is fundamentally a moral decision.
As Christian investors, we believe:
- Scriptural wisdom and God speaking to us influences the way in which we invest.
- Acknowledge that we have been privileged with significant wealth and power compared to the majority of our brothers and sisters worldwide.
- We recognise our redemptive role in partnering with God to establish His Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.
- Our assets are entrusted to us and we have a responsibility to act as God’s steward for current and future generations.
Therefore we will:
- Invest so as to promote human dignity, flourishing and reconciliation in Christ.
- Recognise the value of creation and our responsibility to care for and restore our natural environment.
- Acknowledge our duty of care and responsibility to prevent harm for the benefit of our families, communities, and nations.
- Demonstrate Christian distinctiveness (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self-control) while operating in the world.
- Reject unjust accumulation of wealth and exacerbation of inequality.
- Pursue excellence and value creation in investment.
- Act to influence our areas of responsibility.
- Intentionally measure our spiritual, economic, social, and environmental impact of our investments, both intended and unintended.
If you are interested in joining this initiative with further thoughts, ideas, hints, etc., please send an email to [email protected].
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