Blog

Weekly Blog - 11 October 2025 - Good Money Sunday

In this guest blog we hear from a good friend of Arise, Sarah Edwards, Director, Just Money Movement about how our pensions could make the world fairer and more sustainable, bringing God’s kingdom closer.

 

Sunday 12 October is being marked across the UK as Good Money Sunday

One of the readings in the lectionary for this Sunday is Jeremiah 29:1, 4-7. In this passage, the prophet Jeremiah is writing from Jerusalem to the leaders of those who are exiled in Babylon.

For a people longing to return home, Jeremiah’s message from God must have been hard to hear. Settle down, build houses, plant gardens. Put down roots and prepare to make this your home.

In doing so, God also calls them to pray for the place that they live, for its peace and prosperity. Their priority for this generation – and perhaps generations to come – is to seek the welfare of a strange land and to make it their home. 

Settling down, building houses, planting gardens – these investments in the future, whether in a strange land or not, are out of the reach of many of our neighbours, locally and globally. Inequality is deepening, and escalating conflicts and the climate crisis are putting people’s lives and livelihoods at risk.

If we do have the resources to put down roots and think about the future – if we have a decent pension, or savings for a rainy day – we are in a privileged position. 

There is £3 trillion in UK pensions. UK pension funds are significant investors in fossil fuel assets and companies linked to deforestation, threatening the security of today’s savers and future generations. What would it look like for pension funds to invest in a more hopeful future? 

 

What if the money in our pensions system worked for good instead?

Our pensions could be used to invest in clean energy, support green jobs, and build a more just and sustainable economy.

At JustMoney Movement, we want to see a larger, more diverse movement of Christians, alongside people of all faiths and none, acting to ensure money is used for good, and that includes where our pensions are invested. We can take action through our own financial decisions, like choosing an ethical pension fund.  

But individual choices aren’t enough. We need big, bold, system-wide change. That’s why we’ve joined the Better Pensions Coalition, an alliance of civil society groups and trade unions calling on the government’s pension reforms to:  

  • Deliver decent pensions for all;
  • Fund a just transition to a thriving low-carbon economy; and
  • Phase out investment in fossil fuels, deforestation and other destructive activities. 

Climate change and nature destruction are huge threats to our future security. Keeping investments in fossil fuel holdings is not only harmful – it’s financially risky. Only 4% of pension assets are currently invested in climate solutions.  We urgently need to see money move away from fossil fuel expansion into sectors that shape a safer, more sustainable world.

 

Pension Schemes Bill

We have a key opportunity now in the Pension Schemes Bill, currently about to enter Report stage in Parliament. The Bill aims to bring in new legislation to invest more of our pension savings into the UK economy to support national growth. But so far, it doesn’t address the climate and environmental crisis that threatens all of us.  

JustMoney Movement and the Better Pensions Coalition are calling for the Pension Schemes Bill to be amended to: 1) require pension funds to divest from thermal coal abroad and 2) introduce a review mechanism for further fossil fuel divestment over time. 

Help us strengthen the movement for greener, fairer pensions as part of your response to Good Money Sunday.  Sign the petition for Better Pensions and Write to your MP today.

 

You and your church could also:

  • Use our worship resources to plan a Good Money service – at any time of year!       
  • Explore how you connect your faith and your finances.
  • Discover other actions you can take, like switching to a greener bank.
  • Pray for a fairer, greener use of money by churches, businesses, banks and investors. Here’s an example prayer you can use:

Loving God,
When we meet you in your Word,
and in the lives of neighbours and strangers,
we are challenged to respond.
May we live with openness to your calling.
To share generously,
To serve humbly,
To invest our time and our resources in pursuit of your justice,
and to sow seeds of peace, seeking the welfare of all.
Send us out with grateful hearts,
remembering your faithfulness.
Send us out in your Spirit,
to seek the welfare of the people and places around us,
until your Kingdom comes.
Amen.

 

Find out more

Arise Manifesto – Find out more about the roles of investment, businesses, governments and households in the Arise Manifesto, Arise’s big picture, researched, Biblical, holistic and practical vision for a fair, sustainable, and nearly perfect world. 

Take action – It’s important to read about and better understand these issues, and to take action.  Sign up to receive monthly actions from Arise that you can take by yourself, or better still with others in a local church group near you.

Latest news – Latest news from the Arise movement.

Sign up – Found this blog online, or sent it by a friend?  Sign up to receive weekly blogs from Arise directly.

Join The Movement!  Sign up here