Christianity and Economic Justice: Church Engagement with Labour Rights in Anambra State

Economic justice, particularly the rights of workers to fair wages, safe conditions, and equitable treatment, is a theologically grounded social concern that has received insufficient attention in Nigerian church discourse. This study examines how churches in Anambra State engage with labour rights and economic justice issues among their congregations and surrounding communities. A descriptive survey design was adopted, with questionnaires administered to 200 church members who are employed or operate small businesses, and interviews with ten pastors from Anglican, Catholic, Baptist, and Pentecostal churches in Awka, Onitsha, and Nnewi. Economic justice themes in church sermons were assessed through analysis of thirty recorded sermons. Findings indicate that economic justice is rarely addressed directly in church sermons, with only 14 percent of surveyed sermons containing explicit labour rights or economic fairness content. Church members overwhelmingly support the principle of worker dignity but receive minimal practical teaching on applying Christian values to employment relationships. Employer church members show significantly lower labour rights awareness than employee members. The study concludes that Anambra State churches largely neglect economic justice in their prophetic social engagement, and recommends a Social Justice Teaching Programme for Nigerian church leaders, drawing on the social doctrines of Catholic Social Teaching, the Reformed social gospel tradition, and Igbo communal ethics as a contextual theological resource.

Keywords: economic justice, labour rights, church teaching, Anambra State, South East Nigeria