Trump, Naboth & Greenland

The world continues to be in ferment. Words written about events one moment can be immediately superseded by new developments the next. Often today such rapid changes in the news seem to revolve around the President of the US, Donald J Trump.

Among many other examples of an often Trump-centred world in flux, few would have predicted a short while ago that one of the countries making news in 2026 would be Greenland. Such is the unpredictable era in which we live.

But the unexpected emergence of Greenland as a news item can remind us of two things. First of all, it may help us think about the missional imperative of the gospel. We are called to “make disciples of all nations” – and that includes many lands to which we might not often give much thought, such as Greenland.

As we report elsewhere, gospel witness in that land seems limited at the moment. What about praying for mission in Greenland at your next church prayer gathering? Or in your church’s prayers when you meet this coming Sunday?

Secondly, the issue of Greenland reminds us as Evangelicals of the perils of becoming too closely aligned with any one political leader or movement. Donald Trump’s repeatedly expressed desire to “get” Greenland – even if, as of Thursday morning (22nd Jan), he appears to have retreated from it at least temporarily – has seemed to many to clearly contravene the commandment not to covet; the story of Naboth’s vineyard in 1 Kings 21 springs uncomfortably to mind.

The desire of many Evangelicals in the US to push back against decades of liberalism and unbiblical concepts of gender and relationships drove many, perhaps understandably, to support Trump and his brand of Republicanism in recent years.

At the same time, uncritical adulation of such a leader whose utterances often seem to contradict Scripture only brings dishonour to the gospel and the word “evangelical”. The gospel challenges all human political thinking – whether left or right, libertarian or authoritarian.

Let’s use the news to pray “Your Kingdom come” – that people may be saved, and that the Kingdom of Christ (rather than that of any passing political leader) may reign.