My letter to the Black Church

Dr

Igrew up in a big Black-majority church called Trinity Baptist Church. I learned only a few years ago that this Ghanaianmajority church, which had raised me into a young Black woman, was the largest Baptist church in the UK. (Incredible!)

Even though it was a large church, to me, it wasn’t just for Sunday services; it was community, it was family. It was the aunties who did my hair in their salons on Saturdays; the uncle who was also my dentist; the people who picked me up after school or looked after me for a couple of weeks during the summer holidays; it was individuals who became my tutors at Saturday schools; and those who became my private tutors ahead of my GCSEs and A-levels.

I remember the significance of the prayer meetings, the watchnight services, the annual church trips to the beach… All these elements played a huge part in shaping who I am today. ‘It takes a village to raise a child’ and that church was my village. This communal living — deeply biblical and exemplified by the early Church — was yet another form of resistance against an inherently individualistic society, and alienated people, who looked like me, were being taught another way.

October is Black History Month and I am so proud of us! We should be proud. Looking at wider society in the 1950s, there were only 20,000 non-Europeans living in the UK (that’s tough!). Today, that number is well over 2.5 million and that specifically relates to just people of African Caribbean heritage. The recent 2021 census recorded us as the largest

Black-majority

proportion of UK ethnic minorities, accounting for 4% of the total UK population. It’s beautiful to see that, over the decades and despite the heavy systemic injustices rigged against us, we have grown in number and continue to make significant contributions to the UK in so many fields. If no one else will celebrate this, we must!

Faith has played a significant role in the lives of Black folks. Whilst large parts of the UK Church have been in decline, we have continued to expand.

The Black Church has been the bedrock of the Black community in so many ways — even filling the gaps of governmental support wherever needed. For example, when UK banks, fuelled by racist schemes and processes, refused to open accounts and grant loans to Black people and churches, the late Rev Carmel Jones pioneered and founded the Pentecostal Credit Union. This wasn’t just a financial solution, but a form of resistance. In a way, he was saying: “If you won’t invite us to the table, we’ll create our own tables,” and we really have and continue to create our own tables. Churches have established everything from Saturday schools to communal funeral care support and Street Pastors; we have taken care of each other.

The Black Church has so many strengths (community, prayer, entrepreneurship, and much more) that should not be buried under the banner of unity, but rather brought to the table as an offering to strengthen the UK Church as a whole. When the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 12, encourages us to be ‘one body’, he emphasises that the body is made up of differing parts. I want to see more of our phenomenal leaders as keynote speakers in non-Black spaces, teaching on how they built communities, businesses and ministries. They have so much to offer.

Today, the landscape of the Black Church in the UK is wide, with many different types of churches within established church denominations. Included herein are Caribbean churches that started post-Windrush, African churches and denominations, Black-led multi-ethnic churches, and now the emergence of the Black British churches. As young leaders take up leadership roles within these spaces and pioneer new communities, it is crucial we do not forget the incredible legacy laid by former pioneers, but rather build upon it.

This Black History Month, take time to listen and share their stories to others in your generation. Find innovative ways to tell them to future generations. We have a wealth of history in our denominations and churches — like the New Testament Church of God (celebrating its 70th anniversary this year), the Redeemed Christian Church of God (RCCG), Church of God of Prophecy (COGOP), Ruach City Church, New Wine, Kingsway International Christian Centre (KICC), The Church of Pentecost UK — which have served multiple generations of families over decades. Neither can we forget the leaders who have led in other denominations, like the Church of England, the Baptist Church and the Methodist Church. This beautiful legacy and rich culture must not be abandoned as we reimagine the way forward; we must take these treasures along with us.

Big love, L