diversity

What does it mean to ‘Stick with Love’?

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Doug McHardie writes: Stick with Love is an Advent devotional book by Arun Arora. Arun was born in Birmingham to a Hindu mother and Sikh father, and studied and practiced law before being ordained. He was for some time Director of Communications in Church House, and is now bishop of Kirkstall in the Diocese of Leeds. I was … Continue Reading

Why should we welcome the stranger?

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I write a quarterly column for Preach magazine, in which I explore a significant word or phrase in the Bible and the ideas that it expresses. I have written for them on: the phrase ‘Word of God’ the theme of ‘Mission’ the meaning of ‘Apocalypse‘ the ministry of ‘Healing’, the question of ‘Welcome’, the biblical understanding … Continue Reading

Was Jesus black?

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One of the (several) highly contentious issues in the Church of England at the moment is the question of racism, its extent in the Church, and appropriate and effective responses to it. It has long been a question of interest to me, since soon after coming to faith I felt that God might be calling … Continue Reading

How can we create multicultural church?

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Greg Smith writes: Following the international emergence of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020, the recent publication of the UK government Sewell Report followed by the Church of England Lament into Action report into tackling institutional racism in the Church of England, there has been considerable debate in evangelical circles. Some of this has been … Continue Reading

How should the Church respond to race?

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Last week the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce published its report ‘From Lament to Action’ proposing a suite of changes to begin bringing about a change of culture in the life of the Church of England. A draft version of the report came to the Archbishops’ Council, so we knew the main proposals it would include. It … Continue Reading

Ethnic and social diversity in the early church

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A good deal of contemporary debate about the nature of the church, and the challenges to reverse decline in church attendance in the West, focussed on sociological questions of reaching different groups, defined by culture, ethnicity and social status. So, for example, in contemporary discussion in the Church of England, we talk about outer estates, … Continue Reading

How should evangelicals respond to racism?

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The Church of England Evangelical Council has this morning released a fascinating new video, One, on the theological and practical issues around racism. It involves five Anglican evangelicals from different ethnic and national backgrounds reflecting together, talking about Scripture and theology, and sharing their own different experiences. It is not surprising that much of the … Continue Reading

Is there ‘systemic racism’ in Britain? Two views (ii)

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In the second of two articles, David Shepherd responds to Will Jones’ argument in the previous post: For many people in the UK, any doubts about the existence of systemic racism were dispelled when, in 1999, after a two-year public inquiry, the highly respected retired High Court judge, Sir William MacPherson, published his eponymous report concerning the … Continue Reading

Is there ‘systemic racism’ in Britain? Two views (i)

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In the first of two articles, Will Jones writes: Systemic racism, according to those who campaign against it, is the disadvantage experienced by ethnic minorities on account of the bias, conscious and subconscious, that some people, particularly from the ethnic majority, have in respect of them. Even though racial discrimination in most contexts is unlawful, it … Continue Reading