Unity requires reconciliation

Some day – maybe sooner than we imagine – Christians from all cultures, ethnicities and languages will worship God together in Heaven.
The revelation to John (Rev 7 9-10) illuminates the ultimate ‘oneness’ of Christ’s passion for His bride – that fragmented, diverse and sometimes broken body of souls called church. Despite its factions, errors and monumental historic failures, this bride will no longer be defined by culture, race or personal preference. Her common voice will be salvation and that it “belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.”

Someone, somewhere, historically defined local church expressions of worship that affirmed ethnic diversity. In Britain the Black Church emerged from the 1950s onwards as followers of Jesus from the Caribbean, Africa and Asia settled in the UK. Subtly, and probably unintentionally, an unspoken polarity developed. Today, we still refer to ‘black’ churches as those not with white worshippers. We speak, too, of ‘Black majority-led churches (BMLC)’, ‘Black church communities’ and ‘Black church culture’.

We truly cannot imagine how difficult it must have been for those early, brave immigrants confronting relentlessly aggressive, white prejudices. The post-Windrush era saw an icy cold UK response from the established British Church. In a myriad ways these overseas’ brothers and sisters of faith continued corporate worship in homes, halls, redundant church buildings, schools and halls. How amazing! While our ‘white’ churches offered little comfort, our foreign ‘visitors’ constructed their mission and expressions of homeland worship.

The New Testament Church of God, Cherubim and Seraphin, Seventh Day Adventist, Shiloh Apostolic, Church of God of Prophecy and ‘unbranded’ Pentecostal movements were significantly included in a 1984 directory of these churches under the heading ‘Black-led Churches’. Fears, prejudices on both sides, theological interpretation and what I personally believe to be ‘difficult conversations’ have not helped the divine cause for oneness.

Today, I want to register before Jesus and our racially different people of faith, my sincere apology. I have not done enough to achieve this goal. I am guilty . . . but please will you walk with me and Love Black Country to embrace in a more meaningful way the mission from Christ to all God’s children to unite in mind and heart to love and serve and to make Jesus Christ known far and wide.

In our differences we still can be one and we have much to learn from each other. I do not believe the Body of Christ has been caste in colour, class or creed: The Word was made flesh for all, and racial barriers were destroyed in the crucifixion and resurrection. As God’s family we actively need to promote a sense of belonging and perhaps have some ‘loving conversations’ along the way.

In the 30-plus years that Love Black Country has been seeking to find ways for the Body to journey from church unity to ‘oneness’, as prayed for by Jesus (John 17, traction has been slow.

As the summer festival approaches, it would be wonderful to involve an increased number of Black majority-led churches (BMLC). Immeasurably thankful for advances made from five years ago, LBC senses The Lord would want to do so much more.

Truthfully, we’re not sure how many Black Churches are in the Black Country. We know there have been quite a few established in recent years, especially of African origin. We’re also aware of several larger ‘white churches’ becoming more ethnically diverse, with at least three or four enjoying equal black/white representation in their congregations.

God remains gracious towards us with LBC enjoying growing connections among His diverse church. In the last 12 months we have developed a stronger relationship with the Afro-Caribbean network in Wolverhampton, called Churches 4 Positive Change (C4PC) and featured them in our Together24 gathering at the Bethel Convention Centre last November.

Made up of churches from Black Church denominations and some independent churches too, C4PC seeks to work together with a particular emphasis on addressing issues prevalent in Afro-Caribbean communities. It’s an honour to champion them and develop relationship in this exciting adventure.

It has led to a series of meetings with some key leaders who have hearts to pursue a greater sense of connection and collaboration. The ‘togetherness’ here is more than functional – it’s deeply relational. Please, can we prayerfully do more to fuel this initiative.

We are hoping to see some early fruit from these connections at Together25 and in the C4PC Party in the Park in August, which has grown dramatically in the past few years.

There are currently six BML churches partnering with LBC in Together25, with a hope that we can double this by end of May. Wouldn’t that be great?

Pray for these green shoots to grow and become fruitful. We need to be aware there is dark opposition, and Satan does not want this to happen. We desperately need prayer cover to protect the traction, momentum and the favour of God to ‘oil the engine’, as the saying goes.

At the NextGen/youth event last month, the ‘Movement’ gathering was a culturally mixed group. Some 30 to 40 per cent of the 300 attending were black, mainly from the larger ‘mixed’ churches.

With this in mind, we felt led to base our choice of music artists for the Together25 Festival on Afro-Caribbean churches and communities. We continue to prayerfully seek that this will increase the ethnic representation.

Having canvassed several people in the Black Churches, we were advised to book Limoblaze, a rapidly growing Afrobeats artist with band from Nigeria. He enjoys a massive following in the UK. Also on the bill, another recommendation – popular gospel collective, Warehouse Worship.

We look forward to seeing how this engages  everyone and encourages cultural diversity on the day, especially amongst the next generation.

Whether this proves to be as successful as we dearly hope or not, we do know that we’re following our God’s heart to see His Body become one; for there to be a real shift in racial harmony in our region; and for the next generation to see us modelling something truly inspirational in our effort to pursue unity in our Black Country churches and wider communities.

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