Black-led churches in Birmingham

Context
Black migrants arriving in Britain after the Second World War found that they were rarely welcomed into the British White-led churches to which many belonged in Africa, Asia and the Caribbean. Some migrants found that their faith or denomination did not exist in Britain. Black-led churches were a response to both experiences and since the 1970s they have developed as major features of the religious and social landscape. Alongside London, Birmingham is a centre of Black Christianity in Britain. Several churches have their headquarters in the city and there is a vigorous intellectual life marrying academic initiatives with practical activity. Robert Beckford at the University of Birmingham is a local black theologian of national importance and the Centre for Black and White Christian Partnership, founded in 1978, links the provision of education with research, support for ecumenical activities and the promotion of racial justice.

Development
The origins of the Centre date from the late 1970s. The World Council of Churches Conference on Racism challenged the churches to combat racism. The British Council of Churches took up the challenge and explored how established Christian denominations might engage with Black Christians in Britain. It commissioned Roswith Gerloff, a German PhD student at the University of Birmingham, to carry out a programme of research.

Between 1976-1977 a series of conferences between Black and White church leaders, addressed a range of issues, amongst them was the need for theological training. In December 1977 a seminar entitled "A Small Beginning" explored the creation of a new theological training institute to serve the needs of Black Christians.

An immediate result in 1978 was the establishment of the Certificate in Theology course at the Selly Oak Colleges, Birmingham. The programme was accredited by the University of Birmingham, under the directorship of Roswith Gerloff and supervised by Professor Walter Hollenweger, Professor of Mission and a world authority on Pentalcostalism. The course was based on the realisation that many Black church leaders had a deep knowledge of the Bible but lacked formal qualifications in theology. It recognised the nature of Black churches where worship and celebration based on music, dance, food and oral culture were different than those in the West. Providing an academic context to these traditions, it enabled those who succeeded to move forward educationally and gain degrees. According to its first director, Roswith Gerloff, "The Centre was conceived as a turntable between the historic and the charismatic traditions, between the "third" and "first" worlds on our doorstep, between the oral and literary cultures, the poor and the rich, between Black and White".

The Centre developed an international dimension, but under its current director, Bishop Joe Aldred, its work has become less global and more local concentrating on education, the provision of information and research, inter-church relations and racial justice. In 1999, its Board of Trustees developed a vision statement. It sees the Centre becoming the premier organisation in the United Kingdom in the field of inter-cultural and inter-denominational Christian partnership by promoting these four areas.

Education
The Certificate in Theology has remained a major focus of the Centre's work since its inception. One former student is an Archbishop, another heads their denomination's bible college. A further development of the Certificate envisages using it as the first stage of a six-year BA modular programme to explore theology in a multi-cultural setting. Other programmes offered by the Centre include accredited certificates in Counselling and the City and Guilds Further and Higher Education Teachers' Certificate. The Centre is also developing a programme to introduce an Open College Network accredited course to provide a route to the Certificate and BA programme.

Information and Research
The Centre's library has emerged as a resource to assist researchers gain a better understanding of Christian traditions and Black theology in particular. The Centre assisted in sponsoring the ethnicity question in Christian Research's 1998 survey into English Church Attendance. The survey highlighted the proportion of church attendance according to ethnic groups. This found that Black and minority ethnic Christians represented double their representation in national Church attendance figures, when compared to their presence as a proportion of the British population.

A portfolio of publications has been created. A resource pack for schools, Black Christians: Black Church Traditions in Britain, was written by Virginia Becher and contains photographs and text covering the experiences of Black Christians and the activities of different denominations. Three anthologies edited by Joe Aldred have been published. Preaching with Power: Sermons by Black Preachers, contained the sermon, "Skin-deep Christianity", by, which won for its author, Ian Sweeney, The Times Preacher of the Year Award in 1998. Praying with Power, explores a range of perspectives on prayer, and Sisters with Power is a collection of writings by black, Asian and white Christian women. The Centre also publishes the Black Majority Churches UK Directory, the most comprehensive list of black-led churches and assists in producing the journal: Black Theology in Britain.

Inter-Church Relations
The Centre acts as a conduit for developing relations between Black-led churches, White-led churches and other agencies. It participated in creating the Birmingham Council of Black-Led Churches. Under its Chairman, the Rev Derek Webley of the New Testament Church of God in Handsworth and its Vice-Chairman, Bishop Joe Aldred it has estblished a strong Black presence to promote Christian values locally. The Council campaigned against the use of guns in Handsworth and has enabled Black Christians to gain representation on the boards of statutory and voluntary bodies within the criminal justice system, health and housing. Building up skills and confidence will enable minorities to contribute within the majority culture. According to Bishop Aldred, "everything has to have its roots to become part of a forest".

Racial Justice Work
All of the work of the Centre is directed against racism. It has co-operated with several partners, the Churches Commission for Racial Justice, Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, the Birmingham Council of Black-led churches, Birmingham Churches Together and the Anglican Bishop of Birmingham's Advisor on Black and Asian Ministries to promote anti-racism initiatives. Racial Justice Sunday has been one city-wide area of activity since 1999. A race-awareness programme "Christianity and Race", has been offered by the Centre since 1997 for Christian colleges, churches and ministerial training courses. The Centre also participated in the City Council's response to the Enquiry into the murder of Stephen Lawrence.

Conclusion
Bishop Aldred has summed up the achievements of the Centre. It has helped Black Christians in Black-led churches and other denominations to equip themselves intellectually and academically as leaders within society, obtain recognition from their fellow Christians and become more assertive. The Centre has empowered Black people and encouraged individual churches to develop their own training programmes.

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Comments (3)

Show/Hide comments ... : Zeg Fanta Contact me about your project. I may be able to help on your project in the USA. Peace September 03, 2009 ... : NANA CHINJI let join put an end to racism my contact is This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it number 002377232155 November 28, 2006 ... : NANA CHINJI Dear sir,l will like you people to help us put an end to racism through a documentry we are shooting.We will like to interview some members of final call and wish for assistance from you people to make things work.This is all about the project. PROJECT DISCRIPTION Project :Documentry Subject matter:Eradication of Racism in the world before the yeah 2010 Project title:One People One World -2010 INTRODUCTION In the world today a range of racist and anti-racist activities take place in jop sites ,on the football pitches,in school,church etc. ln recent years l have witness many cases on the TV ,live cases (of which my brother was kill)l have seen cases in ) my country ,spian and the united state of America. The feeling of supiriority of a comunity over another or of a race over another obviously has a very simple root couse and like wild fire plagues that community or race and usually goes out of hand, when a game of competition is born out of it call racism.. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM The feeling of "Superior class or race"within any given community has for thousands of years been born by one outstanding person ,who becomes a source of pride for that community. A SIMPLE ILLUSTRATION. Camerooonians thinks because of Roger Milla or Samuel Eto when a Cameroonian moves to another country he/she fills more importand or thinks in terms of countries with big names. PROJECT SIZE The time of work on this documentry is estimated at 5 months and will have to be cover in Cameroon,Spain and U.S.A. PROJECTS LOCATION Cameroon for 3 months U.S.A for 1 month Spain for 1 month WORK DONE Am through with Cameroon and will be moving my next step to U.S.A and ending it all in spain. Please will be grateful if you could help us prove to the world that we are one. November 28, 2006

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