To better understand how the COVID-19 crisis is affecting Pentecostal and Charismatic worshipping communities in England, MJR Trustee Dr Joe Aldred, in his role with Churches Together in England has held conversations with all 23 CTE members that make up the Pentecostal and Charismatic Forum. His findings are summarised in this document.

There are three sections:

1. COVID-19 in terms of challenges, opportunities, and expected future impact (including concerns about BAME over-representation in statistics.
2. Financial impact of COVID-19.
3. The effects of conspiracy and apocalyptic theories linking COVID-19 to 5G technology, and a vaccine to the mark of the beast. 

Read it here.

MJR trustee Joe Aldred was interviewed on BBC Radio 4's Sunday programme yesterday on the impact of Covid-19 on BAME communities, where the risk of dying from the virus is at least 2-3 times higher in African-Caribbean communities than in white ones.

​Joe reflects on personal loss, the reaction from Pentecostal churches and the wider effects on his community. "It feels like there has been a health timebomb waiting to explode in the African-Caribbean community. If you were to look at any of the stats in the UK for BAME life and particularly for my own community... what you will see is that we show up in negative stats almost anywhere you care to look, socially, economically, politically. We have lived with that over-representation in underlying conditions, and what Covid has done is simply highlighted that."

​Listen to the full interview here (starts at about 18:50), or download an mp3 clip here.

This blog for the William Temple Foundation by Dr Sanjee Perera reflects on her research with the Minority Anglican Project and what the BAME death toll in the current COVID-19 pandemic reveals about how far both church and society still have to go. Dr Perera speaks of the Church of England's "dark legacy of belittlement and disregard for Black lives" and how it had "long been steeped in a racialised agenda. Its theology, and its framing of biblical hermeneutics, have justified slavery and Empire within the folds of its missiology."

Read the full post here. Read more about Dr Perera's research into racialised micro-aggressions and their consequences in the Anglican Church here.

A new “home school” competition for children and young people to explore Black British History and multicultural Britain has been launched. Sponsored by The National Education Union (NEU), the competition is part of the special launch of the 100 Great Black Britons campaign created by Patrick Vernon OBE to celebrate the continued legacy and achievements of Black people in Britain.

The competition is open to all age groups. Children and young people are asked to create a fun and unique project celebrating Black Britons and their legacy. There is also a special teacher's competition to develop resources that can be shared as part of a permanent online teaching resource celebrating Black history.

“The current crisis has highlighted the centrality of Black people in Britain, to the NHS and care work, transport systems, food supplies, utilities, research, education and so much more. The NEU supports this competition to celebrate what we have always known that Britain’s history is irrefutably rooted in Black and global history and that our members do a fantastic job in teaching this.  It will be a fabulous opportunity to showcase some of their work and that of their pupils”. Kevin Courtney, NEU Joint General Secretary.

Entries are now open and will close on September 30th. Find our more here.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that black people in England and Wales are more than four times more likely to die from Covid-19 than white people, exposing a dramatic divergence in the impact of the pandemic. 

“These results show that the difference between ethnic groups in Covid-19 mortality is partly a result of socio-economic disadvantage and other circumstances, but a remaining part of the difference has not yet been explained.” the ONS said. The Department of Health and Social Care said: “This virus has sadly appeared to have a disproportionate effect on people from BAME backgrounds." The figures, covering deaths from 2 March to 10 April, are the first official snapshot of the way that Covid-19 has affected different ethnic groups in England and Wales.

Describing the findings as “alarming”, Zubaida Haque, deputy director of the Runnymede Trust race equality think tank, said: “We cannot ignore how important racial discrimination and racial inequalities (e.g. in housing) are, even among poorer socio-economic groups,” she said. “These factors are important but are not taken into account in most statistical modelling of Covid-19 risk factors.” Helen Barnard, from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, said the findings were “a stark reminder that although we are all weathering the same storm, we are not all in the same boat”.

Read more here. Read the ONS report here.