A special course, based on the MJR film ‘After the Flood: the church, slavery and reconciliation' will be a part of the summer term at Manchester Bible School, based at our partner Nazarene Theological College. The course will take place over 4 Monday evenings from June 12 to July 3, 7:30-9:30pm.

• June 12: Screening of After the Flood. followed by refreshments (facilitated by MBS/NTC and Beatrice Smith, MJR)
• June 19: Reflection session led by Dr Clara Rushbrook (Luther King House)
• June 26: Informal Q&A and discussion on film themes – Part 1. Led by Beatrice Smith (Churches Together in England, Spring Harvest & MJR Trustee) .
• July 3: Informal Q&A and discussion on film themes – Part 2: ’So what?' led by Ven Karen Lund (Archdeacon of Manchester & MJR Trustee).

Cost is £25 unwaged; £35 waged. The film screening on June 12 is open to all and will cost £5. More info and booking will be available shortly on the Manchester Bible School website.

'After the Flood' a new feature documentary film from MJR exploring the roots of church complicity in the slave trade and showing the route to reconciliation. Find out more and watch the trailer here. To find out more about previews and a premiere, send an email.

"​As Christians seek to lead the way in racial reconciliation this film is a critical tool in unpacking important ingredients that made and sustained this cruel, inhumane and evil enterprise. This is crucial viewing." Dr Joe Aldred, National Church Leaders Forum, former ecumenist at Churches Together in England

This is a podcast series by Dr Nathaniel Adam Tobias C------. Episodes 1 and 2 were launched online on Wednesday 22 September at 6pm, with Episode 3 to follow in November. This is part of the Henry Moore Institute's Our Monuments Research Season.

There has been a lot of talk, to put it mildly, about Britain’s statues and slavery. But what about Britain’s statues and anti-slavery? It turns out, that, while statues of slavers are among the statues Britain shows off, statues of anti-slavery activists are, in curious contrast, some of the statues Britain hides. To take us into Black History Month in the UK, this podcast series asks what, exactly, in its anti-slavery statues, Britain is hiding.

More info and links to download the first two podcasts and transcripts here.

I Will Repay is a Church and Reparations webinar series from Churches Together in England examining British engagement with reparations for descendants of enslaved and colonised African peoples. The Racial Justice Advocacy Forum (RJAF) partners with the National Church Leaders Forum (NCLF) and Movement for Justice and Reconciliation (MJR) to facilitate leading Black Christian voices on the various aspects of reparation and its implications for both church and government. It has three core aims:

• To articulate the various Christian positions around reparations
• To equip the church to speak with confidence on reparations
• To help solidify the Christian work around reparations.

These aims are geared towards action-based outcomes that build upon historical and current efforts in Britain, for example, a permanent memorial, a scholarship fund, strategies for church engagement, a service of lament. 

Session 1: ‘I will repay: the Church and Reparations’ will be on Wednesday 6 October 2021 at 7.30pm, will explore the theological rationale with Professor Robert Beckford, Eleasah Louis, Rev. Ronald Nathan and Dionne Gravesande. Six more sessions will follow. More details and how to book can be found here.

"From Compliance to Disruption: practical racial awareness for church leaders" is an online session on May 25, 4-6pm – the first anniversary of the death of George Floyd – designed to get to the heart of issues of racial diversity and equality in our churches. Leaders are busy people with many calls on their time and energy and issues to handle, but this one cuts across them all and must not recede into the pile with all the others. Again with that busy-ness in mind, this is intended to be a 2-hour plain-speaking and practical session with experienced teachers David Shosanya and Mike Royal. More info and booking here. Any queries, please send an email.

'Dismantling Whiteness' is an online day conference where various speakers will explore the theme of Deconstructing Whiteness as a response to the Black Lives Matter Movement. Hosted by the Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture and the first of its kind, the conference is seen as beginning the vital work of examining the implications of White Studies for Theology.

The conference is on Saturday April 17, 10am to 4pm. It free, but spaces are limited and must be pre-booked. Book online here. 

"Whiteness is a claim to power, it’s a claim to rightness, it’s a racialised claim and there is no such thing as being white and being a Christian, you have to resist that identity." (A.D.A. France-Williams, 2020)

"White English Christianity must commit to a radical and ruthless critique of its Whiteness". (A. Reddie, 2020)

The Black Lives Matter movement has encouraged many people around the world and in the UK to reflect more deeply on issues of race, colonialism and social justice. As a small contribution to this, the Ascension Trust and Urban Expression are offering this online course.

A high calibre line-up of speakers includes Robert Beckford, Kate Coleman, Les Isaac, Bev Thomas, Stuart Murray-Williams, Ronald Nathan and Ben Lindsay.

Running for 8 weeks in 2 blocks of 4 (April 29, May , 13, 20; June 3. 10. 17. 24), it is hoped that participants will:

• Gain a greater appreciation of the roles played by Black people in the Bible, early church history and church and society today.
• Learn more about the dual legacy of Christendom and colonialism and what needs to change in our thinking, practices and structures.
• Wrestle with challenging issues, including white privilege and white supremacy, institutional racism and mono-ethnic churches.
• Explore possibilities for increasing Black/White partnership in various dimensions of mission and church.
• Share our own experiences in church and society and develop fresh perspectives and strategies.

Cost is £80 (£40 unwaged). Places are limited. For more information and to book visit the course website.

This free webinar, hosted by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), and looking ahead to Racial Justice Sunday on February 14, will take place on Wednesday February 10th, 7:30-8:30pm.

Last year marked the 25th anniversary of RJS, a date which coincided with the killing of George Floyd, the upsurge of the Black Lives Matter movement, and a pandemic which continues to disproportionately impact Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic communities.
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This webinar will include some of the keenest minds in our churches who will explore what racial justice looks like in church and society and discuss what steps need to be put in place to turn all the conversations we heard last year into palpable, significant action toward justice, equity and inclusion.
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Register here.

Covid-19 restrictions have meant several bookings for our exhibition have had to be postponed or cancelled. So we have filmed it. While not quite as good as the real thing, especially the interactive part, here is our digitised version of 'Colonial Slavery and its Legacy.' Feel free to use and share.

Enslaved is a six-episode docuseries that explores 400 years of human trafficking from Africa to the New World by following the efforts of Diving with a Purpose, as they search for and locate six slave ships that went down with their human cargo. These modern day adventures serve as a springboard to tell the stories of the ideology, economics and politics of slavery, while also celebrating stories of resistance, the cultures left behind and the culture that we live in.

​Co-presented by Samual L. Jackson and Afua Hirsch, Enslaved is showing in the US and Canada in September and on BBC2 in October.
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