THE General Synod affirmed the Church’s racial-justice strategy on the Tuesday after a debate on the final report and recommendations of the Archbishops’ Commission on Racial Justice.
The Commission has completed the work that it was mandated to do after the Archbishop of Canterbury told the Synod in February 2020 that the Church remained “deeply institutionally racist”. Informed by the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC), the Commission produced the report From Lament to Action in 2021, which recommended 47 action points over five priority areas.
Introducing the debate, its chair, Lord Boateng, said that he suspected that some Synod members would breathe a sigh of relief at the final report, “because for them it couldn’t come a moment too soon. They didn’t want it in the first place and there has been some recrimination, resistance, anger and occasional complaint.”
But the Commission had also found engagement, co-operation, real action, and change along the way, for which he was thankful. “Ethnicity is not a marginal concern. It isn’t a genuflection to worldly political correctness. It is, rather, to reaffirm the whole basis of our relationship with God the Father,” he said.
The Church now needed to create space to build on what all the research and numerous reports had demonstrated: “Too often the Church of England takes refuge and even pride in its conversations, even though those conversations don’t always involve listening, particularly to the affected or afflicted,” he said.
“There have been occasions during the lifetime of this Commission in your highest councils when people of colour have been invited to input into a meeting and having served this purpose, have then literally been sent out of the room where discussions and decisions directly affecting them take place.”
Structural anomalies that would be intolerable in any other institution had been compounded in the Church by “a culture that is unwilling to share information and guards it with a fierce protectiveness that defies any explanation other than blatant self-interest. . . Synod, this is a matter for you to address in your legislative role, because, if you don’t, it will be forced upon you by external forces and statutory agencies. The choice is yours.”
The Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin (Canterbury), spoke, she said, from a lifetime of experience, quoting Bob Marley’s Buffalo Soldier: “We’re still fighting for survival”.
“Our lack of knowledge about our competing histories, our inability to recognise one another as made in the image of God, and therefore part of the whole human race, mean that we fail to see the unifying bonds that can hold us together,” she said. “All we’re left with are the cries of those who are still trying to separate us from one another, often for political gains.”
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesThe Revd Andrew Mumby (Southwark)
She continued: “Racial justice cannot be seen as responding to sheer political pressure. It has to be integrated into the life and fabric of the Church and the nation. It has to be woven into its governance seamlessly, and it must be appropriately resourced. Otherwise, it will go nowhere and, some ten or 20 years down the line, we will simply see history repeating itself. And then we’re wringing our hands and saying we’re sorry. Let’s not be sorry. Let’s just get on with what we need to do.”
Michelle Obende (Chelmsford) said that racism did not exist in isolation within the Church: its struggles overlapped with others around age, disability, gender. “One journey should not trump another. The journeys are entwined,” she said.
“I have been ‘othered’. I’ve been dismissed by some and belittled by others, all the way up to here in Synod. I sadly can say I do know what it feels like to be the change you want to see.”
The Revd Andrew Mumby (Southwark) described slavery as “a genocidal holocaust”. He was fiercely opposed to money from Queen Anne’s Bounty “supporting our thriving parish, without reparatory justice”, he said, referring to “the blood money of my enslaved great-great-grandparents in Jamaica”. Several members responded to his invitation to stand with hand on heart to support that call for reparatory justice.
In a maiden speech, Christine Burgess (Carlisle) was frank about her initial nervousness when talking about race to UKME/GMH people. “As a white ally, I often speak from a place of ignorance, but my GMH siblings help me. I look forward to a time when all can flourish like a beautiful garment of many colours.”
Peter Adams (St Albans) wanted to see racism called out whenever it was seen. He told the Synod: “What we saw in Southport in the summer was pure racism. As Christians, you can have no truck with it. There is also no place for us to toy with white-supremacy rhetoric. This is not about me being ‘woke’, but me responding to continuing pain.”
The Archbishop of York quoted a saying from a Ghanaian man which gave food for thought in the light of the rise of far-Right rhetoric: “Until the lion has told his story, the hunter will always be the hero.” Archbishop Cottrell said: “We are beginning to hear that story of racism in the Church.”
Prebendary Amatu Christian-Iwuagwu (London) described the Church’s history of complicity in the slave trade as dehumanising. “As someone who grew up in Africa and is now serving as clergy in the Church of England, the wounds of the past continue to shape lives today. We cannot afford to let the momentum slide. Let’s embrace diversity as a blessing.”
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesThe Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin
The Revd Sonia Barron (Lincoln), a member of the Commission, said: “Culture change takes time and resolve. It will mean hearing hard truths, but scripture tells us the truth will set you free.” She was saddened that “there are some in this chamber who still think we need to ‘get over it’.”
The Principal of The Queen’s Foundation, Birmingham, the Rt Revd Anne Hollinghurst (Southern Suffragans), spoke of the Foundation’s long history of encouraging diversity and of the positive ongoing work among her counterparts in other institutions. “I have real hope for the future, especially when you look at the new and younger leaders coming through who will shape and reshape the theology and faith of our churches, present and future.”
Professor Joyce Hill (Leeds), a member of the Cathedrals Fabric Commission, wanted to assure the Synod, in the context of slavery-linked monuments, that, if there was a battle with heritage bodies, it was not within the Church of England. “Our remit is to deal with our heritage buildings as living and evolving centres of worship. Important work has already begun.”
Sammi Tooze (York) said that worship, transformational worship, should reflect the rich diversity of the Church. “Embodying active racial justice becomes what we are,” she said. “Authorising liturgical materials doesn’t make them any less valuable than those authorised by canon. The Liturgical Commission recognises there is wider work to be done here.”
Canon Judith Maltby (Universities and TEIs) said that, when she worked in a theological college after completing her Ph.D., her students had taught her “a lot” about the issues.
Alison Coulter (Winchester) said: “We need this work to run through every area of the Church.” A governance framework had been agreed for a racial-justice panel. “We need practical action and a clear, deliverable plan, and we also need a champion.” She looked forward to the appointment of a lead bishop on racial justice.
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesThe Bishop of Leicester, the Rt Revd Martyn Snow, stands with his hand on his heart in solidarity with a call for reparatory justice
The Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Revd Jonathan Frost, who chairs the Church of England’s education office, the National Society, recognised the positive outcomes that the team had worked hard to deliver, and commended the partnerships with diocesan educational teams. In the autumn, a new RE curriculum highlighting Christianity as a global world faith would be launched.
The Dean of Manchester, the Ven. Rogers Govender (Northern Deans), thought the report “a great piece of work and a good report”. CMEAC’s “great cry” over four decades had been a lack of resources. More UKME women should be in senior posts, he said: “We shall be watching this and wanting to encourage it.”
The motion was carried by 311-1 with six recorded abstentions. It read:
That this Synod:
(a) noting that the Archbishops’ Commission for Racial Justice has completed its mandated three-year term to monitor the implementation of the recommendations in From Lament To Action and that the Committee for Minority Ethnic Anglican Concerns (CMEAC) is to be replaced, commend the members of the ACRJ for their exemplary service to the Church, and those dedicated members of CMEAC, past and present;
(b) recognise the positive outcomes to date on the implementation of the recommendations in From Lament To Action but affirm the need for further effort in order to embed racial justice in the life and practice of the Church;
(c) recommend that the national Church gives full consideration to the ACRJ’s Appeal, Key Findings and Recommendations; ensuring crucial resources remain available including an effective governance framework comprising a Racial Justice Board, Panel, and Lead Bishop; that funding for the next triennium and the staffing be made available at the national and diocesan levels;
(d) recommend that Dioceses share good practices and give priority to the collection and measuring of relevant data; and that deaneries and parishes are encouraged to participate in the racial justice programmes;
(e) request that the NCIs through the Racial Justice Unit, undertake the necessary evaluations, including of From Lament To Action, so that General Synod by 2027 can review the further progress made by Dioceses, the NCIs, TEIs and other related institutions and stakeholders on From Lament To Action.
