Repeating Islands

BBC Caribbean reports on the importance of Black churches such as the Croydon Seventh Day Adventist Church and the Church of God of Prophecy in London for generations of Caribbean nationals and Britons of Caribbean heritage. Bishop Joe Aldred recalls that his first impression of England was of a place that was “not particularly welcoming” because not all immigrants (for example, Caribbean nationals that started migrating to the UK in the 1940s) were embraced by their churches in the UK. “Maybe if there was one nugget of welcome, it was my church. Because the Church of God of Prophecy that I belonged to in Jamaica, I was able to come to England and to attend another branch so at least that was familiar,” he said.

Bishop Aldred is now Bishop of the Church of God of Prophecy, the third largest Black Pentecostal church in Britain. He explains that although the majority of the first wave of immigrants already belonged to the traditional Anglican, Catholic, Methodist, or Baptist churches, it was not long before they discovered that this did not guarantee automatic membership in their new homes. Some turned a deaf ear to the rejection while others left their respective churches. Still there was a third group who decided to turn to other denominations. This, Bishop Aldred says, was one of the factors contributing to the proliferation of Black-led churches. According to him, today there are up to 5,000 such congregations in the UK.

However, despite its growth over the last six decades, Black churches in the UK have been facing challenges. David Billet, an elder/leader of Jamaican origin at the Croydon Seventh Day Adventist Church, explains that churches today may be failing their congregations, when it comes to dealing with various social ills. “I really feel that they have let us down in that those in positions of authority within the church have often fallen prey to the very evils of society which they have preached against and the concept of hypocrisy which people shun away from,” he told BBC Caribbean. Bishop Aldred believes that a lack of representation of minority groups in parliament is hindering progress. He also points to a lack of Christian unity as another challenge: “Black church in this country is extremely diverse. Some would say it’s not just diverse, it’s fragmented. There are so many churches and we’re multiplying day by day. One of the challenges is how can we pool together so that we can tackle the big issues that we face, for example the education of black children, mental health, and the criminal justice system.”

[A special edition of BBC Caribbean report “Looking at the Black Church in Britain” can be heard on Christmas Day at 2115Gmt (5:15pm Eastern Caribbean time, 4:15pm in Jamaica and the western Caribbean).]

For full article, see http://www.bbc.co.uk/caribbean/news/story/2009/12/091223_blackchurches.shtml

Photo from http://www.gracebethelmbc.net/