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Every Nation
—

Every nation,
Every tribe,
Every people:
God’s vision for diversity

The brutal murder of George Floyd on 25 May 2020 was a trigger and a wake-up call to the world and much closer to home within our church community. Visit the George Floyd page here

As a church family, we are seeking to respond to the longstanding issue of racial injustice and to press into God’s call to us to be a community where people of every race, nation and culture can thrive, reflecting the vision described in Revelation 7:9.

This journey of reflection has included many conversations over the last year with black members of our church family and others from culturally diverse backgrounds where they have described their often painful experiences both inside and outside the church.

As part of our ongoing and committed to journey to become the racially inclusive church that God is calling us to be, we are inviting anyone who calls Trent their home to continue on a path of reflection and towards greater understanding and change. During October, we have had a series of Sunday talks on race and in November we will be providing resources for small groups to engage with together.

John Wright gave the first in this series of talks on 10 October (watch and listen here), and then we were led in prayer by one of our church family Wale Akanni (watch and listen here). We invite you to listen to John’s talk and to engage with Wale’s prayer over us as a community. John continued the series on 17 October (watch and listen here) and then on 31 October, Josh Kay from Hope Vineyard Oxford shared the final talk in the series with us (watch and listen here).

Over the coming weeks, we encourage you to set time aside to reflect personally and engage with some resources that we want to make available and point you towards. In engaging with these resources, for some, they will bring challenge and discomfort and for others you may connect with your own experience of prejudice or racial injustice. But we believe this is a journey worth taking as a church family and that God is inviting us into.

So here is a selection of resources that we invite you to engage with and reflect upon. Also, you may want to connect with a selection of resources that we made available last summer Visit the page here

Trent Talks

A Conversation About Race

On 7 June 2020, John and Debby Wright had ‘a conversation about race’ with three black members of our church family, Dan, Caroline and Dave with the desire to grow in our understanding as a church.

We Need To Talk About Race

On 12 July 2020, John Wright, in his talk ‘we need to talk about race’, spoke to us about some of the reality of racism and then went on to talk about the opportunity before us as a church community reflecting on: 1. Racism and racial injustice are part of our history. 2. Racism and racial injustice are part of our present. 3. Many of our black and brown brothers and sisters are in pain. 4. We want to be part of the solution. 5. We have an opportunity for real change.

Reflection

Following the murder of George Floyd, Dave Ellis wrote a personal, semi-autobiographical rap ‘Come Closer’. In the track Dave talks about the challenges of racism and the power of unity and hope.

Please set some quiet time aside to listen to Dave’s song and following that, listen to John Bernard-Carlin’s reflection, ‘Now the Dust has settled’ that he wrote after listening to Dave’s song. Allow space simply to reflect personally and on the invitation that God may be making to you.

These creative pieces are written in deeply personal language and include expressions of emotion born out of lived experience and we invite you to listen in the spirit with which they are intended to provoke meaningful conversation and heart reflection.

Documentaries

Black and British: A Forgotten History

A four part series in which the historian David Olusoga explores the enduring relationship between Britain and people whose origins lie in Africa.

1. First Encounters

2. Freedom

3. Moral Mission

4. The Homecoming

Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners

How Britain as we know it was built on the profits of slavery, with abolition involving the shocking decision to compensate slave owners for their loss of 'property'.

1. Profit and Loss

2. The Price of Freedom

    Drama Series

    Small Axe

    A five part series of dramas described as love letters to black resilience and triumph in London's West Indian community, directed by Oscar winner Steve McQueen. Vivid stories of hard-won victories in the face of racism.

    Sitting in Limbo

    A shocking drama inspired by the Windrush scandal. After 50 years in the UK, Anthony Bryan is wrongfully detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation.

    * please note these dramas include scenes and language that some may find distressing or upsetting

    Action

    Together, we are pressing into God’s call to become a community that increasingly reflects Revelation 7:9. It is clear that this is a journey where there is a need for inward change and outward action, like two parallel train tracks, the heart journey and practical action. It’s not all about a heart journey, and it’s not all about practical action. It’s very much both-and. Like a train on a winding journey, at times we will lean more towards the heart journey while at other times there will be an emphasis on practical action. Both are hugely important. So whilst we continue on the heart journey as a church family, we are also taking practical steps in a number of key areas. We have a racially diverse steering group of church members who are helping us navigate the way forward. We have also established a number of stakeholder groups looking at strategic and practical steps in a number of key areas of church life including:

    · HR

    · Training and learning for existing leaders

    · Leadership Development

    · Preaching

    · Newcomers Integration

    · Production and Comms

    · Worship

    · Social Action and Justice

    As we continue on our twin-tracked journey, there is one action that underpins all that we are doing – prayer. So as a church family, let us be praying that God would give each of us the grace, wisdom and humility to continue on this journey, that he would bring healing and reconciliation where needed and that together we would each day become more of the community that he is calling us to be.