Leeds Church Institute has compiled resources including local voices for Racial Justice Sunday on February 9, which is now in its 30th year.
Racial Justice Sunday was established by the Methodist Church in 1995 following the tragic racist murder of black teenager Stephen Lawrence in southeast London in April 1993. The Lawrence family attended a local Methodist Church in that part of the capital, and the Methodist Church agreed to support the family’s justice campaign to find young Stephen’s killers.
Later, the Churches’ Commission for Racial Justice (CCRJ), a Churches Together in Britain and Ireland programme, agreed to mainstream the special Sunday so that all the churches could engage with it.
This year’s theme is ‘Coat of Many Colours’, reflecting the increasing diversity that exists in the churches in Britain and Ireland.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament are replete with references to diversity, in this world and the Kingdom to come.
Yet, inequality still exists in the church, with too many people of Global Majority Heritage backgrounds feeling marginalised or feeling that they are not being given opportunities to use their God-given talents.
Leeds Church Institute has compiled its own locally-based resources and also links to those from Churches Together, which may be found here.