Having been mentored for the last two years by one of the most prominent Black Christian leaders in the UK church, the amazing Rev Kate Coleman, I thought I understood.

I didn’t.

In fact I’m only just beginning to wake up, beginning to understand. I’ll never truly understand, but I understand more today than I did a few weeks ago. Which was more than a year before that, which is much more than a decade ago. Racism is still alive and well in today’s society and my brothers, sisters and fellow members of society who happen to have different colour skin feel it acutely to this very day. And when I say feel it, I mean really feel it. This means that where George Floyd was just a sad news story to someone like me, it was a moment of genuine trauma and grief to most black people, including some in our church.

It’s easy to think that because the days of bananas being thrown on football pitches are (mostly) behind us, the ’N’ word and the ‘P’ words are now off limits, we have BAME* Cabinet members that all is now well. But we should all be aware that there is only one group of people who think that racism no longer exists in Britain, and they are called white people.

(* BAME stands for Black, Asian, Minority Ethnic)

You might think that by writing this I’m simply jumping on a bandwagon, trying to be woke (look it up), to fly the flag for political correctness. Or you might be more accurate to think that actually this is a kingdom issue, something that God cares deeply and passionately about, an issue of truly valuing human dignity and recognising that if we don’t seek justice and speak out about injustice we miserably fail in our divine mandate to represent Him to this world. It wasn’t political correctness that drove Christians to lead the fight to abolish slavery, that inspired Christians to lead the civil rights movement and the abolition of apartheid in South Africa. So in the same way we as God’s people need to be at the forefront of fighting for true racial equality in our land. And I believe that what is happening around the world in response to what has been disgraceful injustice after disgraceful injustice in America, is actually a move of God’s spirit that we simply must be in on.

This weekend, we plan to turn to James chapter 2, verses 1-12. These verses talk about the sin of partiality - judging people according to the outside and treating them differently. It couldn’t be more relevant. Sure James talks specifically about the poor and the rich and of course there are poor white men and wealthy black men in Britain, but the rich black men, they’re the exception. (Of the wealthiest 1000 people in the UK in 2020, 81 are non white and just 4 are black.) But whilst James talks to his people about how we treat and welcome people in to our churches, without showing favouritism, without partiality, we have to recognise that our BAME brothers and sisters face this sin of partiality in society in general, as well as in churches, and it should break our hearts.

I’m not claiming I know everything that we must do, but one thing we must do is educate ourselves. We all need educating, every single one of us.

• If you think that racism no longer exists in the UK, I respectfully would point out that you simply haven’t listened to the right voices.
• If you think people should just ‘get over’ the past, then you don’t understand how the past impacts the present in a very real way and has yet to be truly learnt from and put right.
• If you think that you don’t ‘see colour,’ as seemingly magnanimous as that may seem to you, you don’t understand how a simple statement dismisses cultural background and identity, plus it’s simply not true, you see gender, you see age, you see colour.
• If you think that ‘Black Lives Matter’ should be replaced with ‘All Lives Matter’ you’ve not understood the degree to which Black Lives stand out as ‘Not mattering’ such that they need their own hashtag and own campaign.
• If you think that we’re nowhere near as bad as America - you’re right, but since when did we step into righteousness by comparing ourselves to a tax collector? (Luke 18:9)

I recognise it can feel like a bit of a minefield, I know we can be fearful in knowing the right things to say, the right terms to use, but if we humble ourselves, get our hearts right and are prepared to be corrected by those of a different colour skin, we can move forward together.

This is not political correctness, this is injustice correcting.

For further reading, please check out this blog by my friend Kate, who suggests many different links and books to help educate yourself. 

Levelling up Big Church and Home Church

As we continue to journey towards a sense of new vision for us as a church, I am convinced that a thriving network of groups meeting in homes is going to be even more important to us as a church than ever before. Already in the Light church, many people would say that their Light group is the most important aspect of church life for them. It is my observation that too many churches hold the Sunday meeting up as ‘non negotiable’ whilst making small group meeting very much optional. I believe that to be able to both grow as a church and also to improve how we disciple one another, that we need to elevate the role of the small group up alongside the place of the Sunday gathering.

Someone said to me recently, ‘I’m not part of the Light church any more, but am still committed to my Light group.’ This struck me as an interesting insight into what it means to be a part of a church. I reflected that I don’t think anyone would ever say, ‘I’m not really part of the light church anymore, but still regularly go to church meetings on a Sunday.’ Personally I believe this is a wrong understanding of what church is. Meeting in ‘big church’ of 200 people or meeting in ‘small church’ of 12 - it’s all part of being the ekklesia - the congregation of God’s people.

Biblical mandate

I also have a strong belief that this is a biblical mandate. As I taught in my final ‘live’ sermon before lockdown, the new testament clearly shows us that churches tended to have their identity by the homes that met in. The church regularly met in homes, and it would appear this is where the church truly came together to grow in their love for God. One of the biggest advantages of meeting in small gatherings is more people get to use their gifts. All those instructions on using the gifts of the spirit weren’t aimed at large gatherings, they were at churches that met in homes - they actually make much more sense when you understand this (e.g. 1Cor14:26 When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation - this simply can’t be the case in a group of 200!) If we are going to make disciples, we’ll do it much better in smaller groups than sitting watching other people use their gifts as often happens on a Sunday morning.

Name change

I first came across the phrase ‘Home Church’ when preaching in a church in Manchester maybe ten years ago, and it instantly inspired me. I believe it sends a message that church is simply wherever God’s people gather together for worship and building each other up in the faith. When I came across it again recently, I felt convinced that this was the way we should go.

So, from now as a church we’re going to refer to Light groups as Home churches. Say a prayer for our Light group leaders - one minute they were a Light group leader, now they’re a Home church leader - Q: ‘what? I’m a church leader??’ A: ‘Yes, but you were one already, you just had the wrong name!’ I know name changes take a while to bed in, I know not everyone will like it, but hopefully you’ll all join in.

I’m very aware that just changing a name never changed anything (apart from the name!) But as God reveals his vision for us, I believe this will be the first step in stepping into all he has for us as a church and that Home churches are going to play a big part in that. And don’t worry - Sunday gatherings aren’t going away, and if you don’t have any space at all in your life to be part of a home church, you can still play a valuable role as a member of the Light Church.

A prayer:

‘Father, would you take something as simple as a name change and use it to strengthen our church in every way.

Would you help all of us to understand the value of meeting in a smaller group and that this isn’t some second rate cousin to the Sunday morning gathering.

In this busy world would you help us find time to meet in this way.

In this world of curating the right image for everyone to see, may they be places of genuine openness and honesty.

In this commitment phobic age, help us commit to one another as brothers and sisters.

At a time where the powers of this world seek to disciple us in their image, would you help us to disciple each other in your image.

Lord bless home churches.

Bless those who lead them.

Bless all who meet in them.

Use this powerfully for your kingdom advancement in this city and for leading all of us into life in all of its fullness.

To finish

Thanks for reading this far - just for clarity, you’ll likely hear me refer to the two different expressions of church as ‘Big Church’ and ‘Home Church’ - that keeps things simple in my simple head.

Matt

P.S. My thanks to the Home Church leaders for their feedback and input into this decision.

Matt shares some of what he senses God is speaking to him about as we journey towards a fresh vision for the Light Church

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