Gerald Fox has been appointed to a new role as a Racial Justice Education Adviser for the Diocese of York. Gerald is a teacher and an authorised lay minister within the diocese and will take up this half-time role in August.
The role, funded by the Church of England’s Racial Justice Unit, is part of our diocesan vision to grow healthy churches that are signs of God’s multi-ethnic kingdom. Gerald’s work, alongside our Racial Justice Advocates, is part of our commitment as a diocese to tackle racial injustice. It is about growing churches which practice God’s radical hospitality; churches which value difference, who learn to receive the gifts which the life experience of others teaches us, and will change as a result of those encounters.
Gerald’s work will have a particular focus on transformative education which recognises that action to tackle injustice goes hand in hand with changes in our hearts and minds. He will be helping to curate, develop, and deliver sets of resources for parishes and individuals as we address racial justice and become better at living with diversity.
Ian McIntosh, Director of Mission and Ministry, welcomed Gerald’s appointment and said, “The interviewing panel saw in Gerald a person of deep emotional intelligence and self-awareness. He is someone committed to his own personal journey towards racial justice and with all the educational skills to help others join in with this transformative work. I am very excited to have him join the Mission and Ministry team.”
The Revd Rob Suekarran and Ms Yvonne Bowling, co-chairs of the Diocesan Racial Justice Advocates Group, said: “We are so excited that Gerald has sensed God’s call to this role. His appointment is yet another significant step forward in working towards racial justice in our Diocese of York. It is our hope that together, we can all grow and develop in lifelong learning and understand the issues we face. On behalf of the Diocese of York Racial Justice Advocates Group, we welcome Gerald and are praying for him as he starts in his new post. We honour his advocacy for Global Majority Heritage brothers and sisters in Christ, and we look forward to working with him.”
Gerald said this: “It’s great to be joining the Mission and Ministry team in this important role and I’m looking forward to working closely with the Diocesan Racial Justice Advocates Group. I hope I will be able to encourage people to journey with me as we learn together and work together to make our churches places of radical hospitality. In order to do that I believe we must be committed not only to the idea of racial justice, but we must also find concrete ways of embodying it in our daily lives both as individuals and as a church.”
