Racial Justice

Racial justice means recognising the image of God in every person, affirming the diversity of God’s creation, and ensuring that all people can fully participate in the life, leadership, and worship of the Church.

The Diocese of York is committed to growing healthy churches that reflect the rich diversity of God’s multi-cultural and multi-ethnic kingdom. This commitment is rooted in our common baptism, which gives each of us an identity as belonging to Christ and to one another. Baptism affirms our fundamental human dignity and calls us to reject sin in all its forms, including the sin of racism.

“But God has put the body together…so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.”

1 Corinthians 12.24-26

Racial Justice Education Adviser

Gerald Fox is the Racial Justice Education Adviser for the Diocese of York. His role is to support churches, clergy, and lay leaders in understanding diversity and inclusion, embracing difference, and becoming actively anti-racist. Gerald is available to answer questions or share resources to help you explore racial justice in your church or community.

Our Racial Justice Charter

“My desire is for us to be a Christ-like and Jesus-shaped community that reflects every race and heritage in the Diocese of York: in our mission, our congregations and our leadership”

Archbishop Stephen Cottrell, Foreword to the Diocese of York Racial Justice Charter

In November 2022, the Diocesan Synod adopted its Racial Justice Charter. The Charter affirms the work of anti-racism and the pursuit of greater diversity and inclusion as central to our diocesan strategy, Living Christ’s Story.
The Charter outlines a set of diocesan commitments, some of which stem from the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Taskforce report, From Lament to Action.

From Lament to Action confronts the racism embedded in our society and institutions. It addresses the legacy of empire and the Transatlantic Slave Trade, including how these histories are memorialised in monuments and statues. The initiative also challenges fear-based attitudes toward difference and highlights the Church’s slow progress in tackling racism. It calls for meaningful change so that our churches become places where everyone can fully belong and participate 

Racial Justice Advocates Group

“Racism is a gaping wound in the body of Christ”

Lord Boateng, Chair of the Archbishops’ Anti-Racism Task Force, Address to General Synod 2021

Commissioned in April 2022, the Racial Justice Advocates Group exists to support the Diocese of York in its commitment to racial justice. The group works to:

• Support clergy, lay leaders, and churches in becoming actively anti-racist.
• Provide safe spaces, prayer, and pastoral support for Global Majority Heritage clergy and lay leaders who have experienced, or continue to experience, racism in their ministries.
• Pray intentionally for the work of racial justice across the Diocese.

Made up of individuals from diverse backgrounds and experiences, the group meets three times a year and is open to all who share a passion for racial justice. The group is co-chaired by Yvonne Bowling and Revd Rob Suekarran.

Racial Justice Advocates are available in each Archdeaconry to preach, visit churches, and offer support in the journey toward becoming anti-racist communities.

If you’d like to explore becoming a Racial Justice Advocate or invite one to visit your church, we’d love to hear from you.

Racial Justice and Intercultural Ministry Task Group

The RJIM Task Group is working to:

• Promote racial justice and the visible ministries of UKME/GMH people, lay and ordained, across the diocese.
• Support and grow intercultural worship and churches as spaces of learning, belonging, and full participation across cultures.
• Design, implement, and monitor a comprehensive racial justice strategy, ensuring UKME/GMH people are fully represented within the life and structures of the Diocese. This includes options to resource this work over the medium and long term.
• Embed key national initiatives into our diocesan context.
• Serve as a project board for the work of the Racial Justice Education Adviser.
• Use both qualitative and quantitative data to drive change and measure progress.

Once fully implemented and resourced, the strategy will:

• Model God’s gift of racial diversity, helping churches grow and reflect His kingdom.
• Embed prayer and intercultural/multilingual worship into diocesan life.
• Identify and remove structural and systemic barriers within the diocese that may disenfranchise and marginalise minority groups and prevent their flourishing.
• Increase vocations, ordained and lay, improve equality of opportunity, and better recognise the gifts of the Spirit God bestows on those he calls into his service.
• Strengthen ministerial training and raise awareness of racial injustice and inequity.
• Engage children and young people through creativity and storytelling, learning from the good practice found in our church schools.
• Provide role models for future generations.
• Ensure the Diocese reflects the communities it serves.
• Offer a compelling vision of God’s Kingdom, visible in the life and witness of the Church.

Resources for Racial Justice