As part of the Standing Together initiative, guests from the Caribbean visited central London on 12 November, meeting with a diverse group of church and community representatives at Lumen URC and the Offices of General Assembly.
During a week-long programme of site visits, online conversations, and in-person gatherings, the Revd Kevin “Nana Moses” Calvert, Minister of Visual & Performing Arts within the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, who is also a theologian and filmmaker, and Dr Joanna Simpson, Educator of Community Social Workers at the University of the West Indies and a passionate advocate for violence reduction, shared rich insights from a Jamaican context to inspire and encourage churches in the UK.
Standing Together is a partnership between the Synergy Network and the URC’s Global & Intercultural Church, focusing on confronting serious youth violence and exploring creative, community-led solutions for positive change.
At Lumen and Church House, visitors were welcomed by members of the URC’s Legacies of Slavery Task Group for open and honest discussions about the role the Church can and should play in supporting young people and addressing youth violence. Participants included those working in ordained ministry, education, medicine, youth work, funeral direction, and youth empowerment. Representatives from the Metropolitan Police also attended a second gathering for church leaders, children’s, youth and family workers, held later on in the evening at High Cross Church in Tottenham.
Karen Campbell, Head of Global and Intercultural Church, said: “We hope that the relationships formed and the learning gained through Standing Together will help shape the URC’s ongoing response to the legacies of transatlantic slavery, in particular, proposals for mentoring young Black men, who remain significantly overrepresented in the UK criminal justice system.”