Racial Justice Sunday takes place this year on Sunday 8 February and two parishes in the Diocese are planning special services to mark the occasion using the resources available from Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
Bewdley
St Anne’s Church in Bewdley is planning a Service of the Word with Holy Communion at the morning service at 9.30am. This will explore the concept of patriotism and help the church to listen to a range of voices in their community, including some who feel hurt and some who they may disagree with. These voices include the thoughts of a refugee approaching the UK in hope for a better future; someone in the UK who feels that their future here is bleak; and someone who feels moved to demonstrate against provision for asylum seekers.
Rector Mel Beynon said: “We’re aware that feelings run high on the issue of immigration. We want to present a balanced narrative, staying true to the teachings of Christ to welcome the stranger and feed the hungry, whilst seeking to respond to everyone’s concerns in love.”
Kidderminster
St Chad’s Church in Kidderminster will be using the Racial Justice Sunday resources to think about how we can love our neighbours as ourselves in their service at 10.30am. Bishop Martin will preach at the service which will also launch a year of celebrations for the Church’s 70th anniversary.
Team Vicar, Jacqueline Shallow said: “Taking up this theme for Racial Justice Sunday seemed like the perfect opportunity to celebrate the start of our Platinum Jubilee. This will start a conversation and enable us to look outside out church walls, celebrating with our neighbours and thinking about how we embrace people from other countries.”
Resources available
LLM Robert Barbour has led on organising the service in Bewdley. He said: “We would really commend the materials that CTBI has produced. They could be used for a dedicated service such as we’re planning at St Anne's, but a church might also choose to use just one or two prayers as part of its normal service.”
Please do consider how you might mark Racial Justice Sunday and let us know about your plans!
Find the Churches Together resources on this website
Survey
As part of Racial Justice Sunday, the West Midlands Racial Justice Initiative is inviting parishes to take part in a short Parish Racial Justice Survey.
The survey takes around 5 minutes to complete and it would be great to allow congregation members time to complete the survey together in your Sunday morning survey. 
Survey Web link: https://www.smartsurvey.co.uk/s/WMRJI-Worcester-Diocese-Parish-Survey/ or use this QR code:
To help explain why this survey matters, the West Midlands Racial Justice Unit have also included a short video on why data matters, which you can find on YouTube: Your Voice Matters
The survey is anonymous, unless individuals choose to self-identify at the end by leaving their contact details. This is entirely optional and is simply for those who would like to continue engaging with or receive updates about racial justice work in the West Midlands.
Your participation is greatly valued. The responses will help build a clearer picture of experiences and perspectives across our parishes and will inform ongoing reflection, learning, and action around racial justice.
