07/02/2025
The Bishop of Edmonton, Anderson Jeremiah, will lead the service, in a broadcast from St Francis at the Engine Room church in Tottenham, north London, with participants from across the country.
The online service is one of a series of Church of England events and services to mark Racial Justice Sunday including a service at Manchester Cathedral where the Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell will preach.
In opening remarks at the start of the online service, Bishop Anderson will say: “Racism begins when we fail to love, when we turn away from justice, when we do not practise compassion.
“Racist attitudes take away human dignity and disfigure the image of God in each and every one of us, and that is why racism is a sin because it is not of God.
“Racial justice is rooted in love and recognition that it is through love that equity and dignity can be redeemed.
“So, we are invited as children of God to hold each other, to hold on to the idea that our beings are inter-dependent, we are inter-woven. We cannot live without the other.”
The Rev Dr Sharon Prentis, the Church of England’s Deputy Racial Justice Director, will also contribute to the service, while the Bishop of Dover, Rose Hudson-Wilkin, reads intercession prayers.
Dr Prentis will say that the call to love one another is at the heart of the Christian faith and racial justice reflects ‘core Christian values.'
“Jesus exemplified the importance of racial justice by reaching out to the marginalised and speaking against oppression,” she says.
“As Christians, we are called to follow his example by confronting racism, listening to the voices of the suffering, and standing in solidarity with them.”
Other services will be held across the country. These include at Guildford Cathedral where the Bishop of Dorking, Paul Davies, will lead a special Eucharist, along with guest preacher Rev Folli Olokose, Lead Area Director of Ordinands for Kensington (Diocese of London) and a former member of the Diocese of Guildford Racial Diversity Advisory Group.
The Bishop of Birkenhead, Julie Conalty, will lead a celebration at St John’s Church, Hartford, featuring voices from across the Diocese of Chester reading The Lord’s Prayer in Tamil, Spanish, Urdu, Telugu, Welsh, French, Romanian, Malayalam, and Chichewa.
A Racial Justice Sunday service will be held at St Anne’s Church in Bewdley, organised by the Diocese of Worcester Racial Justice Forum. The Bishop of Dudley and Acting Bishop of Worcester, Martin Gorick, will preach.
Bishop Martin said: “Racial Justice Sunday is an important opportunity to celebrate the diversity of our world church and lament the inequalities, lack of understanding and prejudice that still exist.
“This diocesan service will be a chance to hear experiences and perspectives from those of Global Majority Heritage and make a commitment together to work towards a better world.”
The theme of this Racial Justice Sunday is ‘Coat of Many Colours’. Liturgical resources to mark Racial Justice Sunday are available from The Church of England and Churches Together in Britain and Ireland.
Rev Amy Tan, a curate in the Diocese of Birmingham and Rev Julius Anozie, a vicar in the Diocese of London, can be viewed speaking about racial justice, ahead of Racial Justice Sunday.
The national online service continues to serve a growing online community of worshippers from across England and beyond - with viewers around the world, from Canada to Japan. In 2024, 123,366 hours were viewed of the online service.