By Deacon B –

This article first appeared in issue two of As One Magazine, A bespoke digital-first magazine covering the latest updates from the African Diaspora. Check out the full issue here on the African Descendants Forum

The Black social gospel is a movement that emerged in the mid-19th and early 20th centuries as a response to the racial, social, and economic challenges facing African Americans. African-American religious leaders led the Black Gospel movement.

Following the path of Jesus, leaders believed the church was responsible for addressing social issues such as poverty, racism, inequality, and inequity that erode communities of any aspiration, motivation, or self-determination.

The Black social gospel empowers communities through social justice and activism, celebrates African Diaspora spiritual traditions and practices, and addresses challenges and obstacles facing African Diaspora communities in towns and cities today.

I was born in the 1960s in a Northern town in England. From age five to fourteen, attending the local church was compulsory and non-negotiable, and making a small financial donation to the church every week.

My brother, sister, and I had two special outfits, one for church and the other for weddings, funerals, and christenings. Oh! Let’s remember one pair of special shoes. Wearing shoes or outfits outside these special cultural rituals and traditions without permission would infuriate my parents, and we would expect to be disciplined for breaking the rules.

From 1948 to 1971, the early Windrush Generation economic migrants personified what it means to have a strong faith and a Black Social Gospel movement in their communities.

Faced with overwhelming odds, the churches, with 95 per cent African Caribbeans in their congregation, implemented a Black social gospel movement. They inspired our communities from different Islands to merge and unite as one.

Every child or teenager knew they were protected—the church and the community working as one. It was an extraordinary time to be young and still have freedom and protection. The church was the binding force and prominent trusted voice in our communities.

A Journey of Faith follows five elders from the Windrush generation and beautifully shares the sincerity of what the church offers and how their faith carried them through the tough times living in England.

Lots of preachers and very few Pastors

Fast forward to 2023. We celebrate the Windrush generation seventy-five years of our elders arriving here in Trilby docks on the 22nd of June 1948.

We know racism is still prevalent in African-descent communities in England. We know many of our youth in these social and economic communities struggle with employment, the criminal justice system, academic achievements, gang and drug culture, and families bordering on poverty.

I must ask, where is the Black social gospel? Where did our elders bring the Black Social Gospel from 1948 to the 70s? The communities still have a perception and an expectation of the church.

The non-church communities want to see church leaders, influencers, and elders lobbying local authorities on policies and legislation that promote social, economic, racial, and racial justice for people of African descent.

When considering the concept and implementation of a Black Social Gospel here in Britain, we must consider if our current churches, whose congregation is over ninety-five per cent African descendants, effectively deliver a Black Social Gospel that fits with the socially and economically disenfranchised Black communities today.

Faith and Social Action!

“Faith without works is dead – James 2:14-17.”

Faith and social action are interconnected. “If today’s church does not recapture the sacrificial spirit of the early church, it will lose its authenticity, forfeit the loyalty of millions, and be dismissed as an irrelevant social club with no meaning for the twentieth century.

Every day, I meet young people whose disappointment with the church has turned into outright disgust.” – Martin Luther King Jr – “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” 1965.

If we reflect on the achievements of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. with his civil disobedience and Black Social Christian Gospel strategy, Creating a culture of social responsibility and community engagement that provides spiritual guidance and support for community members and promotes sustainable movement beyond the church walls is essential.

Is it expecting too much to want our local church’s senior members to put themselves forward for political representation and challenge an education system that has disempowered members of the African-descent community for over sixty years?

We want to see a Black Social Gospel movement that finally halts the spread of structural and institutional discrimination inequalities in the criminal justice system and seamlessly develops sustainable partnerships with local businesses and government agencies to empower people of African descent socially, economically, and equitably.

The Windrush generation came with their faith, and the church was the game changer for survival and thriving. It’s time we see more relevant ministry working with our mothers, fathers, and youth in our communities.

The community would like to see less rhetoric behind the pulpit. I believe the church is there to transform, enable and empower those most socially and economically dislocated from engaging in civic life.

I think the time is now to see our Pastors, reverends, Deacons, Bishops, church elders, and the congregation leave the fortress that protects them from the masses in our communities who need them the most.

Alternatively, is it time for our community activists, leaders, mothers, and fathers who want to change their community to engage with our church’s elders and leaders, sharing our experience and implementing the Black Gospel together specifically for the African descent communities?

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