Church ‘barred blacks from key roles’
A CHURCH carried out a culture of racist policies excluding people of colour from top positions, a report has revealed.
Hope City Church, which was founded in Sheffield but has congregations in Leeds and York, has vowed to do better after the report detailed how it was managed in a way so that it would not appear “too black”.
Allegations around racism in the church came to the forefront in June last year in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, which led to the resignation of founding pastors David and Jenny Gilpin.
A report published last month found “a number of notable instances where people of colour had felt intentionally discriminated against on the basis of race”, which it said were not limited to the Sheffield congregation.
It said: “Some people said that it was felt by the senior pastor that by having black people on certain teams would deter white people from joining the church.
“Some were told the senior pastor did not want to see black people in certain roles in order to manage appearances or first impressions.”
Many members felt excluded and even left as a result of the environment, the report adds.
It goes on: “There was a feeling that the practice was contradictory, in that, for example, an all-black presence on stage was discouraged but there were times when an all-white presence was evident and seemingly not discouraged.”
Feelings of poor people management where people of colour were treated insensitively were also mentioned, adding that racial discrimination had been “to a large extent not malicious” but rather from “ignorance”.
Colin Davies, chair of Hope City Church Board, said: “We have used the findings of our internal report on racism to positively transform the way the church interacts with and welcomes people from all backgrounds, regardless of their skin colour.
“Our board of trustees now takes a fully active role within the leadership culture of Hope City Church with regular reviews and monitoring set in place to ensure the church is continually strengthened as a multi-racial faith community.”