Venue for city-wide Racial Reconciliation gathering announced

Time4Change, the Birmingham Churches’ Anti-Racism network, has announced that the venue for its landmark Racial Reconciliation gathering on the afternoon of Sunday 17 October will be St Andrew’s, the home of Birmingham City Football Club. Co-facilitators of Time4Change, Bishop David Urquhart (The Church of England Diocese of Birmingham) and Pastor Calvin Young (Mount Zion Christian Centre, Aston) are leading the call to Birmingham’s Christian congregations to gather together at the momentous service for ‘Racial Reconciliation, Repentance and Restoration’ across the city’s Churches – and across the whole city.

The Racial Reconciliation service will include a presentation of the problem of racism, messages of support from city leaders, prayers of repentance, a vision for the future, a drama by the Saltmine Theatre Company and prayers for the emerging generation. Watch a short promotional video about the event HERE. The video can be downloaded directly for use in church services via THIS LINK.

The car parks at St Andrew’s, Cattell Road, Birmingham B9 4RL, will be open for the event. Doors will open from 3.00pm. The gathering will begin at 4.00pm and will last around 90 minutes. Let the Time4Change organisers know of your attendance by signing up HERE.

Around 80 volunteer stewards are needed at the stadium for the Time4Change Racial Reconciliation service. The team leader will provide further details for all who indicate their interest and availability. Stewards will need to be available from 2:30pm until around 6:30pm. The event itself will run from 4.00pm to 5.30pm (or thereabouts). Stewarding duties will include staffing the car parks, handing out programmes and directing people. Sign up as a volunteer steward HERE.

In addition to the Racial Reconciliation service at St Andrew’s, Birmingham’s congregations are being urged to use their services on the morning of Sunday 17 October to address the issue of racism and to pray into the issue. In support of this, a series of excellent resources developed by Pastor Danny Brierley (Chester Road Baptist Church) have been made available. The four service outlines, under the titles ‘Resistance,’ ‘Reconciliation,’ ‘Repentance’ and ‘Reparations,’ can be accessed HERE.