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According to White Fright: Divided Britain, a BBC Panorama programme aired in January 2018, Blackburn is a community segregated along ethnic and religious lines.
Panorama first visited the Lancashire town, made up of around 100,000 British white people and 40,000 British Asians, in 2007 to report on how the community was integrating. It returned 10 years later with a critical report of an increasingly socially segregated area, described as a ‘national crisis’.
A special gathering was held on 11 April for staff from the United Reformed Church’s London office to meet all the residents of ‘The Nest’ – the top floor of Church House.
Greenbelt moved into The Nest in September, followed by The Trussell Trust’s external affairs department in January, and have since been joined by Street Child United, Single Friendly Church and the UK branch of International Justice Mission, described as the largest anti-slavery charity in the world.
On 5 April 1968, Britain awoke to the shocking news of the Revd Dr Martin Luther King’s assassination. Fifty years later, staff at the United Reformed Church’s London office, joined the thousands worldwide in commemorating the eminent civil rights leader’s life, in the wake of the anniversary of his untimely death.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) held its Conference on World Mission and Evangelism from 8 to 13 March. Simon Peters, Project Manager for Walking the Way: Living the life of Jesus today, the United Reformed Church’s focus on lifelong Christian discipleship, represented the denomination and shares his experience.
