'Visions of Colour', an anti-racism course for ministerial formation, now available

The Sam Sharpe Project and the Baptist Union of Great Britain present a new course for Baptist ministers across the UK

 

 

This year's Black history month sees the release of a comprehensive training course for Baptist ministers across Britain that aims to equip ministers to develop anti-racism action plans for their local churches. 

Visions of Colour (VOC) is a racial justice training programme designed to aid the process of Baptist ministerial formation and its engagement with justice and society. The ultimate goal is to help Baptist ministers develop action plans suited to their local church and community.

The Sam Sharpe Project initiated VOC, in partnership with the Baptist Union of Great Britain; Justice Enabler the Revd Wale Hudson-Roberts sought the advice of Professor Robert Beckford, who helped bring the vague concept to structured reality.

Dr Eleasah P. Louis has acted as consultant and producer, working with the Sam Sharpe/BUGB teams to bring the project to fruition. Eleasah and Wale explain more about VOC in this short introductory video.


Why Visions of Colour? 

Visions of Colour is the most recent of several racial justice initiatives over recent decades. There were two crucial stimuli for Visions of Colour. The first was an open letter to the General Secretary, Lynn Green, and the then President Yinka Oyekan, that equality, diversity, and unconscious bias training become a compulsory part of both initial Ministerial Formation and Continuing Ministerial Development.

Visions of Colour seeks to fill this gap with a robust, instructional, and developmental approach to racial justice training with concrete action plans resulting from the training. 

The second catalyst was the killing of George Floyd, which triggered an enormous public uproar. The revolutionary and passionate protest led by the Black Lives Matter movement brought further fuel to the public fires and served our churches with further challenges as it prodded at British churches' historical complicity to the destruction of Black lives.

Visions of Colour seeks to give Baptist ministers the tools to respond to this socio-political climate meaningfully and theologically. 
 

What to expect from Visions of Colour? 

Visions of Colour is an online six-part video course. Each session includes a contribution from Baptist ministers and their thoughts about anti-racism, a learning point to help unpack key terms and ideas and a lecture that aims to challenge and equip ministers with ideas for practically engaging with anti-racism in a church setting.
 

• Session one: Anti-racism and Preaching by Revd. Phillip Lutterodt  
• Session two: Anti-racism and Mission by Reverend Dr Israel Oluwole Olofinjana  
• Session three: Anti-racism and Worship by Dr Pauline Muir  
• Session four: Anti-racism and Bible by Dr Eleasah P. Louis  
• Session five: Anti-racism and Theology by Professor Anthony Reddie 
• Session six: Anti-racism and Culture by Professor Robert Beckford 

 
The first four videos: Preaching, Missions, Worship, and the Bible, are now available; the latter two will be released later. 
 
A handbook supports the video sessions, alongside an action plan guide and surveys for the congregation to aid the ministers in their response to this resource and the wider demands for racial justice in society.

Access Visions of Colour here: visionsofcolour.uk 

A short video introducing Visions of Colour can be accessed here: