The brutal, police-related killing of African American, George Floyd, in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 25 May 2025, has been described as a Kairos moment – a decisive moment – for racial justice on both sides of the Atlantic. At the time of this tragedy, much like now, I was working as director of justice and inclusion for Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI), taking forward its racial justice work, among other activities. The sad reality was that prior to George Floyd’s death, there appeared to be little appetite from a church perspective to even talk about racial justice, let alone do anything. However, after the tragedy, it was a different story; my diary became full very quickly, as so-called ‘race experts’ were inundated with requests from churches, parachurch groups and Christian organisations to help them address some of the many issues emanating from that appalling event. Equally, that tragedy witnessed the establishment of a plethora of church-related commissions and committees, the writing of reports, and the undertaking of reviews.
I would argue that at the time, British and Irish churches were playing catch-up on racial justice and so were unable to shape or lead the conversations on those equality-related issues which came into focus after May 2020. Nature abhors a vacuum, and with regard to racial justice, into this vacuum we witnessed several secular organisations, of differing ideologies, positing their panaceas to address the problem.
One of the many great things about Dr Martin Luther King Jr and his generation of Christians was the way they defiantly cajoled the church into leading the civil rights movement in the USA. I would argue that the US civil rights movement was a de facto Christian movement – the church took the lead and others followed. It was no coincidence that the primary civil rights organisation was the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), which Dr King fronted. The irony is that the US church’s Black Majority congregations have been in retreat on ‘race’ since that time, and it was personally disappointing to see individuals and organisations with no connection to the Christian faith being the spokespeople on racial justice after the death of George Floyd.
In the UK, there has been a dearth of Christian-related input regarding the various laws and prohibitions outlawing racism and inequality in this country. While a few prophetic Christian voices have valiantly spoken about racial justice, they often did this in an individual capacity. The church must now heed the voices of these courageous leaders and take meaningful action in obedience to God.
Since the killing of George Floyd, terms and phrases that were part of the racial justice lexicon have become common parlance, such as ‘microaggressions’, ‘unconscious bias’, ‘critical race theory’, ‘systemic racism’, ‘decolonisation’, and the like. However, has this jargon resulted in real justice?
It was my hope that the death of George Floyd, which I called a key moment, would become a movement for change that would see the church at the forefront of a righteous fight for justice, truth, compassion and love; values for which Jesus died, and we should live.
Unfortunately, far too many Christians see the struggle against racism as the preserve of the hypersensitive, which solely revolves around banter and petty ignorance. In truth, racism is a killer. So-called Kairos moments are invariably a result of the violent killings of people, usually Black.
As Christians, how do we interpret Jesus’ words: “I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance” (John 10:10)? Does this not also apply to racial justice? I would argue that it refers to people being able to live lives free from discrimination and violence.
I also believe it behoves us as Christians to stand up for justice and stand against anything that sets its face against it. I say this because we face a rising tide of hostility and bigotry that is a result of a confluence of socio-cultural and political forces. We saw the manifestations of this last year with the race/religious related riots, which were a wakeup call for all those who believed we had ‘done enough’ on racial justice and equality matters after George Floyd.
The inexorable rise of ethno-nationalism in Europe and North America, which unapologetically aligns itself to aspects of Christianity, presents a threat to the unity in diversity that we want to see in the church. Last year’s rioters were only too eager to latch onto Christian symbols, postulating that they are part of an ‘exclusive’ identification of Britishness. Sadly, or shamefully, some Christians have been part of a movement that aimed to ‘take back this country’, but which was characterised by its hatred and violence, invariably meted out against minorities and some of the most vulnerable people in society.
I believe that hatred and violence are bedfellows that have no place in the Christian faith. There is little doubt that both were pivotal in the killing of George Floyd five years ago, and only serve to divide communities on fear, despair and enmity.
As the Racial Justice Sunday resources for 2025 developed by CBTI explored, the church in Britain and Ireland is a ‘coat of many colours’ with Christians of ‘all races, from different places, sharing the same spaces’. This is a divine movement of God that must be celebrated. Among other matters, we now have a better opportunity to learn from one another, and about one another, through the blessing of diversity.
There is little doubt that anything that seeks to undermine this great movement is clearly not of God, and as His people, we must oppose it resolutely! The fifth anniversary of George Floyd’s death should see Christians recommitting themselves to making good on all the promises made at the time and to see John 10:10 lived out in our society.
