Black churches in Britain are growing. Whilst there has been a drop of 5% in church attendance generally there has been an 18% increase in Black Majority church membership. In London 48% of all churchgoers are now Black. The London Borough of Southwark has the largest concentration of African churches anywhere in Britain with an estimated 240 Black Majority churches with over 20,000 attending. Churches in Africa are also growing. Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the fastest growing Christian regions in the world. It is predicted that by 2060, more than four in ten of the world’s Christians will be from Sub-Saharan Africa.
The significance of Black churches is more than numerical growth. African Christianity is active and engaged. African churches expect their members to become fully engaged and involved in the life and activities of the church. Their Christianity is part of everyday life and touches every aspect of it. African Christianity believes in “reverse mission”. Missionaries from Britain once brought Christianity to Africa, now Black-led churches believe Britain needs re-evangelising and they are committed to doing it.
Gospel music is a prominent feature of Black Majority churches. This music is closely associated with the enslavement of African people in the American South. In the last few decades of the 18th century, which led up to the abolishment of legalised slavery in the 1860s, “spirituals”, a type of religious folksong, proliferated. African people who experienced the brutality of slavery found real comfort through their faith in God and in his Son, Jesus Christ. In this world they were in bondage, but Jesus had set them free. In the early 19th century African Americans were involved in the “Second Awakening” when the Holy Spirit moved powerfully amongst the churches.
The African American slaves sang their songs outside the churches as they worked in the fields, when they were allowed to sing “work songs”. These songs were based on the Bible and expressed their faith and hope that God would not leave them alone and that one day they would be in heaven with him. Their hope, inspired by God, sustained them in the dark days and brutality of their bondage. One well-known African American song expresses this hope: “I looked over Jordan, and what did I see, coming for to carry me home; a band of angels coming after me, coming for to carry me home. If you get there before I do, coming for to carry me home; tell all my friends I’m coming too, coming for to carry me home. Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home, swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.”