How to thrive in a strange land
With the rise of racialised politics, Dr Joe Aldred talks with Keep The Faith about his book Flourishing in Babylon which encourages Black people to thrive in spite of what’s happening around them
KEEP THE FAITH (KTF): In your book Flourishing in Babylon, what inspired your shift from focusing on oppression and liberation to flourishing, and why is this important for Black Britain today?
DR JOE ALDRED (DJA): The purpose of writing this book is to challenge our UK Black British people! I don’t think we’re doing badly, but I believe we can do a whole lot better were we to truly focus on flourishing. During the transatlantic slave trade, chattel slavery and colonialism, our people were oppressed and in need of liberation. Thank God that through their blood, sweat and tears they achieved it. We owe them an unpayable debt, and it smacks of ingratitude to them for us to continue to say that we are oppressed and in need of liberation. We should be highly suspicious of and refuse to join the naysayers who deny the hard-won freedom of our ancestors. To succeed in our time, we need an intentional mindset shift towards a relentless pursuit of flourishing through our God-given agency and self-determination.
KTF: The Lord, through Jeremiah, encouraged the exiles to ‘settle, build and grow’ (Jeremiah 29:5). How does that message speak to today’s Black British experience, particularly in a society that can still feel uncertain or contested?
DJA: Jeremiah’s urging the Jews in exile to settle, build and grow certainly contains a message for us today. Being part of an intergenerational diaspora raises key issues that, if left unresolved, can keep us off balance and unable to settle. Questions about faith, ethnic identity, culture and home can easily morph into suggested inferiority in relation to the majority culture – and culture wars benefit no one. Through the Jews in exile, Jeremiah’s call to us is to hold fast our identity in history while hybridising ‘there’ and ‘here’. Too many of us are inclined to abort historic links with Africa and lay claim to being English, British and European. It is only as we embrace our historic roots and the hybrid nature of our status that we have the settled strength to build, grow and flourish.
KTF: Historically, Black churches are more than places of worship. What has been the UK Black Church’s greatest contribution to helping Black communities flourish?
DJA: In my book, I both applaud and chasten Britain’s Black Church. There are aspects of our theologising and discipling that can thwart holistic growth. Undoubtedly, in the years after WW2, Black worshipping spaces were oases of rescue, affirmation, community and safety. The most notable characteristic of the Black Church in Britain, apart from its diversity, is its financial independence. Supported by members and friends, each local church has been spared the fragility of dependence upon funding from external agencies. These churches have extended beyond local financing and acquired educational, housing and health facilities that contribute to the well-being of their members and wider community.
KTF: In the current political and social climate with the rise of Reform and open racism, how should Black churches equip communities to face today’s challenges with confidence and hope?
DJA: Jeremiah’s letter went to a people in forced exile, in an empire that had little regard for them. The prophetic word was to find a way to flourish there, notwithstanding prevailing political winds. In the book, this is a mindset I urge upon us, always remembering that racism, in its many guises, has never been far from us over the past 500 years. The Black Church might attend to two things in particular. First, we must be responsibly engaged in politics, as registered voters, campaigners, candidates and holding politicians to account for pre-election promises. Second, we must cooperate and collaborate to maximise our political weight as part of impactful and prophetic presence punching above our weight. And church facilities are excellent venues for organising community action – not just prayer meetings!
KTF: You write about agency and self-determination. How can churches inspire their members, young and old, to pursue opportunities, despite the barriers they may encounter?
DJA: Sadly, we have ventured into a phase of our history where ease of achievement takes priority over grit and determination. Our churches need to remind us that in every situation there are opportunities and obstacles. Help especially young people to understand the value of determination in pursuing their dreams. Racism in a country where there are appropriate anti-racism laws represents a challenge, not an insurmountable block on one’s ambition. Let’s see what happens when the immovable wall meets the unstoppable force…and we know that, through God, we are more than conquerors!
KTF: How can the Black Church balance speaking prophetically about injustice, while also encouraging personal responsibility, resilience and a mindset of flourishing?
DJA: Thanks for asking this. I fear since George Floyd and now Jason Arday, we are in danger of approaching the subject of ‘justice’ in a manner not supported by Scripture or sound theology. What I see happening is a lot of chatter about justice, but little evidence of actual justice. This is not surprising as, throughout Scripture, God demands justice and ends up exacting punishment because it was not administered. Justice doesn’t come easy. The Church can helpfully show the true, often slow, nature of justice alongside keeping focused upon how to flourish, which requires us to settle, build and grow, being resilient and responsible.
KTF: Looking ahead, what does the future hold for the Black Caribbean Church in Britain? How can it remain relevant, while honouring its rich heritage and embracing a new generation?
DJA: I think we can already see signs of the future of the Black Church in Britain. As Black British people live on through the generations, I expect there will be few if any exclusively Black congregations. In the spirit of ‘settle, build and grow’, this is the time to create and strengthen agencies resourced by the Black Church to coordinate and promote cross-denominational local and national memorialisation. There is likely too to be a majority of ethnically and theologically mixed congregations galvanising around less centralised denominationally-determined liturgy and doctrines. The future need not be feared; let’s go where the Holy Spirit blows.
KTF: Drawing on your wide experience, what qualities will the next generation of Black Christian leaders need to flourish in an increasingly diverse and secular Britain?
DJA: Let me highlight an area of underdeveloped praxis: the area of intercultural ecumenism. Individual churches tend towards claiming to be ‘the church’ to the exclusion of all others. I have found it transformational when the principle is held that there is only one Church of Jesus Christ in the earth, and we all are part of it. The Jews in Jeremiah’s day were part of a wider Hebrew family, but needed reminding that, in spite of perceived differences, they all belong to the same root. This reminder is the work of ecumenism that helps to remind this and future generations of leaders of the need to shift from being denominationally and ethnically fixated to becoming Jesus-centred, while paying attention to areas of significance in life. There is so much to give, receive, learn, teach and share in this greater open space of the small ‘c’ catholic Church that we are all part of. When leadership, scholarship and mindsets diversify beyond our self-imposed silos, agencies meet and mutual flourishing is made more likely.
KTF: If you could leave – both churches and individuals – with one key message and principle from Flourishing in Babylon, what would it be?
DJA: God-given agency and self-determination exist in everyone. It’s a birthright. And, because we are made in the image and likeness of Creator God and inferior (or superior) to no one, we must not allow anyone to deceive us into handing our power to be ourselves over to them. Not to our church, not a holy man, not a self-appointed saviour-hero, not to well-meaning allies… no-one. A chapter in my book deals with false prophets, who were the bane of Jeremiah’s life, always sugarcoating and falsifying the word of the Lord to produce what they believed the people wanted to hear. I say, beware the false prophets of our day. They will lead us astray, preoccupying us with distractions dressed up as profundity. We know them by whether their work contributes to our flourishing or drains us of the will to do what is necessary to flourish – even in adversity!
Dr Joe Aldred is a former Pentecostal bishop, ecumenist, speaker, writer and a director of the National Church Leaders Forum. Visit www.scmpress.hymnsam.co.uk or www.amazon.co.uk to buy his latest book, Flourishing in Babylon: Black British Agency and Self-Determination
