The United Kingdom church denomination, the United Reformed Church (URC), on Sunday, April 14, issued an official apology to the Jamaican people for the church’s historical involvement in slavery.

The apology was read by Rev. Dr Tessa Henry-Robinson, moderator of the general assembly of the URC, during an ecumenical service held at the Webster Memorial Church, Half-Way Tree Road in Kingston.

“We, the general assembly of the United Reformed Church, mindful of our own history and that of our antecedent bodies, wish to confess and apologise for our role in Transatlantic Slavery and the scars which continue to blight our society, our church and the lives of black people in our midst and around the globe today. This action is firmly rooted in the gospel core to repentance and gives life to the commitment of our basis of union to reform in obedience to the call of repentance of what has been a mist in the past and to be reconciled,” she said.

Henry-Robinson said the URC acknowledges the church’s role in the slave trade and permitted the legacies of the slave trade that shape the world today. As such, she said URC is moved to offer its apology to God and its sisters and brothers in Africa, the Caribbean and their descendants for the horror of slavery.

“We repent for the horrors we have caused to face up to the sins of the past and our silence in the face of racism and injustice today. We admit that these sins are part of our continuing failure to see and hear God in all of our neighbours whoever they may be and we commit in a true spirit of repentance to find constructive ways in which we can move from saying I am sorry into concrete actions of repairing justice and so contribute to the prophetic work of God’s coming Kingdom,” she added.

Reverend Gary Harriot, of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, accepted the apology.

“I stand on behalf of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands and behalf of the extension of the sisters and brothers of this nation and the Caribbean region, who continue to struggle with the legacies of the cruel inhumane system of the Transatlantic trade of persons. I stand in a poster of thanksgiving to God to receive the apology of our sisters and brothers from the URC in the UK for the complicity of their forefathers and mothers in the enslavement of human beings. The scars of that barbaric and painful era of history continue to hunt us, our society, our culture, politics, economics and religion are shaped by the legacies of enslavement but we stand grateful because this ecumenical service of worship represents a sign of resurrection, a sign of hope,” Harriot said.

He said this first step is a move to make it easier for conversations on how the church can repair damages caused by slavery and pave the way for new patterns to emerge based on justice and peace.

URC is among 10 UK church denominations that journeyed on path to repentance.

This visit follows a similar visit of the principals of the Churches’ Reparations Action Forum (CRAF) from Jamaica to the United Kingdom in June last year.

Pastor Bruce Fletcher, convenor of the Churches’ Reparations Action Forum (CRAF), shared that the Transatlantic slave trade has injured God’s creation and highlighted that there is a need for repair.

“We believe that the Transatlantic trade in Africans has marred the relationships God designed, his original intent that all God’s people and all God’s creation is broken as a result. Repair is needed. Therefore, we call for repentance, forgiveness, healing and reconciliation. To that extent, no one is excluded in that reparation process, the hostility that defines so much of our history must be confronted by all and a path carved out for us to reclaim justice, peace, hospitality at the standard by which we live as God’s people and with God’s creation,” he said.

CRAF has noted that it will be pushing for more than just an apology. It will be seeking reparation to tackle areas of education, healthcare, land distribution and mental well-being.

READ: CRAF pushing for more than slavery apology from UK church during visit to Jamaica