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| The Clinton effect: Tony Blair laps up the sort of adoration African-Americans lavished on ex-president William Jefferson. | The choir belted out 'Father, we welcome you' just moments before Mr Blair emerged to the sort of welcome normally reserved for the Second Coming.
His visit to the Ruach ministries yesterday (3rd April) in Brixton,
south London, was the first time a serving prime minister had come to a
large Black-majority church.
If this was history in the making it was also the most visible
manifestation of a blossoming courtship between government and the
rapidly expanding Black churches.
gamble
Last Thursday (30th March) over twenty African and Caribbean pastors
met senior government figures at 10 Downing Street, the first in a
string of summits designed to allow the anointed influence over
policies.
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| Leader of the Lords Baroness Valerie Amos (centre, pink) with pastors outside Downing Street last week. | The
move promises political benefits for Ministers of State but holds as
many risks for ministers of the cloth, in what could prove the biggest
gamble the Black churches history.
The strategy appears two-fold. Behind the scenes pastors get say in
decision-making, perhaps even a role in providing services like running
schools.
Publicly politicians and church leaders can join together urging the
ever-expanding Black congregations to get involved in public life.
friends
With over half of all African-Caribbeans in London going to church
every Sunday, tapping into this bright and articulate generation of
potential future MPs, councillors and quango chairmen is an attractive
answer to question of Black under-representation.
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| Partnership building: Joel Edwards, general-director of the Evangelical Alliance, last week. | The
danger, acknowledged by leading pastors, is that Black-majority
churches could be viewed on the streets and the pews as being
manipulated by a wilting government desperate for new friends.
If the reception given to Mr Blair yesterday was anything to go by,
church-goers could prove to be the least cynical about politics in an
age when opinion polls are registering ever-higher levels of
disengagement.
The invited congregation simply adored Mr Blair, whooping, cheering
and laughing heartily at his jokes. It was an experience he is unlikely
to enjoy anywhere else these days, including the Labour Party
conference.
testiment
'What a testiment to faith and a living community in action', Mr
Blair began, before giving a speech with frequent references to family
values and the need to raise children to respect others.
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| Tony Blair was observed backstage singing while the choir performed, before taking the stage. | Labour
had made investment in schools, but 'it's not just about bricks and
mortar. It's about the parents, and creating the sort of culture where
they are encouraged to learn.'
Mr Blair was seeking a partnership. He provided the cash and they helped 'lift the vision and horisons of those children.'
His government was banning the sale of replica handguns, but 'we all
know that if a community is not engaged in fighting crime, and children
are not raised with a sense of community and respect for others, it's
not going to work.'
nerves
He even tried to steady the nerves of church leaders who might be
worried about a partnership. There was no 'pain-free, please all the
people all the time way of doing politics', he warned.
Getting involved in public life was 'part of our heritage of
struggle to make progress.' 'Don't be a bystander in democracy', he
concluded. 'Be a player.'
The message was reinforced by arts minister David Lammy and
Commission for Racial Equality chairman Trevor Phillips, who joined Mr
Blair at Ruach ministries.
'The future is both spiritual and political. The two are never
seperate', Mr Phillips said, as he called on Black churches to get more
involved. 'One day our [political] leaders will come from within these
churches.'
The prime minister drew embarassed laughs when he tried to pay
tribute to Mr Lammy saying: 'he'll certainly go a long way, that boy.
That man, I should say.' Asked about this afterwards, Mr Lammy smiled
and shrugged.
prophetic
Mr Lammy told Blink the timing of the visit was not
connected to the impending local elections on 4th May. 'It's not about
party politics, it's about political engagement and churches have a
role to play in that.'
Bishop John Francis, leader of Ruach ministries, added: 'We're not telling
people who to vote for, that's not my responsibility. The important thing is
that political engagement is happening.'
Critics argue that the Black church, which has come so far on its own, is at
its' most powerful when furthest from government, such as during the American
civil rights movement.
Speaking inside Downing Street last week Rev'd Joel Edwards,
general-secretary of the Evangelical Alliance, insisted: 'Some of us are too
grown up for political seduction. We have a prophetic responsibility to be
involved, and a critical prophet at the gate.'
Rev'd Edwards and other pastors had just finished a two-hour meeting with
deputy prime minister John Prescott, Baroness Valerie Amos and education
minister Lord Adonis.
The first of these three-monthly summits tackled education, including the
possibility of Black churches running more schools. The gamble is that thriving
schools will be celebrated but a bad Ofsted could bring unwelcome criticism crashing onto the church.
Baroness Amos said: 'It's an opportunity for government to listen to what the
Black-majority church is saying and be critical friends of government in a
two-way conversation.'
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