Established in 2017 under the direction of the then Bishop of Warwick, John Stroyan, the Race Equality Steering Group is a group of Diocesan leaders, officers and employees who are committed to working for racial justice in Coventry Diocese. The RESG operates on behalf of, and is answerable to, the Bishops Core Staff Team and Bishops Council.
The purpose of the RE Steering Group is to be responsible for developing and implementing strategy which improves race equality within the Diocese. This is done through consultation with the Race Equality Advisory Group (REAG) and wider Diocesan colleagues and churches. We also work with the National Church Racial Justice Unit and the West Midlands Regional Racial Justice Initiative.
The RESG brings together representatives from parishes, schools, the Diocesan Offices and the cathedral to ensure that there is an integrated approach to our racial justice work. Our membership, our terms of reference and our strategic intent document can be found…
The RESG meets quarterly, and updates on our ongoing work will be posted here.
September Update
Over the past six months, we have been restructuring the RESG to try and ensure that the right people were in the meeting. At this meeting, we were delighted to welcome new representatives from the Cathedral, Blue Coat School/SACRE and the Clergy Consultation Group.
We discussed plans for the upcoming Black History Month, which included a Welcoming Service at Coventry Cathedral for the newly formed West Midlands Regional Racial Justice Team, a range of resources made available to parishes and schools, and a series of videos and bios from UKME/GMH Christians on our diocesan social media.
Neil Masih, our Intercultural Mission Enabler, updated us on Amazing Grace – a refreshed racial justice course which will be running in March 2025. Neil has also been identifying parishes which have high ethnic diversity and proactively approaching those churches to offer support.
The Canon for Worship and Welcome at the Cathedral spoke of how they have an increasingly diverse cathedral congregation. He discussed his vision to use the Cathedral space for more intercultural worship styles. He is in the process of building links with GMH Christians across Coventry. He and Neil are going to discuss how Racial Justice Sunday might be celebrated in the Cathedral.
Mark Norris, our Diocesan Director of Ordinands, spoke of how UKME/GMH vocations are going to be a key pillar of the new Vocations Strategy. He plans to report back on this at our next meeting.
Our representatives from the DBE/Church schools spoke of the many pieces of work which they are undertaking to advance and embed racial justice in their communities. We felt that their experiences might encourage and inform other areas of the Diocese in their Race Equality work and so we discussed how good news stories, resources and learning might be shared more widely.
We reviewed our strategic plan for 2025, and decided to focus on: finishing the work of rolling our Unconscious Bias training, delivering Amazing Grace, developing a Vocations Strategy with UKME/GMH Vocations as one of its focus areas, continuing to embed Racial Justice Sunday and Black History Month as key dates in our Diocesan cycle, establishing good working relationships with the WMRRJT and working on our communications, so this work is more visible and accessible across the Diocese.
Kate Massey (Acting Chair of the RESG)