global majority heritage
Today, too many people of Global Majority Heritage, women, LGBTQIA+ people, poor people, differently abled people and others outside of the Church do not feel fully welcome.
As a member of Lichfield Diocese Racial Justice and Inclusion Task group and board member of the West Midlands Regional Racial Justice Initiative, I am passionate that the gifts and talents of all UK Minority Ethnic/Global Majority Heritage people might be fully recognised within the Church of England.
Theological formation should be lifelong, and we must seek vocation beyond familiar networks, working with working-class communities, churches led by people of Global Majority Heritage, disabled and neurodivergent people, and LGBTQ+ groups.
I am Rev’d Douglas Machiridza, a middle-aged man of a Global Majority Heritage (GMH) background.
Alongside parish ministry, I have held a number of additional responsibilities, including Assistant Archdeacon in the Diocese of Blackburn; Adviser to the Bishop of Blackburn on UKME/Global Majority Heritage matters; member of the Diocesan Vocations Team; member of the Diocesan Vision and Strategy Leadership Team; and member of the Church of England’s National Bishops’ Advisers Team.
Racial justice and representation: working for a Church in which Global Majority Heritage and UK Minority Ethnic voices are valued, heard, and able to flourish in leadership.
As a priest of Global Majority Heritage and of African origin, I am conscious that GMH clergy remain underrepresented in aspects of the Church's leadership and governance.
I would bring parish experience, a commitment to clergy wellbeing and racial justice, professional knowledge of occupational health and governance, and a Global Majority Heritage perspective.
Through parish ministry, church planting, and community engagement, I have witnessed both the immense richness of our diversity and the urgent need for stronger representation of Global Majority Heritage (GMH) and UK Minority Ethnic (UKME) communities at every level of our Church.
I long to see many thousands of women and men of all backgrounds, and especially younger people and folk of global majority heritage, come to personal faith in Christ and become His disciples.
Before coming to the UK I served for eight years as a priest in South Africa, where I was born and raised, and I am part of the Global Majority heritage community.
As a woman of Global Majority Heritage, married to a priest with complex disability and part of a culturally mixed British, Caribbean and Irish family, I know well the experience of being the odd one out in many of the spaces I inhabit and I hold firmly to the idea that my presence also makes room for others who would not believe they had a place.
• Learn from our Global Majority Heritage siblings, and be enriched by their
I come from a global majority heritage and bring to this vocation a background shaped by intercultural theology, ecumenical youth work, peace education, and the pursuit of justice and peace.
I am committed not only to listening to the voices of Black clergy and laity and others from Global Majority Heritage backgrounds that we have far too often ignored but ensuring that these good intentions are translated into genuine action.
For the last five years I have served as Global Majority Heritage (GMH) Co- Option on the General Synod making a contribution to the life of our national church.
With nearly half my life shaped by a Global Majority Heritage context and over half by life in the UK — including pastoral ministry in inner-city London — I hope especially to bring an understanding of the distinct experiences, gifts and challenges of Global Majority Heritage clergy and of younger generation ministers.
My work in Global Majority Heritage ministry has shown me how much stronger the Church becomes when we learn from one another while remaining rooted in Scripture and the historic faith.