Reparative Justice FAQs

In 2021, the Northampton District Synod brought a memorial to the Methodist Conference ("M22 The Slave Trade" pp916–918 in Report 61), calling on the Methodist Church to examine its historical entanglement with the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people , to listen to those most impacted, and to discern what repair might look like.

In response, the Methodist Conference reaffirmed its 1978 statement of racism as a sin, contrary to the gospel and acknowledged the impact of slavery and legacy of injustice. It agreed work which: considered the extent to which Methodist churches might have benefitted directly or indirectly from the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people; explored and recommended the full breadth of reparations required for the injustices suffered by enslaved people; considered the scope of any public statements including an associated apology; and explored the need for further education and training on the relationship between contemporary racism, identity, colonialism and the transatlantic trade in enslaved people.

This is not easy work, but it is important to pursue as a justice-seeking, inclusive Church.

This work is being co-ordinated by a working group of subject specialist leads and staff from the Connexional Team representing heritage, social justice and social action, inclusion, global relationships and theology.

The work is being done collaboratively and in partnership, with an Advisory Group from the wider Connexion and other denominations with interests in theology, racial justice, academic research and social action, by listening to the voices of descendent communities and those impacted by the legacies of slavery in Britain, and with global Partner Churches from West Africa and the Caribbean.

As members of a justice-seeking Church, everyone across the Connexion is invited to engage with this issue of racial injustice, to explore local, historical Methodist complicity in the benefits of enslaving African people and are asked to feed into determining what the scale of the Church’s response and actions should be as a result.

Proposals will be co-created together to bring to the Methodist Conference, which will confer and make decisions on the actions to be taken in response to our truth-seeking and truth-telling.

As part of the Methodist Conference worship, the Methodist Church offered an ‘Act of Repentance and Re-Commitment’ in 2022 , recognising its legacy of institutionalised racism as part of its work under the strategy for Justice, Dignity and Solidarity (conf-22-pc-30-jds-strategy_BDt3tph.pdf , section B).

The Methodist Conference’s response in 2021 to the memorial M22 requires work to consider the scope of any further public statements, including a formal apology, related specifically to the Church’s entanglement with enslavement. A review of this work will come to the Methodist Conference in 2026, working towards proposals for any further statement and reparative actions by the Methodist Conference in 2027.

Reparative justice is not simply about writing a cheque. It is a comprehensive programme of repair that can include truth seeking and truth telling, apology, education, trauma healing, community development and institutional reform.

The concern about corrupt governments is understandable, but reparative justice is not about handing funds to national treasuries. Money can be channeled through trusted intermediaries such as Church‑based organisations, or independent boards with local representation, not through potentially corrupt state systems. Moreover, many reparative actions such as public apologies, memorials, curriculum reform and truth‑telling processes require little or no money at all, but carry enormous weight. The objection about corruption, while to be taken seriously, should not become a reason for doing nothing; the real question is how to design robust, transparent mechanisms that minimise risk, not whether or not to act.

The 1833 Slavery Abolition Act abolished slavery in most British colonies and freed hundreds of thousands of enslaved people, but paid compensation to their former enslavers. It did not end the legacies of enslavement. The wealth accumulated by means of the traffic in enslaved African people helped build institutions, including parts of our Church. Those legacies continue in racial inequality, economic disparity, and social wounds that have never fully healed. Truth telling is the first step toward repair. In responding to the 2021 memorial (M22 ‘The Slave Trade’), the Methodist Conference acknowledged that these legacies are real and tangibly experienced by people in our Church and wider society today.

Yes, but this work is directed by the response to the memorial M22 ‘The Slave Trade’ to the 2021 Methodist Conference (pp916–918 in Report 61). The focus is on the enslavement and Atlantic transport of millions of African people to the Caribbean and the American colonies in British-owned ships as forced labour for the immensely profitable crops of sugar, tobacco and cotton. The question here is: how did the Methodist movement/Church in Britain benefit from that trade and what are its legacies?

The M22 Connexional Team working group and our partners affirm the efforts of those in the Church who worked towards the dismantling of the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people and the eventual liberation of enslaved people. While this transatlantic traffic and, eventually, enslavement were brought to an end, the Methodist movement benefitted financially directly and indirectly throughout John Wesley’s life and after, and the legacies of racial hierarchy, inequality, and persistently racist structures continue. The understanding of humans having rights evolved in the eighteenth century.

John and Charles Wesley encountered the brutalities of enslavement in America in the 1730s, but John’s Thoughts on Slavery was not published until 1774. Wesley denounced the ‘stealing’, buying and selling of human lives and the subsequent violence towards enslaved people, but his movement was receiving support from enslavers and those involved in the trades allied to trafficking enslaved African people.

The working group has been focused on exploring this complex history of entanglement, of legacies today and how we might seek repair in agreed actions.

Corporate apology and action acknowledges that as an institution, the Church today bears responsibility for the actions of its predecessors, by nature of inheriting the positive and challenging legacies of their work to build and maintain an inclusive and justice-seeking Church today.

As a Christian community, there is a source of tradition in the Bible of collective repentance and lament for the sins of ancestors, and those who form part of the community. The Church has many members who will be direct descendants of people who were enslaved, or who experience the ongoing legacies of the transatlantic traffic in enslaved African people because of their heritage and ethnicity. Apology and action will be experienced differently with that perspective and is an important part of this work to recognise.

No. The Church is not trying to divide people. The goal is healing, not division. But healing requires honesty. Avoiding difficult truths does not create unity – it leaves wounds unaddressed and often deepens them. The Methodist Church has a long tradition of speaking prophetically on justice, from the abolition of the traffic in enslaved African people to the defence of asylum seekers and the call for climate justice. Raising the issue of reparative justice is not about picking a side in party politics. It is about being faithful to the gospel, which insists that every person is made in the image of God and that genuine reconciliation requires truth, repentance and repair. A Church that refuses to ask hard questions about its own history may appear polite, but it will not be credible when it speaks of justice in the present. Unity built on silence is not true unity. It is only the absence of conflict.

The Methodist Church in Britain has long and deep familial relationships with partner Churches in West Africa and the Caribbean and the Africa Methodist Council. We are co-labourers, seeking together to co-create proposals for reparative action.

Research has been commissioned by the Methodist Church in Britain in collaboration with West African Partner Churches and the Africa Methodist Council, led by scholars from West Africa.

The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas have been partners in conversation, and have initiated their own reparative justice work, which the Methodist Church in Britian will seek to walk alongside in partnership. Any decisions about repair will be the result of these relational conversations, not imposed. We are walking together, not leading alone.

Historical research is underway into the degree and nature of the entanglement of the early leaders of the movement and later British Methodist Church denominations with enslavement. It is hoped to publish the book that results on early Methodism's entanglement with the traffic in enslaved African people, as well as a wider literature review. This will be followed up with encouragement for churches to explore their local historical involvement.

There are listening sessions/conversations being held across Britain.

Historical research has been commissioned with West African partners and conversations held about similar work with partners in the Methodist Church in the Caribbean and Americas (MCCA).  The MCCA have initiated their own reparative justice work. The Methodist Church in Britian is committed to walking in deep solidarity, listening and collaboration with partners.

An interim, update report will be presented to the Methodist Conference in 2026, with a further, fuller report due in 2027.

The Baptist Union of Great Britain (BUGB) offered an apology in 2007

The BUGB always intended that the apology would be the start of an intentional journey towards racial justice across the Baptist Union family.  Progress has been slow, but the commitment and the work continue.

The United Reformed Church has embarked on its own journey and delivered an apology on a visit to Jamaica partners in 2024: Legacies of Slavery - United Reformed Church

The Church of England has begun work and set up a fund of £100 million for healing, repair and justice: Church Commissioners’ links to African chattel enslavement | The Church of England

In 2022, the Quakers also committed to work in this area, beginning locally: Reparations | Quakers in Britain

The work of the Methodist Church is drawing on the expertise and learning with ecumenical partners, not least through our Reparations Advisory Group, an ecumenical group, advising the M22 Connexional Team working group.

• Learn about the history and read the book when it is published in autumn 2026.
• Explore how this story has impacted on the churches in your area: we will be launching a local history project in the autumn to encourage discovery and recording of local experiences.
• Listen to voices from the global majority and those with lived experience.
• Support and join in with the British conversations, if one is happening in your area.
• Pray for this work and for those carrying it.
• Ask your local church leadership and districts to discuss what being a justice-seeking church means in your context.

Circuit
A group of Methodist churches in a local area that share ministers, resources, and governance. It is a key unit of organisation in Methodism.

Circuit Meeting
The main governing body of a circuit, where representatives meet to make decisions about ministry, finance, and mission.

Class Meeting
Historically, a small group for mutual spiritual support and accountability. While not always used today, it remains an important part of Methodist heritage.

Connexion
The whole Methodist Church in Britain, emphasising its interdependence and unity. Churches are not independent but connected nationally.

Connexional Team
The national staff team that supports the mission, administration, and governance of the Church across Britain.

District
A regional grouping of circuits within the Methodist Connexion, overseen by a Chair of District.

District Chair
The minister responsible for leadership and oversight of a District.

Methodist Conference
The governing body of the Methodist Church in Britain, meeting annually to make decisions about doctrine, policy and governance.

Memorial (Conference Memorial)
In the Methodist Church in Britain, a memorial is a formal request or proposal submitted—usually by a Circuit Meeting, District Synod, or recognised body—to the Methodist Conference. It asks the Conference to consider an issue, make a decision, or take action on a particular matter.

Memorials are a key way in which concerns, ideas, or questions from across the Connexion are brought to the Conference. They are published in advance (often grouped by theme), and the Conference debates them before deciding how to respond. Responses may include adopting resolutions, referring matters for further work, or providing guidance.

Partner Church
A Partner Church is a church in another country with which the Methodist Church in Britain has a formal relationship of mutual prayer, support, and collaboration. These relationships are part of the Church’s Global Relationships work and reflect its commitment to being a globally connected church.

Society
An early term for a Methodist congregation or fellowship group; sometimes still used in historical or formal contexts.

Synod
A gathering (usually twice a year) within each District for worship, discussion, and decision-making.