Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (CTBI) will this year again work through the Churches' Commission for Racial Justice to provide materials to provoke thought, learning and debate on Racial Justice Sunday.
The theme of Racial Justice Sunday 2007 on 9 September is 'People on the Move', and will focus on looking at past and contemporary mass movements of people from several different angles, the slave trade, Christians who have come to these islands from other countries, asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants.
"People from all over the world rub shoulders with each other. This is God's doing!" says the introduction to this year's resource materials.
Resource materials include prayers, Bible readings, ideas for sermons and discussions, activities for young people, challenges to action for all, and stories told by those who are part of the world on the move.
Andy Bruce, the manager of the Churches' Commission for Racial Justice, says that the theme of Racial Justice Sunday this year marks a major change.
"The emphasis is on migration, and in racial justice terms this turns our attention beyond simply skin colour to people who have relocated for all sorts of reasons," said Bruce.
He added, "It also changes the geographical location for our concerns. For ages, it has been a struggle to get many churches to acknowledge that racial justice is an issue in their areas. Now, however, the focus is Cornwall and Cumbria as much as Birmingham, Bradford or Bristol."
Bruce is also blunt in his assessment of another area of racial justice. He says, "Much of the work done so far on asylum and refugee issues has come up against concerns about illegality. However, legal migration is by far the majority expression of immigration today but there is still a huge resistance to it.
"Most in the UK are happy for British people to retire to Spain or be reunited with relatives in Australia, but are deeply unhappy when it comes to Asian people being reunited with their families in the UK."
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland is the official ecumenical body that brings together Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and Pentecostal traditions, and is the direct successor to the British Council of Churches.
Racial Justice Sunday takes place 9 September.
For more information please visit: www.ctbi.org.uk
