Gale Richards is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Centre for Baptist Studies.
Plaque to George Cosens, recently unveiled at South Street Baptist Church, Brierley Hill
The Birmingham Baptist Churches exploring their Black History research project aims to help churches re-narrate their church histories in order to acknowledge the largely overlooked experiences and contributions of the first Black church members (men and women), first Black deacons (men and women), first Black pastors (men and women) in the Baptist Union of Great Britain’s churches.
It is members of these Baptist churches who are enlisted as part of the project, to act as co-researchers to engage with key historical documents and oral histories in order to construct, reflect on, and share short biographies on these key historical Black Baptist figures.
Project leader Gale Richards
The project focuses on seven Baptist churches in Birmingham, to build on the work that has already been undertaken in the West Midlands to uncover the earliest known Black person to hold pastoral charge of any church of any denomination in Britain as a whole – Revd George Cosens who served as minister at Cradley Heath Baptist Church from 1837 – and specifically in Birmingham – Revd Peter Stanford who served as minister at Hope Street Baptist Church, Birmingham (the forerunner of Highgate Baptist Church) from 1889.
Questions that lie at the heart of this research project include:
- What were the historical congregational responses to these key Black figures? What theology underpinned these responses?
- What were the historical responses of these Black figures to how they were received? What theology underpinned their responses?
- What can be learned from these historical responses and related theological insights for building a more inclusive Church and society today?