The URC and Jamaican Churches are working together on a transformative project

here is exciting potential before T us to provide life-changing opportunities for Jamaican citizens whose prospects continue to be limited by the unjust impacts of the legacies of transatlantic slavery. In February, Karen Campbell, the United Reformed Church’s Head of Global and Intercultural Church, visited Jamaica to develop our work with local partners, and is inviting the URC to journey with those partners to see the work reach fruition.

In July 2022, the URC made a Statement of Confession and Apology for the role of its antecedent bodies in transatlantic slavery, their benefit from it, and our failure to dismantle the legacies of racism and inequity which persist today. The Church committed itself to acts of ‘repairing justice’ – concrete actions to move the apology beyond words alone. The apology was warmly welcomed by partner churches in Jamaica through the Churches’ Reparations Action Forum (CRAF), an ecumenical body already engaged in identifying what meaningful reparations might look like in the Jamaican context.

The Revd Dr Collin Cowan, Moderator of the United Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands (UCJCI), and one of the seven CRAF Principal Officers, explains: Jamaica and the UK have a shared history – but we are on different sides of that history. Slavery has divided us. Reparation is not first or most importantly about money, but about repairing…

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This is an extract from an article published in Issue 3 2026 edition of Reformed.

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Photos: Kevin Snyman/URC