The Revd Jamie Kissack, a minister of the United Reformed Church (URC) currently serving the church in its Sheffield Team Ministry, has been nominated as the next Moderator of the Church’s Yorkshire Synod. 

Jamie was born in 1964 in the Midlands, moving back to his family roots on the Isle of Man when he was 14.

He studied Biochemistry at Sheffield University where he met his wife, Fran. He worked in a hospital laboratory for a couple of years before going to Mansfield College, Oxford, to train for ministry with Fran.

As we approach Black History Month, Karen Campbell, a United Reformed Church Related Community Worker (CRCW), reflects on the transatlantic slave trade and its continuing legacies for people of African and African descent. Black History Month runs from 1-31 October.

Torn from home;
displaced from land;
ripped from all I've ever known -
the soil I walk
the air I breathe -
nothing left to call my own.

A resource that links October’s lectionary readings with Black History Month has been developed by the United Reformed Church’s Global and Intercultural Ministries department. 

Black History Month provides people with the opportunity to highlight and celebrate the achievements and contributions of people of colour, and in the process explore the latent histories and narratives that shape our lives together.

Each week’s lectionary reading also links with a social justice focus as identified by the Joint Public Issues Team’s (JPIT) public issues calendar.