Member

What of the other denominations? For the 14 years I have been here, this has been the saddest aspect of still having 26 Bishops and five retired Bishops on the Cross Benches. The Church in the UK is, as the Church of England says, a presence in every community, but if we go to Southwark diocese, where I live, or the Old Kent Road, we see that they are awash with Black Pentecostal churches, often founded owing to the racism encountered in the Windrush era. There is the Church of God of Prophecy and the New Testament Church of God—we never hear of them in your Lordships’ House, and there is still no leadership of those churches here, which I find really upsetting—followed by the migration of hundreds of thousands who form the British African churches. The Redeemed Christian Church of God regularly assembles 40,000 people in the Excel centre but has no leadership represented here. I agree with the noble Lord, Lord Moore, that the individual Christian voice is needed, but those denominations can speak for themselves and should have their own representation.