ST. JAMES, Jamaica — British Baptist representatives apologized and presented a plaque during two worship services with Jamaican Baptists at Mount Carey Baptist Church in St. James, Jamaica, May 25, for their participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade, according to the Jamaica Gleaner.
The decision to apologize in person was prompted, according to a release from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, by letters that appeared last year in the Baptist Times, a British Baptist newspaper.
The letters expressed several people’s disappointment that the British delegation did not offer an apology during the Baptist World Alliance gathering in Ghana last year.
According to the Jamaica Gleaner, the general secretary of the Baptist Union of Great Britain, Jonathan Edwards, delivered the apology during his sermons at the worship services.
"We have heard the pain of our hurting brothers and sisters and we have heard God speaking to us," Edwards said during his apology.
"In a spirit of weakness, humility and vulnerability, we acknowledge that we are only at the start of a journey. We acknowledge our share and our nation’s participation in the trans-Atlantic slave trade."
Edwards said the Baptist Union Council of Great Britain unanimously agreed with the apology.
"We offer our apology to our brothers and sisters for all who have created and still perpetuate slavery and the hurt which originated from the horror of slavery," Edwards said. "We repent of the hurt we have caused."
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