Author, CEO, Speaker, Activist
About
Ben is founder of Power The Fight, a new charity which launched in Jan 2019 to train and empower communities to end youth violence.
One of The Evening Standard’s Progress 1000 London’s most influential people for 2018, Ben is an experienced trainer and facilitator with more than 19 years spent working with high risk young people in the field of gangs and serious youth violence.
Ben began his career developing programmes in some of the most challenging estates in London (Brixton, Clapham and Lewisham). In 2003 he became a learning mentor at a primary school in the borough of Lewisham, South East London before joining the Lewisham Youth Offending Service, where he worked in a number of roles, including leading the early intervention team.
While at Lewisham, Ben developed several successful programmes including the ground-breaking knife crime prevention programme Double Edge for offenders of knife crime, which was featured in the ‘Gang and Group Offenders – A Practitioner’s Handbook of Ideas & Interventions’ published by the London Criminal Justice Board.
In 2010 Ben developed the gangs and serious youth violence strategy for Camden Council and then went on to work for the mental health charity MAC-UK leading their mini mac project.
Ben was Chair of the Greenwich Independent Advisory Group until 2016. Between 2016 -2020, Ben was lead pastor at Emmanuel New Cross in South East London. He currently sits on the Mayor of London Sadiq Kahn’s Violence Reduction Unit reference group and on the cross party Youth Violence Commission.
His first book, the No1 Bestseller, We Need To Talk About Race – Understanding the Black Experience in White Majority Churches was released in July 2019 through SPCK Publishing.
Book
It’s time for the church to start talking about race.
From the UK church’s complicity in the transatlantic slave trade to the whitewashing of Christianity throughout history, the church has a lot to answer for when it comes to race relations. Christianity has been dubbed the white man’s religion, and yet the Bible speaks of an impartial God and contains a diverse body of believers.
In this book, Ben Lindsay offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the perceived ‘status quo’ in white majority churches. Filled with personal experience and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations within the UK church and how we can work towards creating a truly inclusive church community.
Book
It’s time for the church to start talking about race.
From the UK church’s complicity in the transatlantic slave trade to the whitewashing of Christianity throughout history, the church has a lot to answer for when it comes to race relations. Christianity has been dubbed the white man’s religion, and yet the Bible speaks of an impartial God and contains a diverse body of believers.
In this book, Ben Lindsay offers eye-opening insights into the black religious experience, challenging the perceived ‘status quo’ in white majority churches. Filled with personal experience and insightful questions, this book offers a comprehensive analysis of race relations within the UK church and how we can work towards creating a truly inclusive church community.
Resources
Welcome to We Need to Talk about Race, a four-part home group study series based around Ben Lindsay’s book of the same title. You don’t need to read the book to complete the studies, but doing so will help you get the most from the course.
The studies cover a range of topics from the black experience in churches and wider culture, to the history of racism and the role of slavery, to radical solidarity, social action and the road ahead.
Features
Articles
- // Pastor Ben Lindsay: Harnessing the Potential and Resources of Faith Groups – Youth Violence Commission Final Report
- // Covid-19 has revealed racial inequalities. Here are 3 ways the Church must respond
- // The Gospel according to grime: Why these artists are rapping about God
- // Our government is failing to stop London’s knife crime epidemic. Will the Church step up?
Press
- // Channel 4 News – Boy of 13 arrested after man stabbed to death in west London
- // The Hopeful Activists’ Podcast – Power the Fight: Community, Collaboration and Prayer
- // The Hopeful Activists’ Podcast – The Church & Race
- // Images of Fatherhood Sunday Worship 21.06.20 with Ben Lindsay, Guvna B and Lord Hastings – BBC Radio 4
- // Ben Lindsay: The tension between race and faith – The Magnify Podcast
- // Just Cause Podcast – Ben Lindsay on youth violence and the importance of community with Derek A Bardowell
- // We Need To Talk About Race review by Andy Goodliff for the Baptist Union
- // We Need To Talk About Race review by Jennie Pollock for Jubilee+
- // We Need To Talk About Race review by John Woods for Inspire Magazine
- // We Need To Talk About Race review by Chris Cambell for Soliquidas
- // We Need To Talk About Race review by Anthony Reddie for The Church Times
- // Becs Dhillon and Nicky Gumble interview with Ben Lindsay – Faith & Equality Podcast.
- // Ben Lindsay: youth violence, racism and parenting – Interview with Ruth Jackson for Premier Radio
- // Structures which can be traced back to slavery need to be destroyed – Church Times Interview
- // Ben Lindsay on why the Church needs to talk about race – Church Times Podcast
- // Race Matters interview by Reform Magazine
- // Why We Need to Talk About Race extract in Premier Christianity Magazine
- // Interview by Voice Newspaper
- // Interviewed on Premier Christian Radio
- // Ben Lindsay named one of London’s most influential people
Talks
We need to talk about race, justice and the Church
– June 2021
COVID 19, Disproportionate BAME Impact and the White Led Church Response
– June 2020
On The Line // We Need to Talk About Race // Ben Lindsay
– June 2020
Bringing down racial and ethnic barriers in our congregations
– May 2020
YC20: Ben Lindsay – Invisible Barriers // Let’s talk about race, O2 Arena
– February 2020
Ben Lindsay, Youth Culture, 02 Arena
– February 2019
Ben Lindsay, St Pauls Cathedral
– October 2018