Author, Speaker, Pastor, 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 17 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.
Since 2016, Ben has been the lead pastor at Emmanuel New Cross in South East London. Ben was Chair of the Greenwich Independent Advisory Group until 2016.
His first book 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.
Features
Articles by Ben Lindsay
Press
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// Ben Lindsay: The tension between race and faith – The Magnify Podcast
- // 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
Ben Lindsay, Youth Culture, 02 Arena – February 2019
Ben Lindsay, St Pauls Cathedral – October 2018
YC20: Ben Lindsay – Invisible Barriers // Let’s talk about race, O2 Arena – February 2020
Bringing down racial and ethnic barriers in our congregations – May 2020