The West Yorkshire African-Caribbean Council of Churches (WYACCC) came into existence as the result of a report to a gathering of Black Majority Church leaders and ministers of the established churches who met together on 26th February 1993.

Then Employed as a Community Development Worker with Barnardo's Churches and Neighbourhood Action, Tony Parry presented his report on Black Majority Churches or Black Lead Churches in West Yorkshire.  The report captured the history of these churches and the contributions made to the local communities and cities across the county.

As a result of this two things became apparent to the gathering. The first was the uniqueness of the event. Never before had such a group of Ministers from such diverse denominations gathered together in the city. The second was the realization that they had more in common than their obvious differences.

On a subsequent CANA Team Away Day, Tony Parry suggested a possible way of harnessing those two things as a foundation for the formation of a Council of Churches. A small steering group made up of various Pastors from across the County began work on the possibility of forming a Council of Churches.

Nine months of consultation and meetings resulted in the formation of WYACCC, and the inaugural service took place in February 1994.  Approximately 270 people witnessed the launch.  The full range of the Church leadership from the Black Majority Churches Pastors and Ministers came together with the Bishops, District Chairmen and Moderators of the Main line churches.  Bishop Joe Aldred gave the address commenting on the potential that lay within Black Majority Churches to work together and bring about social change in their communities.

From those early days until now the essence of WYACCC remains the same, to be a catalyst and an agent of change recognising, that working ecumenically across the Black Majority Church divide makes sense not only in terms of economies of scale, but as a sound Kingdom principle.  The words of the Old Testament prophet Nehemiah 4:v6 ‘for the people had a mind to work', became the WYACCC motto in 1994, and remains so today.

Over the years, WYACCC has engaged in a number of social issues.  To address the problem of the under achievement of African and African Caribbean young people in the city of Bradford, the African Caribbean Achievement Project was set up and is still running independently today. WYACCC has held conferences addressing the issues of   mental health within the African and African Caribbean community, and run Economic empowerment conferences for young black entrepreneurs. Other projects have included a food pantry, and the employment of a project worker to support Black Majority Churches involved in social action initiatives.

We're grateful to God for giving the vision and also to all those within the various Churches who have run with it.

Bishop Canon Tony Parry, Founding Chair, WYACCC