The Church of England is confronting a legal challenge against Project Spire, a £100 million initiative established to address the institution’s historical involvement with enslavement. The project was launched in 2023 following research into Queen Anne’s Bounty, a church endowment fund established in 1704.
Investigations revealed that the fund had invested in the South Sea Company, which transported more enslaved people across the Atlantic, and received donations from figures involved in enslavement operations. The Church Commissioners, which manages church assets, subsequently committed £100 million to the project, expected to develop an impact investment fund that would support startups in descendant communities with social, environmental, and financial objectives.
During the Church of England’s General Synod meeting, church leaders defended Project Spire as reparative work. Daniel Matovu, representing the diocese of Oxford, stated that the church not only profited from the slave trade but also supported and participated in it. He cited estimates suggesting the church generated roughly £5 million annually from running sugar plantations in Barbados between 1710 and 1838, totaling approximately £640 million in contemporary currency values.
The initiative has drawn opposition from the Policy Exchange think tank and some Conservative politicians, as well as certain church members who contend the project is historically questionable or that funds should be directed elsewhere. The bishop of Norwich acknowledged the legal challenge and confirmed Church Commissioners would seek full legal advice. He also noted that staff involved in the project have faced what he characterized as severe harassment.
Separately, USPG, an Anglican missionary organization formerly known as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, established its own £7 million reparative justice project in 2024 after apologizing for operating plantations in Barbados where thousands of people were enslaved.
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