The pastor of a small church in Virginia Beach wrote a lengthy letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury requesting an apology from the Church of England and British government for sins committed during the founding of the Jamestown colony in 1607. Specifically, the letter requests acknowledgment and apology for the mistreatment of Native Americans, African Americans, and others during the early colonial period. The pastor believes such an apology could help heal divisions and bring spiritual renewal to both America and Britain. He invites the Archbishop to deliver the apology in person or via letter at an upcoming religious conference in Virginia commemorating the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown colony's founding.

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5208 Canoe Landing, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 T 757-802-1423 Email: bobfox47@gmail.com
The Most Reverend and Rt Hon
The Lord Archbishop of Canterbury
Lambeth Palace, London
February 26, 2016
Your Grace:
Thank you for reading this letter. I apologize for sending such a lengthy letter but
I hope you will agree that the importance of this letter’s subject justifies its length.
In addition, two things make me believe that this letter is God’s idea.
Firstly, I was not planning on writing this letter or sending my book until I had a
recent “chance” conversation here in America with Rev. Stuart Bell of Alive
Church in Lincoln who encouraged me to send my book again to your office. I
had sent this book to a former Archbishop of Canterbury around 2007 with a
similar request that was denied. Secondly, to my utter astonishment, when I sent
a rough draft of this letter to a friend I am working with on a conference, he said
his brother-in-law knew you well. Now I knew that God was up to something in all
this! I hope you agree as you read the letter.
Please allow me to introduce myself. I am just the pastor of a small, non-
denominational church here in Virginia Beach, Virginia. My background will better
explain why I am writing this letter.
I am a 69 year-old British-born American pastor with dual citizenship and a deep
love for both Great Britain and America. I have served churches in the Hampton
Roads region of Virginia for 30 years--- an hour’s drive from where the 1607
Jamestown colony was located. Aside from pastoral duties, since 1994, I have
served on several years as an interdenominational coordinator for renewal and
evangelism ministries among churches in our region. Rev. Marty O’Rourke,
Rector of Messiah Anglican Church in Chesapeake and I have worked together
on a number of such regional Christian events over the past 20 years. From 1997
to 2000, I also served as the regional representative for Mission America, a large
national coalition of churches and ministries committed to reaching our cities for
Jesus through interdenominational collaboration. I currently serve a group of
about 80 pastors and leaders from many denominations, Protestant and Catholic,
to help coordinate a large, interdenominational Pentecost Service this May 15th
at
a local outdoor stadium. It is called One Night With the King (1night2016.org).

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F E L L O W S H I P
5208 Canoe Landing, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 T 757-802-1423 Email: bobfox47@gmail.com
As I have worked with leaders to awaken and mobilize churches for regional
ministry, it became apparent to many of us that the deepening problems of our
region and our nation can only be corrected by a move of God. Our economy, our
national security and our national morality are all at great risk now. Many of our
churches are spiritually weak and rent with many sins. Many American Christian
leaders sense that America’s future is in great danger unless God visits our land
again with a Great Awakening—like the one that the British evangelists John and
Charles Wesley and George Whitfield brought to our shores long ago.
Many of us are convinced that America is in serious trouble with God due to its
current and past sins. In fact, the roots of our current sins can often be traced
back to the sins of our founding fathers. We believe that if the Church of America
could fully repent for its sins in word and deed, including the sins of our founding
fathers (Neh. 9:2), then God will fulfill His promises in 2 Chronicles 7:13-14 and
heal our land again.
In a word, the American Church needs to confess the sins of our forefathers,
including the sins of our British forefathers in the Jamestown Colony of 1607.
This is where we need your help.
As Your Grace may know, despite the best intentions of the British Crown and of
the Church of England of the time, the Jamestown Colony began the abuse of
Native Americans, African-Americans, of other Christian denominations and even
of English women and children (the Migrant Children of 1618) in what has
become the United States of America. The impact of that abuse can be seen
today in clear patterns of oppression and victimization that we Americans have
perpetuated on those same groups for many generations. My book, Healing
America’s DNA, describes most of those abuses in some detail.
So, while Americans rejoice that the kind Providence of God sent British Anglican
Christians to birth our nation and dedicate this new land to the Lord Jesus Christ,
those same British Anglican Christians also sowed seeds of sin into the soul of
America that have now grown into a dark harvest of sin for which the American
Church must repent if God is to heal our land again.
The sins of our British forefathers also left spiritual and emotional scars on many
Americans whose ancestors were abused by the colony. Many Native Americans
and African-Americans, in particular, remember the Jamestown Colony with great
sadness and perhaps some degree of anger. To my knowledge, none of the

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5208 Canoe Landing, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 T 757-802-1423 Email: bobfox47@gmail.com
mistakes of the Jamestown Colony have ever been officially acknowledged by
the Church of England or by the British Crown or by the British government. A
short word of apology from Great Britain could bring deep healing to many
descendants of these two groups in America. Please understand that we are only
requesting an apology, not restitution of any kind. We just want some form of
apology much like the other apologies that have been graciously offered by Great
Britain to others around the world.
I am sure you would agree with me, Your Grace, that Great Britain has
distinguished itself among the nations of the world by the several courageous
expressions of regret and apology made by the Church of England or by the
government of England. Examples of these apologies include those made for the
slave trade (2006), the Crusades (2005), the improper seizures of Jewish
property after WWII (1998) and the treatment of the Irish (1997). As you know,
former Archbishop Rowan Williams issued a declaration in 2006 concerning the
Church of England’s guilt in profiting from the slave trade. His words then
powerfully apply to our request today:
The Body of Christ is not just a body that exists at any one time; it exists across
history and we therefore share the shame and the sinfulness of our
predecessors, and part of what we can do, with them and for them in the Body of
Christ, is prayerful acknowledgment of the failure that is part of us, not just of
some distant 'them'
In 2010, Prime Minister Gordon Brown publically apologized to the survivors of
the Child Migrant abuses. It is more than ironic that the first 100 British migrant
children to be sent overseas were sent to the Jamestown Colony in 1618! This is
reported by the Child Migrant Trust on their website.
Therefore, we humbly ask for a similar apology for the sins of the Jamestown
Colony for these three important benefits: 1) to help the American Church realize
we also need to repent for the sins of our British forefathers and 2) to bring
healing and reconciliation to the descendants of Native Americans and African-
Americans whose ancestors suffered greatly at the hands of the Jamestown
Colony and the entire Virginia Colony.
The third benefit that would accrue to such a gracious apology is seen in the
remarkable story in II Samuel 21 where God is penalizing the entire nation of
Israel with a famine for a sin committed by leaders of a previous generation.

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5208 Canoe Landing, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 T 757-802-1423 Email: bobfox47@gmail.com
Once reconciliation occurred, God heard petition to break the famine. While the
reconciliation process of II Samuel 21 was harsh and unique to that time, the
principle of the story still seems to apply here: a British apology for the sins of the
Jamestown Colony could also release even more of God’s blessings on both of
our nations.
Our Appeal
Would Your Grace, as the highest-ranking minister of the Church of England, be
willing to apologize for any of the mistakes of the Jamestown Colony mentioned
in this letter and explained in great detail in my book? Could you encourage the
British government to offer such an apology?
Why Now?
A conference called Light 2016 will be held in Virginia Beach, not far from
Jamestown, on April 29-30, 2016. We choose that date because the Anglican
chaplain of the Jamestown Colony, Rev. Robert Hunt, dedicated our land to the
Lord Jesus on April 29, 1607.
The purpose of the conference is to repent for the sins of the Church in America,
past and present, so that God would heal our land (2 Chronicles 7:13-14). This is
a fully interdenominational conference that has the blessing of the Awakening
America Alliance whose leaders include some of the most respected prayer
leaders in America.
Two Options
If you or the British government chooses to make a statement of apology, we
would be honored to fly you or someone else to this conference to read that
statement of apology. We would pay all the expenses of the trip. Or, if you prefer,
we could read a letter from you or the government at the conference. We would
leave press releases to you, unless you say otherwise.
In closing, may Our Lord, Who graciously sent the Church of England and
government of Great Britain to found America, bless both nations even more as
we seek healing and reconciliation for the sins of our all of our ancestors.
With gratitude and blessings,
Bob Fox
Pastor, Abundant Life Fellowship
Co-Sponsor of the Light 2016 Conference

5. A B U N D A N T L I F E
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5208 Canoe Landing, Virginia Beach, VA 23464 T 757-802-1423 Email: bobfox47@gmail.com