Hundreds of people packed Westminster Abbey on Friday 4 April 2008 for a special service to celebrate the life and work of Dr Martin Luther King Jr, the Baptist minister and civil rights’ campaigner who was assassinated forty years ago on 4 April 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.

The congregation, which included His Excellency Robert Holmes Tuttle, Ambassador of the United States of America, was welcomed by the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall. The address was given by the Reverend Dr Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance.

Rabbi Mark Winer, Senior Rabbi at the West London Synagogue read from Isaiah 2: 1-5; the Reverend Dr Elbert Ransom, an aide to Dr King, read from Galatians 3: 23-29; and the Reverend Katei Kirby, Chief Executive Officer of the African Caribbean Evangelical Alliance read from Luke 4; 16-21.

Pastor Yemisi Ashimolowo, Resident Pastor of the Kingsway International Christian Centre; David Lammy MP; Bishop Dr Joe Aldred, Secretary for Minority Ethnic Christian Affairs; Commissioner Elizabeth Matear, Moderator of the Free Churches Group; and the US Ambassador all read from the writings and speeches of Dr King.

Kwame Kwei-Armah read Voice Your Dream by Lorraine Howell.

Prayers were led by Bishop Eric Brown, Administrative Bishop of the New Testament Church of God; Pastor Agu Irukwu, Senior Pastor of the Jesus House for All Nations; and the Reverend Nezlin Sterling, National and International General Secretary of the New Testament Assembly.

During the service, wreaths were laid at the Abbey’s Innocent Victims’ Memorial outside the Great West Door by Kathleen Kirby Jones, mother of Michael Jones a student who was murdered on 20th March 2008; Meg Hillier MP, representing the Home Secretary; and the US Ambassador.

Two gospel choirs sang: the Festival of Life Choir of the Redeemed Christian Church of God directed by Omotoye Akisanya; and the Ruach Ministries Choir directed by Orville Thomas.

Adelaide McKenzie sang Thomas A. Dorsey’s Precious Lord – which was sung at the funeral of Dr King of 9th April 1968 The service also featured archive recordings of the CBS news bulletin announcing Dr King’s assassination in 1968 and of his address at the Lincoln Memorial on 28th August 1963 (‘I have a dream’).

The service, which was organised in partnership with the United States Embassy, the Peace Alliance and Churches Together in England, followed a one-day seminar at Methodist Central Hall.