Monthly Archives: November 2021

A Lancashire-based group is slowly but surely working their way through the United Reformed Church (URC’s) discipleship development programme.

The group, led by the Revds Daleen ten Cate, Mission Discipleship Mentor for the URC North Western Synod, and John Gordon, Minister for the Lancashire North Missional Partnership, completed Faith-filled Life, the opening stream of Stepwise earlier this year.

Faith-filled life focuses on identity, place and purpose, and provided the group the opportunity to explore how faith shapes daily life, walking with God, and building confidence for facing life challenges to name a few.

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The Revd Clare Downing, Moderator of the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, joins with leaders from the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the Methodist Church in Great Britain in responding to the conclusion of the COP26 summit held in Glasgow.

Significant new statements have been made at the summit in Glasgow. Most government delegations accept that the sense of urgency is greater than it was six years ago at Paris. But ultimately, the summit has not delivered. All governments must agree on the necessary actions to avoid 1.5 degrees of warming. The failure of all parties at COP26 to unequivocally support this higher ambition with funding and emission reductions is an injustice towards those whose livelihoods have already been devastated by climate change.

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Statement from the Baptist Union of Great Britain, The Methodist Church and the United Reformed Church on the conclusion of the Glasgow COP26 summit – 14 November 2021 Significant new statements have been made at the summit in Glasgow. Most … Continue reading →

In an increasingly diverse society, local churches are often approached by other faith communities seeking premises where they can hold worship or events.

Working with the Baptist Union of Great Britain, the United Reformed Church has produced a new resource for local churches entitled ‘The use of church buildings by people of other faith communities’. The booklet has been launched in time for Inter Faith Week.

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Church Related Community Worker Mal Breeze reflects on the significance of Remembrance and what it means to him, to members of his Blackburn community, his faith and to everyone who has been touched by loss and how the face of the memorial day has changed in Britain and around the world, especially during the pandemic.

Remembrance today

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As we enter week two of COP26, things are still very much in the balance as to how we will measure the success of the conference. So far, we’ve heard commitments from world leaders on coal, methane gasses and de-forestation. … Continue reading →

The Revd Andy Braunston, Minister of Barrhead, Priesthill, Shawlands and Stewarton United Reformed Churches (URC) in the National Synod of Scotland’s Southside Cluster, has been appointed as the new Minister for Digital Worship.

The need for the role was introduced at General Assembly in July by the Revd Dr John Bradbury, General Secretary of the URC, to make the Daily Devotions and Daily Devotions Sunday service an integral part of the life and witness of the denomination.

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Roo Stewart, United Reformed Church (URC) Programme Support Officer for Church and Society , and Debs Brooks, wife of the Revd Philip Brooks, URC Secretary for Ecumenical and Interfaith Relations, have recorded a hymn specially written for Remembrance. 

For the Beauty of the Somme was written by Pfarrer Martin Henninger, Minister of the Lutherkirche in Frankenthal, and the Revd Dr David Pickering, Minister of Emmanuel URC and Elmers End Free Church, following their joint pilgrimage to the Somme in 2018.

The hymn is freely available for use by local churches and people connected with the URC.

Listen to the song and watch the video here:

(Link)

Am instrumental version can be found here.

A further explanation of the hymn by the Revd Dr David Pickering can be found here.

_{Published: 8 November 2021
Image: Chris Sansbury/Unsplash}

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The Scottish College, a United Reformed Church and Congregational Federation Resource Centre for Learning, has been newly established as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation, and has begun to operate as the formal legal structure underpinning college life.
 
Under the constitution of the new college all congregations of the United Reformed Church (URC) and of the Congregational Federation based in Scotland are entitled to be members of the College.

Local URC churches will shortly be asked to confirm their willingness to be members of the College and to nominate a representative to attend College General Meetings.

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The United Reformed Church (URC) Legacies of (Transatlantic) Slavery (LoS) task group has launched a denomination-wide consultation.

The consultation started with presentations at the autumn Synod meetings and will be broadened in the coming months to engage people in local churches and church groups.

Responses gathered will feed into the task group’s recommendations to the URC General Assembly in 2022.

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