Category Archives: Latest News.

Worship was led on the final morning of Assembly Executive by the Revd Helen Everard, Chaplain to the Moderators of United Reformed Church General Assembly. The Revd Andrew Mudharara read from Genesis from the story of Hagar and Sarah.

Session seven 

The Revd Dr Jill Thornton, a hospice chaplain, had recorded a video reflecting theologically on experience of pandemic. Technical problems prevented Assembly Executive from watching the video, but it will be available on urc.org.uk

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Day two of Assembly Executive opened with worship led by the Revd Helen Everard, Chaplain to the Moderators of United Reformed Church General Assembly, who introduced the hymn ‘Christ Be Our Light’ by Bernadette Farrell.

Tim Crossley, Yorkshire Synod Clerk, read a Bible reading from Genesis 42 1-8, where Jacob sends his sons to Egypt to buy grain during a famine. Helen then gave a reflection on the theme of masks worn by both heroes and villains (heroes and villains being the theme for URC Youth Assembly 2021). How if we didn’t know Batman was a hero, but if you didn’t know he was a hero, because of his mask he could be seen as a villain. Helen compared Batman to Robin Hood who was seen as a villain but how was actually a hero stealing from the rich to give to the poor.

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The autumn meeting of the United Reformed Church (URC) Assembly Executive opened on 22 November at at High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, with a welcome by the Revd Clare Downing, Moderator of the URC General Assembly. 

Session One

Opening worship was led by the Revd Helen Everard, Moderator’s Chaplain. She introduced a hymn by Graham Adams, ‘We come to praise our God’. Its assertion that “we who commit to Christ… love diversity” was the focus of the reading from the book of Acts – the story of Cornelius, a centurion who accepts the gospel preached by the apostle Peter and is remembered as the first named gentile to convert to Christianity.

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Free tickets are now available for the United Reformed Church (URC’s) 50th Anniversary Service of Celebration and Thanksgiving taking place on 1 October 2022, at Methodist Central Hall Westminster, London, where the Uniting Assembly of the United Reformed Church took place in 1972.

The day starts at United Reformed Church House at 86 Tavistock Place, London WC1H 9RT with an Open Church House event, packed full of jubilee related talks and activities, as well as to meet the team that work at the office.

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The autumn meeting of the United Reformed Church Assembly Executive is taking place at High Leigh Conference Centre from 22-24 November. 

At General Assembly 2021, the name of Mission Council was changed to Assembly Executive and will meet once a year to reflect on the life of the Church and make decisions about its day-to-day life.

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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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