A round-up of news from around the United Reformed Church (URC) over the past seven days, 13-20 July.
Southern Synod
A house-bound woman who has managed to remain an active member of her church has gained a Certificate of Loyal & Devoted Service.
Doreen Meredith joined the church in 1969 as a young mother of five when it was a Congregational chapel.
She soon started work as a Sunday school teacher and youth club leader and assisted the Chapel during school holiday clubs.
Following the formation of the URC in 1972, Doreen was inducted as an Elder and became church secretary, a role she carried out until 2016.
Despite Doreen becoming less mobile over the years, her faith and support for The Chapel on the Hill never wavered.
Peter Jackson, Church Secretary, said: “Doreen’s prayer support is invaluable, as is her advice, and wisdom, all of which are freely given.”
While the chapel holds afternoon face-to-face services, Doreen faithfully attends the weekly morning Sunday service held on Zoom and regularly hosts ‘members and Elders meetings’ in her home and contributes wisely at every meeting.
Doreen was thanked for her dedication and loyalty to Jesus and the band of believers in Sedlescombe for more than 50 years and was presented with a rose shrub and a certificate by Peter and his wife Marie.
Marie said: “Doreen’s love and support for the village has been a gift from Jesus, her prayers over many years have been a blessing to so many.”
Yorkshire Synod Church helps send scout to this year’s Jambouree!
Congratulations to Noah Dockar, 17, from Otley Bridge Church, who is one of five scouts chosen from his troop to attend the Scouts’ 25 World Scout Jambouree in Saemangeum, South Korea.
The jambouree, which takes place every four years, has gathered scouts from around the world since 1920 and this year more than 40,000 are expected to attend the event held from 1-12 August.
Noah has needed to raise £3,800 to go on the trip and has been assisted by his church to fundraise by holding bake sales, quiz events and selling raffle tickets.
To help Noah, fellow other scouts from the 44th unit, affectionately known as “the Yorkshire Puds’, sold sell hot dogs at their local carnival.
Within a year of starting to fundraise, Noah successfully met his goal and looks forward to setting off in August.
For those not taking part in the trip, URC Children’s and Youth Team sent some of their overseas resources focusing on South Korea for the troop to explore.
Northern Synod
A banner created for the URC’s 50th anniversary celebrations was blessed at a recent service at Stockton URC.
The “welcome” banner was created after Alison Dalton, Church Related Community Worker for Sunderland (and Boldon) URC Partnership, spent several weeks with the church’s Rainbow group exploring the sanctuary and the special things found there, and then designing and painting items to go on the banner.
A sewing group at Grindown Church Community Project, also based in Sunderland helped sew the Rainbows’ design onto the banner, with tweaks of their own such as buttons.
At a recent service, where more than 50 people attended, the banner was blessed and displayed at the front of the church for all to see.
Eastern Synod
Saffron Walden United Reformed Church has recently been recognised as a child and youth-friendly church for its commitment to engaging with families.
The congregation actively creates a space for all voices of the church to be heard and intentionally includes all ages in the decision-making and general life of the church.
Nicola Grieves, CYDO for Eastern Synod, said: “They [children and youth] are a committed team and take listening to the children and young people very seriously. It was evident from my visits that the whole church family welcomes the children.”
Young people have active roles at Saffron Walden, from helping to lead the junior church, planning, and leading services including worship, taking a lead on the church’s commitment to becoming an Eco-Church and participating in the puppet team, Castle Hill puppets.
As part of the CYFC process, congregations are encouraged to think about areas for development. John and Jo Ford, Saffron Walden’s children and youth Elders, expressed hopes to develop more intergenerational links.
“In the future, we wish to create opportunities for older people within the congregation to share with younger people their experiences of faith,” they said.
The young people of the church are steering the work towards gaining an A Rocha UK Eco-Church award by exploring what’s involved and setting up a task group. There have also been suggestions of holding an occasional forest church service.
When John and Jo Ford, were asked why they had felt it was important to become a recognised child and youth friendly church they added: “We believe that by engaging with the CYFC scheme we will be able to make our church and the Christian faith more accessible to children and young people.
“Importantly, we think that we will be able to use this opportunity as a vehicle to drive forward the changes that are needed to develop children and youth work.
Find more about the Children and Youth Friendly Church Scheme here.
Ipswich Road URC recently saw 40 members gather for its “cafe church” along the theme of prayer.
The gathering in Norwich provided the opportunity for people to discuss what prayer meant for them and what the Bible says about prayer.
The group also engaged in the URC at Greenbelt’s request for churches to contribute to the URC’s tent decorations by creating Kintsugi hearts.
Members were provided with paper hearts, backing card, milk bottle tops containing small amounts of glue and gold and silver paint and cotton buds to use as paint brushes, then, using the guidance in the URC website, created the hearts and brought them forward to the front of the church.