A round up of news from around the United Reformed Church in seven days, 14-21 August 2023.
Thames North Synod
A celebration of togetherness was held in July for the creation of a new church that will serve two ecumenical communities in Luton and Dunstable.
Newland Church, a local ecumenical partnership, describes itself as a “fresh expression of Bury Park URC, Edward Street URC, St Katherine of Genoa URC, St Ninian’s URC and Wigmore Church” and will sit across two sites.
During the service, five coloured ribbons representing one of the churches, were brought forward and woven together at the front of the church by the church secretaries.
The congregation was invited to hold a ribbon or take hands with someone who was holding a ribbon before saying together words of commitment.
“It was a joy and a delight to attend the commitment and commissioning service,” said the Revd Sally Thomas, Ecumenical Officer for Thames North Synod.
“The service was well planned, thoughtful and uplifting. There was a great atmosphere and conversations shared over refreshments afterwards were full of encouragement. I came away feeling this was a united congregation with a clear sense of vision and purpose.”
Education and Learning
The URC’s Training and Development Officer (TDO+) network recently met for their annual residential meeting at Wesminster College in Cambridge.
At the meeting, the Revd Nigel Uden, former General Assembly Moderator 2018-2020 reflected on his time as a long-term serving minister and the changes he has seen and experienced, and the Revd Dr Alex Clare-Young spoke on their experience in Cambridge as a Special Category Minister.
Members of the network also shared about what is happening in each synod and joined in conversations around EM2 and EM3 as well as other issues relating to the valuable work of the TDO+ Network.
The Revd Jenny Mills, Secretary for Education and Learning, said: “It was great to share together in worship, ideas, conversation, and food.”
National Synod of Wales
Members of five churches within the east Wales region met for a weekend of fellowship in June.
On the first day of the weekend, the group made its way from Bailey Street Uniting Church in Brynmawr, where a short history of the town was given before heading off for a walk followed by fish and chips.
On the second day, the group gathered at Ebenezer URC in Pontnewynydd, for a Songs of Praise-type event, where each church chose their favourite hymn and spoke a little about it before each was sung by the group with gusto.
National Synod of Scotland
An action-packed holiday club run at Port Glasgow URC’s church hall has seen scores of children attend.
The morning club, run by the Port New Parish and the URC, offered fun and games, during a special sports-themed week.
“We had 57 children registered,” said the Revd Susan Henderson, Minister Port Glasgow URC. “Our numbers were up on last year.”
Other activities enjoyed by the children included singing, crafts and Bible lessons.
“There was a teambuilding theme, with the children grouped into teams and they all come up with their own team names,” continued Susan.
“They even designed their own mascots.”
Revd William Boyle of Port Glasgow New Parish also helped to run the club alongside Susan.
During the sports-themed week, William took on the role of the ‘gaffer’ with Susan the ‘head coach’ and they even had a physio on hand to help with the warmup.
There was a special surprise when Greenock Morton FC’s mascot Cappie the Cat showed up, to the delight of all the children.
Both churches thanked Tesco community champion Dawn McQullian for providing snacks during the week.