United Reformed Church

Community Project Awards

For 26 years, the United Reformed Church’s (URC) Community Project Awards have recognised outstanding community projects in United Reformed Churches and its churches in ecumenical partnerships, that demonstrate the love of God and the mission of the Church by reaching out in many different ways to help the local communities in which our churches serve.

The partner of the awards for the past 15 years has been  Congregational. Since the awards began, 75 churches have received a total of £140,000 in support.

2025 Community Project Awards

Entry to the 2025 Community Project Awards will soon be open and the details will be added here.

There will be six awards again for 2025, three first prizes of £2,000 and three highly commended prizes of £1,000. The closing date will 21 February 2025.

Recipients of the 2023 Community Project Awards, standing behind and sitting on a bench in the grassy grounds of The Hayes Conference Centre, with Andy Jackson, Head of Communications who wears a pink shirt.

The 2024 Awards

At the URC General Assembly meeting at The Hayes, Swanwick, in July 2024, six church community projects received awards of either £2,000 and £1,000 towards its work.

The three winning projects

The Barn Hospitality Project, Livingston United Parsh Church

Community Food Hub, Dursley Tabernacle URC

Lancaster Road URC Community Food Hub, Enfield

The three highly commended projects

The Pod Church and Community Together, Sherborne, Dorset

Open Church, Heaton Moor United Church, Stockport

Open Doors TAG Café, Dorking United Reformed Church

The 2023 Awards

25 Years of the Community Project Awards

The 2023 Community Project Awards marked the 25th year the scheme has been in place, having been founded by the Revd David Lawrence in 1998. In recognition of this milestone we have created this celebratory video, where you can learn more about the awards scheme and see the incredible difference it has made in people’s lives.

The winners from the 2023 Awards can be viewed below or you can read more about the award ceremony here.

St Johns URC Causeway Community Garden, Warrington

DARE Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise, Lancashire

Wooler Warm Welcome, Wooler United Reformed Church, Northampton

The 2022 Awards

After visits to each of the projects, three winners were selected, but because of the quality of the other projects, the judges also awarded two Highly Commended awards with the hope that these projects will considering entering the awards again.

The three winners from the 2022 Awards can be viewed below, or you can watch the 2022 Awards playlist on our YouTube channel, this includes videos from the community projects that were highly commended.

Skipton Wellbeing Café at St Andrews URC and Methodist Church in Skipton

Community Uniform Swap Shop at St Columba’s URC in Wolverhampton

Roker Life at Roker United Reformed Church, Sunderland

Judges: Margaret Slater, Derek Estill, Andy Jackson, Maranny Jones, Sue Cossey, Pete Twilley and Jo Patterson.

Videos and photos: Andy Jackson, Hannah Clark, Matt Collins and Laura Taylor.

Previous award winners

United Reformed Church