About the United Reformed Church

URC-LOGO-blueThe United Reformed Church is a family of Christians, worshipping in the name of Jesus, in about 1500 local churches from Orkney to Cornwall.

Our roots are in the religious changes of the 16th Century but we’re not stuck there!

We are Reformed – meaning our roots are in the changes that John Calvin introduced in Geneva – but we believe that God continually calls us to reform.  We believe that Church government should be separate from that of the state and that oversight is best done by committees of ministers and lay people together.

We are United  – meaning that four strands of the Christian Church have formed us.  In England the Presbyterian Church of England joined with the Congregational Union of England and Wales in 1972 formed the URC.  in 1980 the Churches of Christ joined meaning that, for the first time the URC was present in Scotland and, in 2000, most churches in the Congregational Union of Scotland joined.  Working together, is therefore, in our DNA!   We still try to work as closely as we can with Christians of all traditions and styles.

 

We are (part of) the Church.  Jesus left his work of preaching, teaching, bringing healing and proclaiming God’s coming Kingdom to his followers – his Church.  We are part of that and seek to be: One – recognising that our unity is in Jesus Christ who calls us, and all his followers to be close to him;  Catholic – in welcoming all people; Holy – recognising that Jesus Christ, the only Head of the Church both makes us holy and calls us to live a life of holiness (which always includes living justly); and apostolic – we do the work that the first apostles were given to preach, teach and make disciples.

All our tasks and posts are open to women as fully as to men. We are an intercultural church, where people with varied ethnic roots enrich each other’s Christian living.  Our churches are free, if they wish, to marry same sex couples and neither sexual orientation nor gender identity are barriers to membership or ordination.

Our people hold a range of opinions about theology and church life. In the words of the denomination’s Statement of Nature, Faith and Order (1990) together we are firmly committed to ‘God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The living God, the only God, ever to be praised.’

Find out more by exploring this website, or (even better) by coming to meet us and worshipping with us.