Here's your latest edition of News Update |    View in browser

News Update                                      July/August 2020

URC holds its first digital General Assembly and Mission Council

For the first time in its history, the United Reformed Church (URC) live-streamed its General Assembly – the URC’s main decision-making body – on YouTube on 11 July. The main business of this Assembly was worship and the inductions of Assembly-appointed officers. Namely, the Revd Dr John Bradbury as URC General Secretary, and the Revd Clare Downing and Peter Pay as Moderators of the General Assembly. The event included contributions from ecumenical partners, including Hannah Brock Womack who was prevented from taking up her Fourth Presidency with Churches Together England due to being in a same-sex marriage, and the Revd Dr Barbara Glasson, former President of the Methodist Conference. The URC also held a digital version of Mission Council – the executive body of General Assembly – on 10 July. Items discussed included: the URC’s safeguarding strategy 2020-2025, pastoral supervision following the outcomes of the Past Case Review Learning Report, and the future of Walking the Way: Living the life of Jesus today, the URC’s focus of lifelong missional discipleship. A round up of General Assembly can be found here, and a round up of Mission Council here.

News in brief

The Revd John Reardon, a former United Reformed Church (URC) Deputy General Secretary 1983-90, has committed to walking 88 miles in one month in his 88th year. John, who is a member of Newport Pagnell URC in Buckinghamshire, is part of a team who are trying to raise funds for the Mead Centre, a community building project aimed at creating space for people who would normally find themselves on the margins of society. Read more.

Church House bids farewell to senior staff members

Tributes were paid by Derek Estill, Immediate-past Moderator of the URC General Assembly, to the Revds John Proctor and Richard Church, who are retiring from their senior roles within the denomination. Speaking at the live-streamed version of General Assembly, Derek first thanked John saying: "We want to say a big ‘thankyou’ to you for all you have done for the URC over the years and for leading our denomination as General Secretary so well ... Being General Secretary is a demanding role with many aspects, sensitivities and challenges all of which you have responded to in a most gracious and accomplished way, we could not have asked for more." Then thanking Richard, Derek said: “Richard has exercised an energic, imaginative and effective ministry in local churches and in synod posts, and is highly regarded for the work that he has done and his commitment and enthusiasm for discipleship ... Richard, we appreciate and thank you for all you have done. Your legacy is assured because you have championed the fundamental importance of discipleship." John retires after 34 years of service, and Richard 39 years. The full tribute can be

read in the General Assembly round up, link above. After 12 years in post, the Revd Fiona Thomas (right) also moves on from the role of URC Secretary for Education and Learning in August. Ms Thomas will continue to serve local churches by working freelance to design participatory Bible studies, and facilitate conversations using appreciative enquiry and strengths-based approaches. Fiona speaks about her time in the role here.

Moderator inducted at digital service

The induction of the Revd Brian Jolly as Moderator of the URC's North Western Synod took place on 30 June. The service was led by Derek Estill, Immediate-past URC General Assembly Moderator, and livestreamed on YouTube. Watch here.

Care homes receive support from PCT

The Presbyterian Church in Taiwan (PCT), a partner of the URC, has provided financial support and resources to care homes in the UK that have been affected by Covid-19. Read more.

Help keep KitKat Fairtrade

KitKat is to drop the Fairtrade Foundation's logo after ten years. It's makers, Nestle, plan to alter arrangements for sourcing ingredients. The Fairtrade label guarantees that the farmers behind a product get a set minimum price as well as a financial bonus. The URC is one of many organisations to protest. The Revd Nigel Uden and Derek Estill, Immediate-past Moderators of the URC General Assembly, and the Revd John Proctor, outgoing URC General Secretary, said: "The United Reformed Church is strongly committed to supporting and endorsing fair trade, and we regard very highly the work of the Fairtrade Foundation. The recent news from Nestle is deeply disappointing. Our luxury – chocolate – has been other people’s lifeline. Cutting some of these connections would leave a very sour taste indeed.” To have your say with the makers of Nestle to keep KitKat Fairtrade, sign this petition.

Explore faith with maps

The URC Yorkshire Synod's Wilderness Faith Maps Facebook group is an all-age initiative open to anyone who is interested in exploring their faith with other people. Released weekly, faith maps is a discipleship resource based on the lectionary Scriptures and is flexible to suit different households and settings. Read more.

Keep up to date with safeguarding

Do you want to keep up to date with changes to safeguarding legislation and policy in faith-based organisations? Are you interested in hearing about everyday safeguarding activities and receiving regular updates about good practice guidance? Then follow URC Safeguarding on Twitter here.

Synod Moderator retires

Well wishes and thanks were bestowed on the Revd Kevin Watson and his wife Lynne at a service on 30 June. Kevin, who has served as Yorkshire Synod Moderator since 2008, and as URC General Assembly Moderator from 2016 to 2018, has now retired. 

Help protect UK food standards

The Revd Elizabeth Clark, National Rural Officer for the Methodist and United Reformed Churches, is asking people to sign a petition which calls for an amendment to the Agricultural Bill. According to Farmers Weekly, the bill is the most important piece of farming legislation to come before parliament in decades. With lots of discussion around future trade, particularly with the US, the aim of the amendment is to protect the UK's high food welfare standards in contrast to other countries. Sign the petition here.

URC Elder wins Association of Church Editors award

Dr Ruth Shepherd, Elder at Christ Church, South Manchester, and Editor of Crosstalk magazine, has won a Certificate of Achievement Award in the annual Association of Church Editors competition.

Farewell to Doreen

Friends across the URC were saddened to hear of the death on 1 June of Doreen Dunford. Mrs Dunford (née Gallant) worked in the London offices of the Congregational Union and then of the URC for 30 years until the 1990s, when she moved to East Anglia with husband Michael, a Church House colleague. "Doreen is remembered as a helpful, careful and knowledgeable member of staff, deeply committed to our Church, organised, friendly and supportive," said the Revd John Proctor, outgoing URC General Secretary.

World's oldest man sadly dies

Bob Weighton – who once taught at a Presbyterian Church of England missionary school and who was named the world's oldest man by Guinness World Record in March, when he celebrated his 112th birthday – sadly died on

28 May. Bob, whose wife Agnes died in 1995, is two sons, a daughter, ten grandchildren and 25 great-grandchildren. Read more.

Imagine with Darwen refugees 

Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE) at Central URC, Darwen, Lancashire, seeks to provide fellowship and support for asylum seekers and refugees in the community. In doing so, the project challenges everyone to consider what it means to be a disciple of Jesus in everyday life in a world which can be hostile and cruel, especially to migrants. Daleen ‘ten Cate, URC Missional Discipleship Mentor for Lancashire, explains how the group invites us to imagine what a world of kindness and generosity might look like, and how we, as disciples of Jesus, can be part of that vision. Read more.

Coronavirus: Information and resources

Minister delivers Covid-19 testing kits

The Revd Dr JunSoo Park, a Presbyterian Church of Korea minister who leads St Andrew's URC in Balham, and who has special dispensation to travel because he is a key worker, has delivered Covid-19 testing kits to war veterans in Scotland, to mark the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean war. The kits have since been handed to the NHS. JunSoo also plans to deliver testing kits to two URC-linked care homes next week. Read more.

Pebbles offer comfort at hospice

The Revd Dr Jill Thornton and the Pastoral Care and Chaplaincy Team she leads at the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice in Farnham are helping patients living with advanced or terminal illnesses to remain in contact with their loved ones in a unique way. As Covid-19 restrictions have prevented visits, families and patients are offered “comfort pebbles”. One pebble is kept by the patient and the other taken by their loved ones, or they can take home a vigil candle from the chapel, as a way of keeping a link with the hospice and their loved one. Read more.

Policy for post-lockdown activity

The latest free resource from the URC, "Emerging into the 'new normal'",  provides the basis for further local discussion and some clear church policy for post-lockdown activity. This document updates and replaces “Ready for the New Normal.” It has been prepared by the Synod Moderators to reflect changes as coronavirus lockdown restrictions are eased and it becomes possible for places of worship to reopen. Read more.

Covid-19 and safeguarding guide

During the pandemic, the pressures placed upon local churches have risen significantly and this has led to an increase in the need to protect people from different forms of harm and abuse. The URC has produced this quick guide to what you can do to offer support while continuing to serve the needs of your communities. Download the guide here.

URC coronavirus resources

The URC Online Store has many practical items including signs, banners and stickers for you to use when your building reopens. You can also download lots of free resources.

Keep up to date with URC guidance

Be kept up to date with the latest advice and guidance from the URC here, and find the list of URCs worshipping digitally here.

Synod news

North Western

Amanda Bellamy, a Marple Bridge URC member, started providing a Sunday dinner to elderly members of the church and community soon after lockdown, and generously gave up her 60th birthday celebration on 7 June so that she could continue to provide this service with her husband Phil. Read more.

Mersey Synod

What can you do with used sheets? In the URC’s Mersey Synod, Ann Aspinwall and Karen Crosby gathered sheets and linen, donated by fellow members of St Stephen’s URC in Wavertree, and made more than 100 scrubs for hospital and care home workers. The scrubs were distributed to hospital and care homes

across the synod. Read more.

National Synod of Wales 

Christians in Wales have raised almost £2,000 for Christian Aid after creating a cookbook of 37 recipes from church members and friends. Castle Square URC and St David’s Uniting Church – both in Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan – jointly made the Christian Aid Covid Coping Cookbook, suggesting a donation of at least £7 for each copy. Representing the initiative, Bethan Walkling said: "The cookbook has been a great way to help raise money for a good cause while under lockdown, especially as we couldn’t meet for Christian Aid Week this year. We didn’t expect to raise so much but it’s really taken off, connecting people and livening up lockdown cooking – from soups to sweets, curries to cakes." Copies can be ordered here, and donations made here.

Yorkshire

Hoping to raise £20 for NHS charities, four-year-old Grace, part of the church family at Ravensthorpe with Hopton URC, actually raised £2,000 by running 1km in a different princess dress every day for five days in April. Read more.

Wessex Synod

Poole Community Exchange, which usually provides weekly meals and activities at the Parkstone URC, has expanded its efforts to provide food to residents in hostels and refuges as well as to others in need. Working with two other community organisations, trays of surplus food are being distributed to vulnerable people as well as supplies provided to foodbanks, local food projects and community groups. Read more.

Eastern Synod

Local URC ministers have been campaigning against racial injustice. In Ipswich, the Revd David Rees, committed to eradicating racism in a joint statement with more than 50 local church leaders. The Ipswich leaders’ statement was published on 7 June in the East Anglian Daily Times. Read more.

Yorkshire Synod

The Revd Angela Hughes joined 52 Christian leaders serving in Leeds to publicly state that "silence is no longer an option: Black Lives Matter." Published in the Yorkshire Evening Post, the Leeds’ church leaders’ statement ended with a desire to build relationships. Read more.

This month in Reform magazine

How must Church change? The July/August edition of Reform addresses this head on, as well as calls for racial justice after the brutal murder of George Floyd. “I’ve watched such moments more times than is good for my soul,” says URC church minister Traci Blackmon. “As the mother of two black sons and a black daughter, I cannot turn away.” Also in this double issue: Reform’s Editor, Stephen Tomkins, interviews the incoming URC General Secretary, John Bradbury; how to give and invest money more ethically; and “What has the pandemic taught us?” in the 'A good question'. If you can, buy Reform digitally, on paper, or both, from £5.99. For your trouble, you’ll be sent three bars of Fairtrade chocolate (while stocks last).

URC Online Shop

Even though United Reformed Church House is closed, we are able to offer a limited bookshop service. Orders will be despatched once a week. Please order online. You can contact us by email. Please do not call. Thanks for your understanding in these uncertain times. Stay safe. Protect the NHS. Save lives. God is with us.

Safe distance adhesive floor tape: a 33m roll of tape to mark out 2m gaps and advise about social distancing. Easy to add to all types of flooring and to remove at a later date with minimal residue. 5cm wide, 33m long.Available for £3.90 +p+p.

Keep your distance floor stickers: 30cm vinyl floor stickers for most types of flooring or carpets. Anti-slip (R9) for indoor use, suitable for most floors, easy to remove with minimal residue. Available in blue or yellow. Each asks people to keep a safe distance, to wash their hands and includes part of Psalm 46. Available for £4.75 +p+p.

Reusable stay safe keep your distance stickers: Ideal for all who worship and use your premises. A sheet of 12 yellow or blue stickers, each saying stay safe, keep your distance and God loves you. Six centimetres wide. Printed on eco-friendly resusable paper. Note: if you have your own sticker sheets, you can print off these designs for free here. Available for £0.99p +p+p.

We're open roller banner: available in blue or yellow, a 2m x 0.8m roller banner to display inside your church after your building reopens. The banner is printed with the love your neighbour Bible passage from Matthew 22, and has the messages that the church is open, that all are welcome, that social distancing is taking place, and that God loves you. Price, £26.82,  includes cost of delivery by DPD.

Social justice 

Government to review hostile environment policies

Congratulations to Simeon Mitchell, URC Secretary for Church and Society, Roo Stewart, Programme Support Officer for Church and Society, and JPIT, who’s main ask in their End Hostility campaign, launched two years ago, has been committed to by the governmen which is to review its set of “hostile environment” policies. The commitment was made following an independent report into the Windush Scandal. The government has also said it will implement all the Windrush Scandal report's recommendations. Read more here.

Climate Sunday

A new initiative aims to provide focus for churches from across Britain and Ireland committed to action to combat climate change. Organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, with support from charities including CAFOD, Christian Aid, Tearfund, A Rocha UK, and Operation Noah, local churches are encouraged to hold a local Climate Sunday any time during a one year period starting on 6 September, the first Sunday in the annual season of Creationtide. Read more.

Interviews on asylum support 

The URC joined more than 200 organisations in signing an open letter to Priti Patel, the Home Secretary, about the meagre increase – £1.85 a week – in asylum support rates. United Christian Broadcasters (UCB) spoke to Derek Estill, Immediate-past Moderator of the URC General Assembly, who signed the letter, and Simeon Mitchell, URC Secretary for Church and Society, about the issue. Listen to their UCB interviews here, and read more about the signed letter here.

Faith in politics

Episode nine of JPIT's Faith in Politics podcast: “Holy or full of holes? The values of our social safety net" is out. With Jonathan Reynolds MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions who shares his thoughts on the furlough scheme, universal credit, universal basic income and the future of social security in the UK. And also the Faith in Politics team muse on what the Bible and the Church may have to say on universal basic income and the values that should shape our social security system. Listen here.

What's on

Explore Communion in the light of Covid

How has the pandemic affected the celebration of Communion in different Churches? How has it changed our understanding of Communion? "Communion in the light of Covid" is an online discussion from 6-7.30pm on 16 July, presented by a partnership of Reform magazine, the Tablet and Churches Together in England. Speakers include the Revd Dr John Bradbury, incoming General Secretary of the URC; Dr Sara Parvis, Senior Lecturer in Early Church History at the University of Edinburgh; and the Revd Dr Elizabeth Welch, URC minister and Chair of the Society for Ecumenical Studies. This is the first of a series of ecumenical online events. The ticket price includes a complimentary digital copy of Dr Bradbury’s recent papers, "Pastors at Adoration" and "Covid 19, the Church and Holy Communion: 15 Theses: United and Reformed." The suggested minimum price is £5, although larger donations towards the cost are welcome, and concessions are available. For more information and to buy tickets, read more.  

Celebrate young people Israel and Palestine 

The URC's Children’s and Youth Work Committee and URC Youth invite you to "Let’s celebrate: children and young people" in the URC" on 15 July from 7 to 8pm. Come and share an uplifting hour focussing on all that has been happening with 0-25s, thanking God and praying for the next steps. This is a General Assembly online fringe event open to everyone. Please secure your free place by booking here.

The interfaith relations team has organised two General Assembly-linked webinars, on 14 and 21 July, focusing on Israel and Palestine. The webinars feature a panel who will share their experiences of an URC educational visit to the region in 2019 via Zoom, and a guest speaking live from Bethlehem. Find all you need to know. Read more.

Do Black Lives Matter in the URC?

Karen Campbell, the URC's Secretary for Global and Intercultural Ministries, will host an online forum exploring the question: do Black Lives Matter in the URC? Taking place on 14 July from 2 to 3.15pm. The forum's guest speakers will include Wale Hudson-Roberts, Justice Enabler for the Baptist Union of Great Britain, and Patricia Akoli, a URC member who plans and runs youth projects for URC congregations in Tottenham and Ilford, and delivers diversity awareness training. To register your interest, please email Veronica Daniel.

Ministry on the edge

"Chaplaincy: ministry on the edge – exploring and communicating the value of chaplaincy in today’s universities" is a free Free Churches Group webinar taking place on 15 July from 2-3.30pm. The free event is open to all, and those engaged in higher education chaplaincy –whether full or part-time, paid or voluntary, lay or ordained – are particularly welcomed. Read more.

Young chorister of the year

Songs of Praise and BBC Radio 2 have joined forces to find The BBC Young Chorister Of The Year. Former choristers Aled Jones and Katherine Jenkins will coach five boys and five girls aged 10-16 who are selected to go through to the radio and television competition, where they will sing in front of an expert panel of judges. Singers have until midnight on 20 July to submit their entries. Read more.

Fun activities for summer

As the lockdown lifts and summer days lay ahead, you may be thinking about what fun activities you can do, while at the same time maintaining health and safety. If so, there are more than 50 ideas for virtual and socially distanced summer fun days on HOPE Together's website. Read more.

Let's celebrate: children and young people in the URC

Join us for a Fringe Event, an online gathering to celebrate children and young people and the work done with and among them throughout the URC. Celebrate the launch of the new Children and Youth Friendly Church Award and hear from members of the youth exec, the team, the Lundie Award winners and more. The event is from 7pm until 8pm on Wednesday 15 July and is open to everybody, free of charge. Book here.

Recruitment

URC vacancies and beyond

Moderator, Thames North SynodFull-time, seven-year termed appointment, Minister’s stipend Nominations closing date: 16 August Applications closing date: 21 September

The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is seeking to appoint a new general secretary. The WCRC Executive Committee will elect the next general secretary during its meeting in May 2021. Those interested in the position must apply no later than 30 November.

Unsubscribe

The United Reformed ChurchChurch House, 86 Tavistock Place

London, WC1H 9RTTel: 020 7916 2020

Email: urc@urc.org.uk

The United Reformed Church was created by church unions in 1972, 1981 and 2000, facilitated by Acts of Parliament passed in each of those years. It has a number of associated bodies: The United Reformed Church Trust (URC Trust) is a company limited by guarantee, registered in England & Wales (Registered Number: 135934); it is also a registered charity (Registration Number: 1133373). The United Reformed Church Ministers’ Pensions Trust

Ltd is a limited company registered in England & Wales (Registered Number: 2821011). The United Reformed Church Retired Ministers’ Housing Society Ltd. is a registered Community Benefit Society under the Co-operative &

Community Benefit Societies Act 2014, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (Number 15986R). The Registered Office for all the aforementioned bodies is Church House, 86 Tavistock Place, London, WC1H 9RT.