United Reformed Church
The URC was formed in 1972 with the union of the Congregational church and the Presbyterian Church of England. The Churches of Christ joined in 1982 and the Scottish Congregational Church in 2002.
It is Britain’s sixth largest denomination encompassing around 1500 churches and 90,000 members.
It is a broad church incorporating evangelical, liberal, charismatic and radical understandings of the Christian faith and practice.
It stands in the Reformed tradition of the Christian faith:
It believes in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
It finds the supreme authority for faith and conduct by the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the Word of God in the Bible.
It looks to be continually renewed so as to fulfil its mission of witness and service in the name of Jesus Christ.
It practises both infant and believers baptism and celebrates the Lord’s Supper
Its distinctive form of church organisation is conciliar being governed by councils at various levels of the church. The Elders and minister lead the local church but authority rests in church meetings. Churches are grouped into areas (the Tab is in Gloucestershire) and areas are grouped in Synods (we are in West Midlands). There is a national General Assembly of the URC which meets bi-annually to decide on national policy and initiatives.
For more information log onto the URC website: www.urc.org.uk and/or the synod website