The
United Reformed Church stands in the Reformed tradition of Christian
faith.
We believe in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit and find the supreme authority for faith and conduct by the guidance of the Spirit in the Word of God in the Bible.
The URC looks to be continually renewed and reformed so as to fulfil its mission of witness and service in the name of Jesus Christ.
We practise both infant and believer's baptism and celebrate the Lord's Supper.
The URC recognises the ministry of God's people; all the members serving in the world and in particular the ministers of Word and Sacrament, elders, lay preachers, church related community workers and workers from partner churches.
The United Reformed Church in Cheltenham (URCiC) is made up of three constituent churches: Prestbury, St Andrew's and Warden Hill. In 1991, when Prestbury and Warden Hill were in vacancy, it was decided to form the three churches into a Team Ministry. Since then the two ministers have served all three churches equally.
The combined congregation contains about 250 members, has over 100 adherents and is served by 28 Elders. Our Team Ministers are the Revd Maz Allen and the Revd Jon Morgan..
The URCiC could be described as having a broad spiritual theology. The styles of worship and theology across the pastorate are very diverse with some preferring a more “traditional” style of worship and others preferring to explore spirituality through modern family friendly worship.
All members and friends of the URCiC receive our monthly magazine In Touch. There are regular press releases in the Gloucestershire Echo. The church also has a section of the In Good Faith column every Thursday.
Each church has its elected team of elders drawn from and elected by their own membership, but they are ordained to the URCiC. Each church's Elders meet regularly to manage their own churches and to take major decisions which are then brought to the Church Meetings. Each church has its own secretary and treasurer. Less frequently all the URCiC Elders meet and there are three full United Church meetings a year. The URCiC also has a secretary and a treasurer to deal with united church matters.
The day-to-day running of the URCiC is dealt with by the Church Council. It is made up of the ministers and all the church secretaries as well as the URCiC Treasurer, representative elders from each church, and the World Church and Mission committee secretary. The local church treasurers are invited to a meeting every autumn to discuss the budget. The Church Office is run on a voluntary basis with secretarial help provided by Margaret Thomas. There is an office "quiet" period for weekly prayers on a Tuesday at 11.30am-11.50am .
The World Church and Mission Committee (WCM) heads up all mission issues and brings to the church information on ecumenical matters and news from the Council for World Mission and Christian Aid. Through the Commitment for Life programme which forms a partnership with Christian Aid we have a project which we sponsor and, at the present time, this is in Zimbabwe. The committee also encourages giving to a special URCiC emergency fund which can send donations very quickly to any emergency appeal. Over the last five years the church has given over £30,000 to the WCM projects and appeals.
There are developments in the life of the URCiC. Our grouping is somewhat unofficial at the moment and we are exploring the possibility of becoming truly one Church on three sites.
In January 2006 Warden Hill signed a Declaration of Intent to form a Local Ecumenical Partnership with their close neighbour, St Christopher's (Church of England) which will also have implications for all three URC churches when , and if, we do become one. This 'engagement' is progressing well. St Christopher's and Warden Hill are now known as The Church in Warden Hill and services alternate weekly between buildings. More and more fund raising and social events are now held as the one church
The four centres all have their own character, traditions and customs which in themselves offer a range of styles of worship.
But whichever of our churches you care to try you will always be assured of a warm welcome.