About the URC

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The United Reformed Church was founded in October 1972 through the merger of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches, and has continued to grow through further unions. The URC continues to express its deep commitment to the visible unity of the whole Church, through continuing talks with other traditions and in more than 400 local churches united with other denominations. The URC now encompasses the former ...

  • Congregational Church in England and Wales (1972);
  • Presbyterian Church of England (1972);
  • Re-formed Association of Churches of Christ (1981).
  • Congregational Union of Scotland (from April 1 2000);

    • The United Reformed Church:

  • stands in the Reformed tradition of Christian faith, believes in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit;
  • finds the supreme authority for faith and conduct by the guidance of the Spirit in the Word of God in the Bible;
  • looks to be continually renewed and reformed so as to fulfil its mission of witness and service in the name of Jesus Christ;
  • practises both infant and believer's baptism and celebrates the Lord's Supper;
  • recognises the ministry of God's people: all the members serving in the world and through the church, in particular: ministers of Word and Sacrament, elders, lay preachers, church related community workers (CRCWs), and workers from partner churches.

    • Though one of the smaller of Britain's 'mainstream' denominations, the URC stands in the historic Reformed tradition, whose member denominations make up the largest single strand of Protestantism with more than 70 million members world-wide. Along with other Reformed churches the URC holds to the Trinitarian faith expressed in the historic Christian creed and finds its supreme authority for faith and conduct in the Word of God in the Bible, discerned under guidance of the Holy Spirit.

    Theologically, the URC is a broad church. Its membership embraces congregations of evangelical, charismatic and liberal understandings of the Christian faith - in a variety of mixtures! The URC's structure also expresses its faith in the ministry of all God's people through the democratic Councils by which the Church is governed.

    For more information visit the URC's national web site at www.urc.org.uk

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