As Covid rules have been strengthened in response to concern over the new Omicron variant, the United Reformed Church (URC) Synod Moderators provide updated advice to churches:

The situation in Scotland and Wales has not changed with Boris Johnson’s latest announcements from Downing Street. It is a continuing legal requirement for everyone aged 12 or over in Scotland and 11 and over in Wales, unless they are exempt, to wear a face covering in indoor public space (including churches).

The Prime Minister has tightened Covid regulations in England in response to the emerging Omicron variant of concern.

A group of churches and mosques have announced a new phase of dialogue aimed at encouraging Christians and Muslims to meet and share conversations in their local settings.

The scheme brings together a church, from a variety of denominations, and a mosque in a shared neighbourhood and offers them guidance about how they might go about setting up a local conversation. Now that faith centres are open once again after the covid lockdowns, this could be held at a place of worship or over a shared meal for instance.

The autumn meeting of the United Reformed Church (URC) Assembly Executive opened on 22 November at at High Leigh Conference Centre, Hoddesdon, with a welcome by the Revd Clare Downing, Moderator of the URC General Assembly. 

Opening worship was led by the Revd Helen Everard, Moderator’s Chaplain. She introduced a hymn by Graham Adams, ‘We come to praise our God’. Its assertion that “we who commit to Christ… love diversity” was the focus of the reading from the book of Acts – the story of Cornelius, a centurion who accepts the gospel preached by the apostle Peter and is remembered as the first named gentile to convert to Christianity.