The Moderator of the United Reformed Church (URC) General Assembly has welcomed news that the government is maintaining its ban on fracking in the UK.

As reported in the Blackpool Gazette on 21 January, when asked during business questions in Parliament if the moratorium on fracking would be made permanent, Kwasi Kwarteng, Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Minister, is reported to have said: "We're stopping it. The only way it can be resumed is by compelling evidence which so far is not forthcoming, So, the moratorium stays and fracking, for the time being, is over." 

Free resources for Racial Justice Sunday, which takes place on 9 February, are available to download.

Prepared by the United Reformed Church’s Global and Intercultural Ministries, the resources focus on “whiteness as a construct of privilege and oppression.”

The resources consist of sermon ideas, prayers, poetry, liturgies, laments, reparations, stories and hymns.

The United Reformed Church’s Youth Assembly has strongly spoken out against the Churches Together in England (CTE)’s decision to sideline Hannah Brock Womack due to her same-sex marriage.

“As a body of young people, URC Youth Assembly 2020 feels outraged and underrepresented by the CTE on this matter,” they said, calling for “a more just outcome”. The statement was unanimously supported and passed by consensus.

The 2020 Youth Assembly offered to contribute towards “necessary reconciling conversations” with CTE, echoing and commending the URC’s statement on this matter and recognising that the URC includes a variety of positions. The Youth Assembly’s statement was approved on the second day of its weekend meeting, on 25 January. URC Youth plan to send the resolution to the CTE and to the youth organisations of other Church denominations.