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Churches launch new initiative to ‘Meet Your MP’

Nicola Furley Smith Southern synod moderator with Tom Brake MP A new initiative from the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT) launched on Friday (5 October) in England and Wales to encourage church congregations to build a relationship with their local MP.

‘Meet Your MP’ aims to help Christians to engage with the representatives who make the political decisions that affect the country and everyday lives, and to enable MPs to get to know their local churches better too.

‘Like it or not, politics matters. In an age where our political discourse is increasingly fractured, Meet Your MP will help to build understanding and promote positive relationships between decision-makers and church communities,’ explained Simeon Mitchell, secretary for Church and Society for the United Reformed Church, and member of the Joint Public Issues Team (JPIT), which brings together the Baptist Union, Methodist Church, URC and Church of Scotland to work on issues of justice, peace and political engagement.

Pray for the plight of farmers this harvest

allef vinicius 170958 unsplash As communities across the United Reformed Church celebrate Harvest this autumn, Christians are being encouraged to include rural communities in their prayers.

From a winter remembered for ‘The beast from the east’ to a prolonged drought over the summer, the extreme weather has brought hardship to farmers.

The Revd Elizabeth Clarke, United Reformed Church and Methodist Rural Officer for Germinate: The Arthur Rank Centre, has collated ideas for harvest services, and written prayers to help churches focus on the realities of food production this Harvest season.

Looking back, Looking forward: Resources for Remembrance available online

PALATINATE NEWS image banner The United Reformed Church has produced two easily downloadable booklets to mark the centenary of the end of the First World War. The booklets, available in both English and German, were a collaboration between the United Reformed Church and the Evangelische Kirche der Pfalz (Protestant churches of the Palatinate region of Germany).

One hundred years after the First World War: Looking back, looking forward and its companion booklet, Accompanying worship material on the theme, offer a rich resource of reflections, stories, poems and hymns designed to help churches, small groups and individuals mark the approaching centenary of the end of the First World War.

Warblers bring joy to elderly through the gift of song

Banner organ player sven read 623761 unsplash A group of amateur singers has been reminding elderly patients, who live with debilitating conditions, of happier times.

The Wilderspool Warblers, from St John’s United Reformed Church, Warrington, volunteer their time to visit care homes once a month, singing old-time and other well-known songs to residents.

Sadly, some of the residents have severe dementia which prevents them engaging in conversations but that does not prevent a familiar song from putting a smile on their faces.

URC minister elected president of European Protestant assembly

CPCE presidum credit CPCE Assembly EU.jpg.crdownload A United Reformed Church minister was elected one of three presidents of the General Assembly of the Community of Protestant Churches in Europe (CPCE) in Switzerland, last week.

The Revd Dr John Bradbury, Minister of Duxford URC, Duxford, Downing Place and Whittlesford LEP, all in Cambridgeshire, will serve for six years alongside Professor Miriam Rose, Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Jena, and the Revd Dr Gottfried Locher, President of the Council of the Swiss Federation of Churches, who was appointed Executive President.