With the Prime Minister confirming that England will move to the government’s “Plan B” in light of the spread of the Omicron variant, the United Reformed Church Synod Moderators have updated their guidance issued on 29 November

• Read Synod Moderators' latest guidance

Weekly prayers from the United Reformed Church to help bring you comfort and spiritual support during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Please use these devotions in your private prayers, prayer groups or sermons. 

• Prayers during the pandemic

As the Governments in England, Scotland and Wales move towards reducing or ending Coronavirus restrictions on Places of Worship, the Synod Moderators offer the following guidance to congregations of the United Reformed Church.

• Read or download new guidance from Synod Moderators (8 July 2021)

Here's the latest government advice for churches and places of worship. 

• Read the latest government advice on Guidance for the safe use of places of worship in England (updated 16 June 2021)

• The Welsh Government website has Guidance on reopening places of worship (updated 25 August 2021)

• The Scottish Government website has Guidance for the safe use of places of worship (updated 18 September 2021)

For more information visit the GOV.UK, scotgov.uk or GOV.Wales websites.

In 2020, members of the URC’s Church-Related Community Work, Church and Society, Children’s and Youth Work and Walking the Way teams, along with Church Action on Poverty, started a conversation called 'New Reality, Same Mission' about helping congregations think about mission and community engagement in these challenging times.

As a follow-up to that conversation, we've updated this information with new ideas, resources and questions for you and your local church to consider today. 

Visit the updated New Reality, Same Mission 

All churches should generate and display an official NHS Test & Protect QR code poster. Currently, the governments in England and Wales are strongly encouraging places of worship amongst others to display the QR code poster, rather than requiring them to use it. The United Reformed Church strongly encourages churches in England and Wales that are open for any purpose to comply with this.

• Read the latest advice from the URC

In Scotland, the Protect Scotland contact tracing app is part of the NHS Scotland Test & Protect system.

• Read the latest advice from the URC around the use of face coverings (3 September 2020)

Updated advice on safeguarding during the Coronavirus pandemic.

• Read the updated advice on Safeguarding people in the midst of coronavirus from our Safeguarding team

• Read the United Reformed Church Equalities Committee statement in advance of when the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions begin to ease

• Ordinations and Inductions of Elders during the Covid-19 restrictions - read advice from the URC on the ordination and induction of Elders during Covid-19 restrictions

Read the latest advice from the United Reformed Church, Emerging into the New Normal (PDF). This resource provides the basis for further local discussion and some clear church policy. Download the new Personal Risk Assessment (PDF) mentioned in the document. Download an example of the Personal Risk Assessment (PDF).

The URC has produced a range of practical resources for churches and individuals to use during the Coronavirus pandemic. 

• The URC Book Shop has signs, banners, badges and floor tape you can buy to remind people to keep to social distance rules and to watch their hands

• You can also download free resources including posters, badges and stay safe seat cards from our Coronavirus resources page 

The URC has produced a series of free guides with advice for churches and church organisations to help them stay in contact with and support their local community during and after lockdown. From a guide to Zoom etiquette to information about online and contactless giving  - there are more than 20 resources available for you to read or download.

• Church information guides

These free resources will help you get your church online and stay in contact with your congregation and the local community using social media.The guides cover a wealth of topics - from livestreaming church services to using social media to connect with people and much more. 

• Digital church -  from advice on using Zoom, WhatsApp, Twitter and Facebook to a guide to livestreaming your church service, the URC has published numerous free resources to help your church on its digital journey

• Download a hints and tips infographic from Matt Collins (JPEG) about how to get the best results when filming sermons. There is also a new illustrated hints and tips guide about using Zoom for meetings (JPEG) from Naomi RW. 

If you're using Zoom for church purposes, and would like others to stop looking at the walls behind your head, why not use these backgrounds instead? Optimised for Zoom, there is a plain background with a URC logo, or a background with multiple URC logos, in either JPG or PNG formats:

• Plain background - JPG format | PNG format
• Multiple logos - JPG format | PNG format

A range of risk assessments and risk assessment advice for you and your church. 

• Protect yourself and others. Watch a video about the Personal Risk Assessments from the Revd Angela Rigby. The full version includes messages before and after the risk assessment questions, or there is a version with just the risk assessment questions. Essential viewing before you return to your church building

• Download the new Personal Risk Assessment (PDF). Download an example of the Personal Risk Assessment (PDF) 
  

• Download a blank Covid-19 Risk Assessment (PDF) or use the editable version Covid-19 Risk Assessment (Excel spreadsheet).

• Download a Covid-19 Secure Disclaimer poster (Word Doc), to be displayed once a Risk Assessment has been completed and it is safe for the building to reopen 

Visit Together Apart - a digital hub for rural churches created by the the Arthur Rank Centre. Supporting rural Christians and churches during the pandemic, it has a range of resources including farming and agriculture support, practical resources, guidance and advice, resources for children and families, and weekly reflections.

• The Methodist Church has produced a much needed resource, Mental Health and Wellbeing for ministers 2020
  
  
• The Joint Public Issues Team has produced a list of resources to help support for church leaders responding to COVID-19 
  
  
• The Tragedy and Congregations team holds half-day Zoom meetings for ministers on Trauma-informed Ministry in a time of COVID. Check their website for latest details  

Even though lockdown has eased, many people and families have found themselves with a lot of free time on their hands. Here are some Bible verses for you to download, share, print off and colour in: 

• Psalm 139: 9-10 (PDF | 1mb)

• Proverbs 27: 14 (PDF | 1mb) 

• Philippians 4:6 (JPG | 2.2mb)

• Philippians 4:13 (JPG | 2.3mb)

• Jeremiah 29:11 (JPG | 2.1mb)

• 1 John 4:18 (JPG | 2.1mb)

• Body of Christ (JPG | 2.1mb)

• One body, many parts (PDF | 3.8mb)

• Psalm 24 (PDF | 2.5mb)

• Trees growing (PDF | 3.7mb)

• Attitude of mind (PDF | 2.2mb)

Free resources from the United Reformed Church to help you and your church explore Black Lives Matter and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic with a focus on the unequal effect it has had in BAME communities.

• Sunflowers and Thistles

A regularly updated list of churches offering live streamed services, sermons as podcasts, recorded services on YouTube, Facebook and Zoom, audio files of services, sermons and other worship and Bible study resources. 

You can also find out how you can add your church activities to the list.

• List of churches offering digital worship

Families on Faith Adventures at Home is a free resource to help families worship and pray together and develop their faith during lockdown and beyond.

There are plenty of resources on the internet to support faith at home, but we wanted to provide something specifically URC in nature. These resources draw on the materials from Pilots and Friends on Faith Adventures as a starting point and are a 'pick and mix' selection of activities, prayers and challenges based around a different Bible reading each week.

• Find out more and download the resources

• Download and print off a leaflet about prayer for children (PDF), written by the Revd Jenny Mills. If you're a bit older and would like a similar leaflet, download this daily prayer cycle (PDF) from the Revds Ian Fosten and Phil Nevard

• Our friends with the team behind the Methodist Church's hymn book Singing the Faith have produced a new resource: Prayers for the dying, the bereaved and those who cannot attend funerals.

• The URC has also produced Virtual funerals liturgies and words for our digital world 

• A prayer for uncertain times – in March 2020, the then Moderators of the General Assembly offered this prayer as the UK and the rest of the world began dealing with the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Here are a selection of reflections to help you through the pandemic. 

• One year on: feeling our way towards recovery and rebuilding - a blog from Tragedy and Congregations written by the Revd Dr Carla A. Grosch-Miller

• Church Related Community Worker Jo Patterson's reflection reminds us that as we embrace technology to reach out to people during lockdown, we must be careful not to exclude those who don’t have access to technology Read Jo's reflection and advice

• New Year's Day: God-Filled Moments Karen Campbell, Secretary for Global and Intercultural Ministries for the URC, reflects on the tumultuous 2020 and looks ahead to 2021 in this reflection for New Year’s Day

• Catch a glimpse of God's light this Christmas The Revd Dr John Bradbury, General Secretary of the United Reformed Church, compares the change in Mary and Joseph’s plan for their firstborn to the havoc wreaked by the coronavirus pandemic, and God’s presence through it all in this reflection for Christmas day

• Christmas Eve: what's the point? As the wait for Christmas reaches its end, Simon Peters, Project Manager for Walking the Way: Living the life of Jesus today – the United Reformed Church’s focus on lifelong, missional discipleship – considers what we have to look forward to during, what for many will be, a very strange Christmas

• URC Minister the Revd Carla Grosch-Miller, who is involved in the Tragedy and Christian Congregations project, has written a blog on the Coronavirus pandemic: Are we there yet? (Word document)

• URC Minister the Revd Carla Grosch-Miller, who is involved in the Tragedy and Christian Congregations project, has written a new downloadable reflection on the Coronavirus pandemic: Easing out of lockdown - what next? (Word document) 

• Read Covid 19, the Church and Holy Communion - 15 Theses: United and Reformed (PDF), some personal thoughts from the Revd Dr John Bradbury

• Read the Virtual Communion in the URC? (PDF) paper from the Faith and Order Committee and the General Secretary

Weekly prayers from the United Reformed Church to help bring you comfort and spiritual support during the Coronavirus pandemic.

Please use these devotions in your private prayers, prayer groups or sermons. 

• Prayers during the pandemic

The Coronavirus pandemic has been a difficult time for many of us but some positive and heartening stories have emerged from it too.

• Pandemic charity stall raises thousands for good causes

• Rebuilding connections through family days at Harpenden URC 

• Bulwell URC resounds to the joyful sound of children playing 

• For the love of food - sharing experiences and bringing communities together in Peckham

• URC supported Shrewsbury food hub wins Queen’s Award
  
  
• CRCW Project in Billingham Raises Thousands for a New Community Kitchen
  
  
• Water Lane URC member receives damehood from the Queen
  
  
• Congregation uses hands to 'sing' worship
  
  
• Blackburn Church Related Community Worker reflects on lessons from lockdown
  
  

• Chelmsford dementia-friendly group offers support and companionship during the pandemic

• God uses sewing to reach Marton community
  
  
• Children cared for during lockdown in Thames North
  
  
• URC vaccine campaign raises more than £20,000 for charity
  
  

• Colchester church brings Easter joy to hundreds of households

• Fundraising stall raises thousands for charity

• How we can all make a difference 

• Supporting those in need has been a lifeline during the pandemic

• Buxton URC feeds 5,000 through community project

• ‘2020 Christmas was different, but the story was the same’

• Chorley URC grows through lockdown 

• The show must go on - Church Related Community Work during a pandemic

• URC minister’s hospital chaplaincy team wins award

• Hope and joy: Bookham and Leatherhead churches work together to make a difference

• Hope and Joy: Let there be bread shared in URC’s Mersey Synod

• Sharing hope and joy in Yorkshire and the West Midlands

• Finding hope in the bleakest of times

• Rayleigh plans Latin-themed Christmas

• Spire Church’s Advent-ure trail boosts community spirits

• Lockdown musings from a church-related community worker

• Swansea churches doing justice, loving mercy, walking humbly
  

• Good news around the URC 

• Marlpool URC feeds families with food and love during pandemic

• Minister finds creative way of supporting local church during lockdown

• Comfort pebbles link hospice with loved ones

Give thanks for our vaccines by donating to the URC's fudraising campaign with Christian Aid and help vulnerable communities around the world who don't access to the healthcare they need to protect themselves from the COV-19 virus. 

• Make an online donation

The Joint Public Issues Team has produced a list of the different ways you can help support your local community during the Coronavirus crisis. 

The YourNeighbour.org website aims to support the work that churches are doing to be good neighbours in communities across the UK during the coronavirus crisis. It aims to offer support via a coordinated national response. 

Church Action on Poverty has launched a campaign calling for a fresh start for families in Britain swept into debt by Covid-19

• Add your name to the campaign

The new Moderators of General Assembly, Claire Downing and Peter Pay, have joined 75 other faith leaders to call for a ‘debt jubilee’ for the 77 poorest nations as they deal with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.

• Add your support for this call by signing Christian Aid’s Coronavirus Debt Jubilee petition