The United Reformed Church’s Education and Learning Committee is launching a new grant to support lay discipleship development.

Funding for the Discipleship Development Large Grant Award comes from the proceeds from the sale of the Windermere Centre.

Around £5,000 per award per annum is available to recognised groups within the URC which can apply to the newly formed Discipleship Development Fund (DDF) Large Grant Awarding Group (LGAG) via the Revd Jenny Mills, the URC Secretary for Education and Learning.   

The Joint Public Issues Team and Eco-Congregation Scotland have co-produced a variety of resources for the Season of Creation.

Each year, from 1 September to 4 October churches are encouraged to have a focus on the season – also known as Creationtide or Creation Time – with all the joys and responsibilities that being part of God’s creation brings to us.

The Revd Ruth Whitehead, Moderator of the United Reformed Church’s South Western Synod, offers a reflection and prayer after yesterday’s shooting in Plymouth.

The events in Plymouth on Thursday, which unfolded sometime after 6pm, are still not fully understood, but it seems that a young man shot dead five people and then killed himself.

For this to happen in Devon’s ‘ocean city’ of Plymouth, as it is anywhere, is simply shocking.