When the URC came into existence in 1972, 1981 and to a lesser degree in 2000 we knew who we were. Our identity was in our passion for ecumenism and acting as yeast for the church to become visibly one. We believed we had come into existence to die in greater church unions.
This has not happened. The ecumenical movement in Great Britain, in a post-denominational age, with its frustrations with the great faith and order questions, and desire to just get on with working together in mission is no longer playing the same ball game as we are.
So what is our identity now? Who are we and what is our contribution as a separate body to the life and witness of the church today? If we can’t answer this then perhaps the foretelling of our imminent death that is spoken of from anxiety, rather than confidence in Christ, is not so far away.
So what is our identity?
1) A loved and valued part of the one holy, catholic and apostolic church.
2) A Reformed Church, centred in God’s word, seeking always to change in obedience to that word.
3) A church that seeks justice and peace for all, but especially the poor and marginalised.
4) An inclusive church that welcomes all and recognises that God can speak to us through a whole range of people, from the child, to the refugee, to the 90 year old, to the person in a wheelchair and therefore we need to listen to all the voices.
5) A church that desires the visible unity of all God’s people for the sake of God’s mission to the world.
The question of the identity of the URC and our being able to say who we are and what we believe is, in my view, vital. It needs to be a focus for our reflecting and discussing together in coming months.
What are your thoughts on the questions of the URC’s identity?
Rowena Francis
Synod Moderator
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Most churches in this country would be happy to be any and all of the Moderator's points 1 -5, even if they would not use the language of being Reformed with a capital R. Is there really anything distinctive in any of these?
ReplyDeletePerhaps our distinctiveness lies in our origins of being forced to work outside the religious establishment. How about a more critical openness with our ecumenical partners? Perhaps we'd all benefit if issues like disestablishment, church schools etc, were back on the agenda, and we re-discovered our rootedness in the radical side of the Reformation!
This is not so much about being distinctive but about havinbg a strong sense of identity. Do we in the URC, whether that be local church, synod or assembly council know who we are, what we are about and why?
ReplyDeleteAs a person develops when they are more aware of who they are I suggest this is true for churches too.
Vision 2020, that we will be considering over the next year makes this the first principle out of 10 as part of the framework for a URC mission strategy - that each church should be able to say who they are, what they do and what for?
Synod Moderator - Rowena