Category: Uncategorized

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends For years it seems that the URC has been in a cycle of decline and planning for further decline. Seemingly we have ignored the work being done in other denominations that has led to growth. However it may all be about to change as the URC Mission Council has…

Newsletter March 2016

Newsletter February 2016

Newsletter January 2016

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends We are in Advent, the season of hope. Unfortunately Advent has become about looking forward to Christmas when in reality it is about looking forward to the return of Jesus Christ, sometimes known as the Second Coming. The word Advent derives from the Latin word advenire which means ‘to…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends As we move forward on the revitalisation plan agreed in the Summer I have been doing some research on healthy and growing churches and I came across ‘Seven Marks of a Healthy Church’ taken from the Healthy Churches Handbook, by Robert Warren, this list identifies common characteristics of healthy…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends Not a day goes by without us hearing more stories about migrants and their journeys. Between me writing this and you reading it more stories will have been heard. It is an ever changing situation and a very challenging one. At our recent CTB45 Ministers meeting we touched on…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends I write this letter as I begin my fifteenth year as Minister of the Beacon which means that half my ordained ministry has been here, the other half being in Sheffield for five years and Liverpool for nine years. I never expected to be here so long but God…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends Last month I wrote about the purpose of the church and my thoughts this month have turned to the purpose of man (and woman). Put another way what is the point of the human race? Is it simply to look after the world and produce the next generation of…

Thoughts From The Cottage Dear Friends It has been said that the role of the church is to comfort the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable. Interestingly the same has been said of newspapers and politicians! Sadly in the 21st Century many newspapers and politicians play on people’s fears instead of challenging perceptions and misguided…