Highworth United Reformed Church

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Highworth United Reformed Church,

which traces its roots back to 1777 when a group of "dissenters" or "independents" began meeting in private houses.  This continued until the present attractive chapel was erected in 1825.  In 1870 the church joined the  Congregational Union.  In 1972, along with most other congregational churches, they joined with English Presbyterians (and later others) to form the United Reformed Church.

The United Reformed Church (URC) nationally is one of the free churches, and plays its part in numerous organisations and joint activities with other denominations in the UK, as well as having links with Reformed churches in other nations.  The mission statement of the URC is that we are "Called to be God's people, transformed by the Gospel, making a difference in today's world".  The church rejoices in the gifts of members from across the world and seeks to hold together a wide variety of theological understandings. It values the different insights in helping the church understand the wonder and glory of God in the universe and at work in the world.

The URC is part of the national Free Churches’ Group, Churches Together in England (CTE), the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), and the World Council of Churches (WCC) amongst other organisations. It is well-represented at various levels of national and local civic society, and in chaplaincies, sometimes with Baptists, Methodists and others.

The United Reformed Church offers services of baptism for children and adults, as well as services of thanksgiving and dedication for children.  Highworth URC is registered for marriages, and also offer services of thanksgiving, burial or cremation for members and others.


Photo by William Biddle & Luana Jordan

Although in British terms we are one of the smaller large churches we have a passionate belief that all of God's people should be one.  As a practical expression of this we are part of more than four hundred Local Ecumenical Partnerships (over a quarter of our congregations) as well as being active in a local ecumenical groups (as in Highworth).  The denomination is committed to theological and cultural diversity. represented in many churches across the nation and play a dynamic and challenging part in the British Christian community.  Partly this is because we have a passionate belief that all of God’s people should be one.  As a practical expression of this we are part of more than four hundred Local Ecumenical Partnerships (over a quarter of our congregations) as well as being active in local ecumenical groups (as in Highworth).  The denomination is committed to theological and cultural diversity.

For more details you can download the booklet ‘What Is The URC?’ from the national website.

The URC has the following Statement of Faith