I remember watching my dad, when he was URC General Secretary back in the 1980s, in what was then the Vinery (complete with grape vine, unless my memory is playing tricks), doing his meanest swerving serve at table tennis as he tried to remain in the annual tournament. Where now there are big new accommodation blocks at the Hayes, there used to be a putting green, where some of us attempted miracles which never quite made us a threat to the likes of Rory McIlroy.

Thus, my visit as Moderator this late August had elements of re-walking memory lane as much as it was a delight to meet this year’s participants. Thank you for the chance to share with you all. Thank you for joining me in the art workshop which had us creating amazing collages based upon the event’s theme. That theme of “cultivating a flourishing faith” was drawn from the work and writing of the Revd Leslie Newton, Chair of the Yorkshire North and East Methodist District.

“we were led into the wonders of grace”

I only got to hear one of Leslie’s talks, but was deeply moved by his exploration of a question we’ll all recognise: What equipment does God want us to have for faith in the future? His answer? God gives us the precious gift of grace and longs for us to be captivated by it. Drawing upon the thoughts of Methodism’s founder, John Wesley, we were led into some of the wonders of grace and how our lives can be lived in response: through worship and prayer; as we open Scripture; as we share the bread and wine of communion; when we fast and abstain from things to refocus attention upon God; as we talk together about our beliefs; and as we care for others and creation.

Leslie opened up the encounter Jesus has with a Samaritan woman at the well (in the Gospel of John, chapter 4) as an illustration of grace breaking into the world and a life; wave upon wave of unexpected joy.

Why not enjoy URC Holiday Forum next year? The Revd Tim Meadows, a past Moderator of the URC’s General Assembly, will be the theme leader, exploring “” from 22 to 27 August, 2027.

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The last month has been a busy one for me and Kacie! We have continued with our Mods on Tour project, beginning in Northern Synod on 15 and 16 August.

There, we joined Neil Thorogood, the General Assembly Moderator, at Waddington Street URC (pictured above), where we were all given a tour of the church and adjacent mental health resource centre. It was fantastic to see the support which many vulnerable people in Durham are being offered there. It made me particularly proud as, from the end of September, Durham will be my city! That’s right, Northern Synod, I’m moving to Durham to study: if you need any advice on how to deal with me, please feel free to contact the Moderator and/or CYDO of East Midlands synod. Cake typically tends to buy you some time in which I will not be talking.

Speaking of cake and talking, Kacie and I also ran Cake and Debate sessions at Greenbelt. Across the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday lunch times in the youth venue, we focused on three topics: Toxic Masculinity, Political Activism, and Generative AI. It was an absolute privilege to get to run these sessions, especially with the support of three other members of Youth Exec: Korede, Christine and Zac.

The young people at Greenbelt represented a rather different demographic to those that I normally get to speak to in my role, with a relatively large proportion of agnostic people there. This made the opportunity to debate with them a particularly refreshing one, especially when paired with some of Kacie’s fantastic baking.

While we were at Greenbelt we received the shocking news that Pastor Robert Guanco had died in an accident at another Christian festival, Big Church. I understand that a lot has been said in the media since this tragedy, but I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our message of love and support for everyone affected. My prayers, and those of the rest of Youth Executive, are with you all.

Thank you again to everyone for all the support that Kacie and I have received over the past month. It was particularly lovely to hear from people after our first blog piece went out last month. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of September.

In his love,
Alex

Images: (main) Kacie and Alex with members of Waddington URC, Durham; (insert) Kacie (right) at Greenbelt with Neil Thorogood (centre) and URC Head of Communications, Andy Jackson

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A recent August weekend of formal visits to Northern Synod brought together General Assembly and Youth Assembly Moderators for what we think is the first time ever for such an opportunity. Even as I was preparing to be inducted it was a joy to be planning with Youth Moderator, Kacie Hodgson, and Youth Moderator Elect, Alex Clements. All three of us are now on our travels around the URC; an abundance of Moderators!

For me, the weekend was abundant many times over. Bethel URC (Chester-le-Street) kicked us off with a pie and pea supper on Friday and shared its journey of congregations coming together and creating deep friendships; a place of welcome where tables are regularly laden with a meal and the conversation and faith go deep.

Saturday began at Cromer Avenue URC (Gateshead), joined by members of Denewell Avenue URC and by Kacie. The building becomes a pre-school throughout the week and everywhere I looked there were the bright and glorious signs of games, pictures, nooks and crannies for story times and awesome constructions. We got to be creative ourselves alongside lunch. A time capsule was being completed as a throw-it-forward gift to whoever might open it long after we’re gone. We dedicated a new prayer leaflet which gives a local focus for each day of the month. Abundant life enfolded in prayer!

“the art studio space particularly grabbed me!”

Alex joined our caravan of Moderators at our afternoon with Waddington Street URC (Durham). Nestled in the shadows of the train viaduct, we popped in on the converted houses next door, which are the Waddington Street Centre. Begun in the church hall in 1981 and now in its purpose-built home, this mental health resource centre hums with life. The top floor art studio space particularly grabbed me! Before more welcome refreshments, we walked to the nearby Flass Vale nature reserve where prayers were offered beside the trees the church planted to celebrate the URC’s 50^th birthday (pictured below; Alex and Kacie, 4th & 5th from right).

Time to earn my keep a little. Woodhouse Close Church in Bishop Aukland unites Anglicans and Methodists with URC friends. It was a joy to preach and share in communion and then to hear of Messy Church, a 24-hour prayer vigil (as part of the Global Week of Prayer), and a host of ways in which congregation and community share. An afternoon visit to the quite incredible Aukland Palace, Faith Museum, and Mining Art Gallery rounded off an amazing weekend.

Why abundance? I came away with a deep sense of the overflow of love, creativity and sustained hard work that faith seeds and that the Spirit nurtures. And I got to share with Kacie and Alex in a URC first!

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As we resolved to encourage United Reformed congregations “to observe the Feast of Creation in Christ on the first Sunday in September from 2026”, we focused on God’s creation and how deeply we belong within it; our lives inextricably and wonderfully part of all life on Earth.

We warmly welcomed the global ecumenical focus upon the importance of creation care and the suggestion that we mark the first Sunday of September each year with special attention in our worship upon creation and all it means to belong within it. This can lead on into whatever ways this theme can be explored locally in subsequent weeks.

In the light of recent heatwaves and the unfolding of climate and ecological crises, there could hardly be a more critical time for us to bring out this profound theme within our theology and our reading of scripture.

I was kindly invited to write something for as this year’s Season of Creation approaches. I hope this meditation might also speak more widely…

You speak, and the stars begin their burning.
You speak, and lands emerge from the waters of chaos.
You speak, and the emerald greens of plants beyond number dance in fresh breeze.
You speak, and the seasons begin to weave their rhythms.
You speak, and the oceans and rivers team with amazing life.
You speak, and the stunning flocks fly free across a dazzling sky.
You speak, and the myriad creatures roam within the gardens of your glory.
You speak, and we arrive.

You see the intricate beauty and delicate balances, the interconnection that brings life to a world of wonders; everything depending upon the flourishing of everything else.
And you see that it is good.

We want to see as you see.

We want to listen to the heartbeats of your world, feel the beauty as much as see it, love the fragility and the splendour as you do.

Let us touch your Earth gently.
Teach us the wisdom we risk forgetting;
that life is made from sharing,
restoring what is damaged begins with understanding,
understanding our powerful selfishness is humbling…

humbling and transforming.

Transforming, because we find the place you always made for us:
our home within creation’s sanctuary,
our work with the wonders of your world of generosity,
our peace in treasuring the gifts of your abundance,
our life within the sharing.

You speak, and long for us to listen.

Image: Sudipta Mondal | Pexels

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To kick things off, I recently spent two days with the Woking URC Youth Camp, and the experience was amazing. When I asked them what mattered most about Woking, every single person gave the same answer: the strong sense of community, genuine welcome, and safety.

At its best, church is defined by how safe, accepted, and valued people feel when they gather together. The Woking camp was a wonderful picture of true Christian fellowship – a place where people hold each other up and share their lives.

Our prayer is that this blog becomes an extension of that same spirit across the wider URC. We want this to be more than a place where we share scheduled updates; we want a space where we share our hope, encourage one another, and highlight the love and good deeds happening across URC Youth and beyond.

sums up what I saw at camp and what Alex and I hope to build here.

– Kacie

Hi all!

The last month since General Assembly has been a busy one for me. The response to, and engagement with, Kacie and my “Mods on Tour” project has been fantastic. Because of this, I have bounced around East Midlands Synod a bit this month, visiting Bulwell with the East Midlands CYDO Richard, and Gainsborough with the Synod team: the support for the project from the Synod has been a source of huge encouragement for me.

Kacie and I are committed to reaching churches that are very distant from Church House or Synod offices. So, I was up in Glasgow for a weekend to visit Rutherglen URC and to attend an ecumenical service of prayer at St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. The welcome from Rutherglen and the cathedral was more than I could have expected, and more generally the welcome I have felt from the Church in the role of Moderator Elect has been overwhelming.

Finally, at the end of July, I was invited to a Churches Together in England reception in London, hosted by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain. The Archdiocesan Chapel (pictured above) was beautiful, and the enthusiasm for ecumenism among young leaders across the denominations was obvious. This is something I look forward to exploring further with the contacts I made at the event.

– Alex

Main image: Mike Bird | Pexels

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Lord, do you choke as the smoke turns the sky dark and smothers the sun? Do you feel the heat that rises in waves from soil baked hard as rock? Do you see the leaves igniting? Do you hear seeds popping and explode as generations yet to be die? Does the fierce wind blow at your command in judgement and disgust at our carelessness? Do you hate what we are making of Eden?

Dear God, you have given us over to the havoc of a world that burns. The horrors and losses hem us in. We are caught and fearful like the badgers sensing a glowing disaster they cannot outrun. The horizon is red. Clouds rise in a wall ascending.

Creator, are you also destroyer?

So much lost; centuries undone in days. Such precious cargo…

Woodland and Heathland and Dartford Warblers and Night Jars and Red Deer and Ant Lions and Meadow Pipits and Red-Footed Falcons and Skylarks and Stonechats and Whitethroats and Grayling Butterflies and Norfolk Hawker Dragonflies and Rabbits and Beauty and Work and Treasure and Hope and…

We sit in the silence after the storm; walk amidst the ruins of so many lives, smell the smoke that still rises from a blistered ground, see ash floating like snow, know that death has visited. We can record the loss. Can we ever calculate the cost?

Do not close your eyes and ears, Lord.

In your mercy, help us.

Teach us of more.

Because of the Lord’s great love, we are not consumed. Your compassion never fails. New each morning is your love. Restore us to yourself, Lord, that we may return. Renew our days.

* Towards the end of July and on into the start of August, wild fires raged across more than 350 acres of Dunwich Heath on the Suffolk coast, destroying one of the only remaining areas of such habitat in the UK, the only place in which some rare species have flourished.

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Much resonated: smaller and aging congregations of deep faithfulness increasingly stretched by demands of compliance; worries about too few ministers; an ending for a beloved institution (Fulneck School in West Yorkshire, opened in 1753); seeking financial stability; re-imaging structures and staffing; renewing commitments to outreach. We have so much in common. There was a deep desire to journey together with ecumenical partners, like us, wrestling with such comparable agendas. The URC shares in four local congregations with Moravians.

I was a little stunned to be welcomed as coming from a big Church; a new experience! As of 2025 there were 28 British Moravian congregations, with a total of 919 members. Each congregation was represented at the Synod, which meets every two years. We all had our names at our places and a seating plan showing who everyone was. This felt to be a very real family gathering, with everyone addressed as “Sister” or “Brother,” including their two bishops.

But that Fulnek date tells a story. The Moravians are the oldest in the Protestant family. John Hus, professor in Prague, challenged Roman Catholicism. He was burned for heresy on 6 July, 1415. His followers regrouped and, by 1457, established the Unitas Fratrum (the Unity of the Brethren): the Moravian Church. That’s 60 years before Martin Luther’s first public acts of reform! By 1517 they numbered 200,000 with over 400 parishes across Bohemia and Moravia.

Brutal persecutions followed. In 1722 many found sanctuary on the lands of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf in Saxony. Moravians created the community of Herrnhut and, from here, established settlements across the world. It was while worshipping at the Moravian church in Fetter Lane, London, that John Wesley felt his heart “strangely warmed” and thus began the journey that would give rise to Methodism. Today, there are over one million Moravians, mostly in eastern Africa, the Caribbean, Honduras, Nicaragua and South Africa.

Fulneck was established as a Moravian settlement after Zinzendorf visited the area in 1743; deep roots indeed.

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The Revd Neil Thorogood, Minister of Thornbury and Trinity-Henleaze URCs��in��South��Western��Synod, who will serve as General Assembly Moderator 2026-2027, called the role an��“honour”.����

Born in Sydney, Australia,��while his parents were serving as missionaries in the Cook Islands, Neil was ordained in 1992 at the age of 28. He served in local churches in Halifax and Welwyn Garden City before serving as Director of Pastoral Studies and then Principal of Westminster College in Cambridge.����

A��visual artist and writer,��Neil��returned to local ministry in Bristol and Thornbury in 2020.��

He regularly contributes to the URC’s Daily Devotions,��the��annual��URC��Prayer Handbook, and��Reformed��magazine. During the Covid lockdown, Neil made small sketches each day and published them on Twitter (now X). These pictures were the basis of his book��, published by the URC in 2023.����

He was inducted��as Moderator at the URC’s 2026 meeting of General Assembly, the denomination’s key-decision making body,��held at the Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick,��Derbyshire, on��3–6 July.��

Neil said: “I’m very conscious of the privilege of being elected Moderator of the General Assembly and hope I can fulfil this new chapter of ministry in ways that can be a blessing for everyone I share with.”��

A theme he hopes to explore throughout his term in office is “Christ’s conspiracy of goodness”.����

Neil explains: “It is inspired by a book about mission written by an American Methodist which has spoken to me ever since reading it in the 1990s.”��The book takes inspiration from rural French Christian communities who protected Jews from the Nazis during the��Second��World��War; undermining evil with faithful goodness.��

As well as��representing��the URC at significant ecumenical and national events and gatherings, Neil��adds: “I��aim to visit many parts of the URC and discover more of the amazing mosaic of faith and action that is our life together.”����

The Revd Dr Susan Durber,��a URC minister��who serves as President of the European Region of the World Council of Churches, was elected��as��General Assembly Moderator-Elect��and will��serve��in the role from July��2027-2028.��

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We met in the where St Mark’s URC in Amble now worships. It was good opportunity to catch up on the activities of the churches in the town, including their involvement in an upcoming variety show.

Saturday was a day encouraging reflection. In the morning I visited and joined morning prayers led by the Revd Kay Blackwell (pictured). Among those with us were some visitors to the island and a minister staying in the Bothy, the cosy converted former vestry.

The Centre often hosts artists in residence who work with visitors to help them explore their relationship with God through art. It is easy to see why artists are attracted to spend time on Lindisfarne. We were blessed with beautiful weather, and the spread of sea, sands and land were entrancing. The Centre encourages reflection within a pilgrimage garden surrounding it, focussing on the life of St Cuthbert.

Visitors to the island are attracted to the Centre by the beautiful mosaic on an outside wall, showing the causeway leading to Lindisfarne crowned by a sun containing a St Cuthbert’s cross. I was amused by the seal’s head poking up in one corner. Although the island was quite busy while we were there, the causeway would close later in the day, giving peace and more time for solitary reflection for those who stayed. I would encourage those who are visiting Northumberland or who are looking for somewhere to spend a few days of reflection to visit the St Cuthbert’s Centre.

Back on the mainland, has created a labyrinth to aid those who would like to spend time focussing on their prayer. We worshipped in a short service, enjoying the sun pouring down on us, then I was able to walk the labyrinth. It gave me a time of peaceful contemplation as I wound steadily back and forth, sometimes seeming to come close to the centre, then finding myself out at the edges again.

I was then welcomed into the church for afternoon tea, and to meet church’s mascot, Wooly the Sheep.

While Sunday’s weather may not have been as sunny the previous day, the welcomes remained as warm. I was able to join the congregation of Rothbury, together with some others from the local group of churches for morning worship. The group, like many others around the country, is beginning to contemplate how they will work together with one minister and considerable distances between the churches.

My weekend was rounded off by fellowship and food at St James’ in Alnwick. An enjoyable time here ended a joyous weekend learning how the local churches are very much part of their communities. On my return home, when I mentioned to a colleague, who is not a church goer but works remotely from that area, his immediate response was to comment how active St James’ in Alnwick is.

Catriona Wheeler

Catriona is the current URC General Assembly Moderator (2025-2026). Read more on the General Assembly Moderator’s Blog.

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On 31 January 2026 I took part in a service which was long expected but still seemed to rush up in the final week. The closing service of the church in which I was member, Elder and Church Secretary – Trinity URC in Lincoln.

In some ways it was not a sad event – we were able celebrate the years of the life and work of our church with 130 members, friends and family of the church; to reminisce, to catch up with people who had travelled to be with us. It was though, the end of a chapter. A chapter that left questions and “what ifs”. When I heard people talking about the thriving clubs there used to be, how important it had been to get to the Christmas Eve service early if you wanted a seat, how they used to come to junior church when they were young it led to the question of why had things changed? Each church that closes has its own story. For us, it was partly younger generations moving away and all the members living at a distance from a city centre church whose only close housing is a gated community. We remained a friendly, welcoming church and older people who came to us would stay and become members, but we recognised some time ago that we had the problem that in the commercial world is known as succession planning. A capable and engaged membership and eldership were growing older and weary, not able to give as much energy to the church, not able to pick up tasks that others had done before them, feeling guilty about it and longing to come to church simply for worship.

The Elders started carrying out risk assessments during Covid and included financial and age-related matters. Those were the areas that continued to stay in red on our assessment. We gave much prayerful consideration to our future, took matters to the Church Meeting which also considered our future prayerfully and had the help and guidance of our Synod Transitional Minister. We reluctantly came to the conclusion that an orderly closure now, while we still had the resources and capability of doing so was the best course.

A great fear that our members had was the loss of contact with each other. While a good many of us are joining the Local Ecumenical Partnership in Lincoln – St Columba’s – a United Reformed, Methodist and Anglican partnership who are well known to us, and good friends, others will worship in the churches in the villages where they live. We will no longer have the weekly, or more, time to catch up with each other and that connection cannot and should not be lost. We still feel a pastoral responsibility for each other no matter where we worship. Monthly meetings have been arranged, and people will be able to meet each other with fresh news of their new churches and of the new chapters in their worship journey. As Trinity has come to an end the seeds have been scattered around Lincoln, and Lincolnshire, and we will still have much to offer the in service of the Lord.

Catriona Wheeler

Catriona is the current URC General Assembly Moderator (2025-2026). Read more on the General Assembly Moderator’s Blog.

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