The
United Reformed Church (
URC) is a
Christian denomination (
church) in the
United Kingdom.
The URC is a result of the merger between the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England in
1972 and subsequent mergers with the Re-formed Churches of Christ in
1981 and the Congregational Union of Scotland in
2000.
The URC has strong historical roots in the
Presbyterian (
Reformed and
Calvinist) and
Congregational traditions.
Each congregations within the URC is run by a church meeting consisting of all the members, with the assistance of the elder's meeting (similar to the Scottish
Kirk's session). Several congregations organize at roughly the
county level to form districts, which in turn groups into provincial synods in
England (national synods in
Scotland and
Wales). A General Assembly gathers the whole of URC to meet annually; advised by the Mission Council, they plan the activity of the URC across the
United Kingdom.
It is a member of the many
ecumenical organizations, including the
World Council of Churches, the
World Alliance of Reformed Churches (
http://www.warc.ch/), and the
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland (
http://www.ctbi.org.uk/). It has a partnership with
Christian Aid (
http://www.christian-aid.org.uk/), a charity organization, called
Commitment for Life (
http://www.cforl.org/).
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