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Yorkshire Synod Somerset House St Paul’s Street Morley Leeds LS27 9EP
Synod Moderator
Rev. Kevin Watson Synod Clerk Tim Crossley Treasurer Rev. Simon Copley Property Officer Jane Bunyan-Murray Trust Secretary Alastair Forsyth
e-Mail: [email protected] Website: www.urcyorkshire.org.uk
Telephone: 0113 289 8490
Rev. K Watson, 1 Sunny Hill Close, Wrenthorpe, Wakefield, WF2 0BZ Tel 01924 200971 [email protected] Mr T Crossley, C/O Synod Office Mob 07936 362673 [email protected]
Clerk’s Weekly Briefing
No 12 - 18th June 2020
Dear Friends,
A dozen briefings!! Doesn’t time fly!! It is now three months since we took the decision to cancel the Synod
meeting at Dewsbury and for the Synod staff to all work from home. It has been an enlightening time; learning
new skills, not least video conferencing and adjusting to a commute of 14 steps up to my attic office rather
than the 14 miles to Morley. However I think what we have in Synod is a team whose strength has been the
way in which we have been able to work together, apart. Similarly, the way in which our churches – your
churches – have also stepped up to the mark in reacting to the new way in which we have had to live has been
incredible. Between us I hope we can be strong in the Spirit to begin a new way of working.
As I mentioned last week, The URC has issued new guidance following reports in the media on June 7th that
places of worship in England will be allowed to reopen for Private Prayer on June 13th. The guidance from URC
General Secretary is URC https://urc.org.uk/images/200607-private-prayer-3.docx, but as yet it has not had a
direct effect on our plans to reopen our premises. I have to stress that Synod’s advice is that if it was not your
practice to open for private prayer before lockdown then there is no need to open on that basis now. Indeed
our advice is still the same as before; that we do not open our premises for services, events and bookings until
such a time as it is deemed safe to do so. Hopefully all churches will have received the advice sent out by
Alastair Forsyth, our Trust Secretary on behalf of the Yorkshire Congregational Union which explains the
current situation from our Trustees’ perspective. If you have not received it or would want a copy, please let
me know and I will forward a copy. In the same vein we have no immediate plans to rush back into Somerset
House and we are not discerning any moves on the part of government to change their advice to work from
home where possible. Nevertheless there is work constantly going on behind the scenes, as a message from
Andy Jackson at URC Communications received this past weekend shows:
The latest advice about the reopening of church buildings for private prayer can be found on the URC website,
www.urc.org.uk/coronavirus.
This includes an updated advice note from the General Secretary and Synod Moderators, a new Covid-19 Risk
Assessment document which has been created by the Moderators, an example of a completed Risk Assessment
form, and a new disclaimer poster which can be displayed once the Risk Assessment has been completed and it
is safe for the building to reopen.
The URC Bookshop www.urcshop.co.uk/coronavirus, now has some practical items in stock for when our
buildings reopen, with more to follow. Please advise churches to be careful when purchasing supplies. The floor
tape that we are selling for £3.90 is on offer for £21.50 elsewhere.
Free, downloadable and customisable resources will be added to the URC website shortly, and you will be able
to find links to them on our coronavirus advice page.
We are getting ever so close to our
Moderator, Rev’d Kevin Watson’s
retirement. On 30th June he steps
down after twelve years of service to
Yorkshire Synod, which also included
a time as General Assembly
Moderator as well. With his wife
Lynne, he will be retiring to Bishop
Auckland and on 1st July Rev’d Jamie
Kissack will begin his time as
Moderator of the Yorkshire Synod of
the United Reformed Church.
To mark the time Kevin spent in
Yorkshire Synod there will be a short
service on the afternoon of Tuesday
30th June at 2.00pm led by Rev’d
Jason McCullagh. It will be held live on
“Zoom” and is open to all who want
to witness this moment of transition.
The links are below. It will also be
recorded and uploaded to various
sites so that it can be watched by
those who cannot make it on the 30th. Details of where the service will be uploaded will be published
nearer the time.
So to join the Zoom service here are the links for both video and telephone: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86888223107 Meeting ID: 868 8822 3107 One tap mobile, +442034815237, 86888223107# United Kingdom Dial by your location, 0203 051 2874, 0203 481 5237, 0203 481 5240, 0131 460 1196 Meeting ID: 868 8822 3107, To find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kcsuO0nbrx.
I’m happy to say that I was able to hand over the “E-Card” we
have had in the making for a while, the gifts that were to be
handed over at Longcauseway in March as well as those cards
which have been arriving at Somerset House. I was also able
to ask the charity to which Kevin would like the generous gifts
we have received to be forwarded. That answer will be
revealed at the service on the 30th, but at the moment the
figure is currently in excess of £3000. For those who want to
have a look at the card, it is in the Good News section of the
Synod Website at https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/portfolio-
items/synods-farewell-card-to-kevin-and-lynne/.
Kevin’s goodbye to us can also be viewed here
https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/good-bye/ .
Church links and Mission Activities
One of the things that does not get the recognition and praise that it deserves when we are not
worshipping in church buildings is the work of those engaging with our young people. Be it a 13
month old or a 13 year old, the effort that is required week after week needs to be supported and
applauded. I know that it is difficult to keep up the momentum at the moment, but I would like to
remind you all that help is always at hand.
This screenshot, taken from https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/about-us/children-young-people/ shows
where there are resources to be had to help maintain the links that have been made with our
younger friends and their families. Please use them, they are there for you, and if you do need to talk
with one of our Children and Young People’s Practitioners, please get in touch with them at
[email protected] or [email protected]. There are more links to the work of
the Children and Young Peoples group below including those to Pilots and FoFA.
Please don’t forget about Pray4URC. It continues each Thursday evening
from 8.15pm to 8.35pm until the eve of what would have been General
Assembly on 9th July.
Full details have been uploaded to both the Yorkshire Synod website and
the main URC site as well as the GEAR Facebook site
https://www.facebook.com/Pray4URC.
Synod Christian Comment https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/christian-comment/ is part of the website that I am
now regularly highlighting as a resource, but it is becoming the place where we are uploading articles exploring
what it is to be a Christian. Please look out this page on the website to read this and the other contributions
which are being regularly uploaded there.
General Information and Resource Sharing
At the URC’s Mission Committee meeting on 4th June, a resolution was passed asking local churches and individuals to consider writing to their MP about the proposed annexation of large parts of the West Bank by the Israeli Government. The Mission Committee would be very grateful if you could highlight this work in your Synods, particularly as the annexation could happen as early as next month. The story is posted on the URC website: https://urc.org.uk/latest-news/3489-urc-urges-christians-to-oppose-west-bank-annexation.html and there will be a piece in Reform.
The URC Buildings Forum is a relatively recent newcomer to the resources available to us as users of URC
buildings. The site https://urcbuildingsforum.co.uk/ explains that the Forum is made up of representatives
from each synod of the URC, the URC Mission Committee and from other agencies within the denomination
including the Church Related Community Work programme, Mission Enablers and Children and Youth Work
networks. It is also open to anyone in the denomination with a particular interest in and concern for the aims
of the Forum. It is primarily focussed on developing and linking to resources that can help churches to have a
mission based focus on buildings and has identified online networking as one important way of bringing
churches into contact with one another. To contact them, click the above link and follow the instructions.
Safeguarding Training Matt Knowles, our Synod Safeguarding Advisor, is working on the new basic level
safeguarding package. Hopefully that information will either be with your church Safeguarding leads now or if
not will be in the next few days. The course will be delivered online and will start later on this month. For more
information or if you have any questions, please contact Matt at [email protected].
The latest (June) issue if the JPIT Newsletter has just been published with issues of
justice and peace at the forefront of its articles. This month it includes “Journeys of
Hope” for Refugee Week, statements and prayers addressing the Black Lives Matter
movement and “Climate and Covid-19” where their blog explores how we can continue
to fight for climate justice in the light of Covid-19. Follow this link
https://jointpublicissues-news.org.uk/1MV9-6X0HE-B6MT4T0M0A/cr.aspx to read the
full newsletter and to sign up to receive it on a monthly basis.
On Line Content If you want see what other churches are doing, either to join with them, to learn from them
or to take inspiration from them please visit the URC’s https://urc.org.uk/latest-news/3385-coronavirus-
worshipping-digitally page. Here you find not only those URC’s in Yorkshire who have a digital platform, but
others from around the country. Have a look and if you know of any URC’s in Yorkshire who you think should
be on this list, please let me know or contact [email protected] and she will update the list.
For those with a more local taste I know that the Sheffield team have their services on their own website at
http://sheffieldurc.org.uk/ and on the Yorkshire site the latest “Worshipping Together, Apart” series of
services from Rev Janine Atkinson are being uploaded regularly, including this week’s Father’s Day service
https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20.06.21.-Worshipping-Together-Apart.-Fathers-
Day.pdf.
Filling the Gaps Can I ask you again to look around your church families to see if there are any people who you feel could fill some of the gaps we have in our Synod Committees. The Committees needing new faces are Ministries, Property, Financial Resources, Investments and Safeguarding. We are also short of names to offer to the national church to fill positions in the Missions Committee and to sit on the Board of Governors of Silcoates School. If you are able to identify anyone you can either ask them to contact me or if you want ask me to contact them. Either way let me know via my e-mail address [email protected].
The Briefing is about to take a brief break. There won’t be one next week (25th June) but all being well it will be back on 2nd July.
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If you know of anything which you may find useful for our churches, please contact me at
[email protected] and I’ll circulate it here and on the website. Similarly if you need any
further help, be it to do with IT, finance, property or the like we are here to help.
Yorkshire Synod: https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/, National URC site: https://urc.org.uk/ including the excellent information guides at
https://urc.org.uk/information-guides?fbclid=IwAR1NRcxUTu7kQn25ENmowlb9LROLKrNHJL4_BJ6ft6gVjpOUjCqM9CCmrQQ
Yorkshire Synod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urcyorkshire Yorkshire Synod Twitter: https://twitter.com/urcyorkshire
Yorkshire Young People’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wildernessyorkshireurc/ https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/about-us/children-young-people/faith-maps/
Best wishes
Tim Crossley
Synod Clerk
