The United Reformed Church’s Annual General Assembly took place at the Hayes Conference Centre (Derbyshire) from Friday 30 June to Monday 3 July.

Ably led by two of Scotland’s own, the Revd. Fiona Bennett (Minister of Augustine United) as Moderator and the Revd. Lindsey Sanderson (Minister of Hamilton & Righead, East Kilbride) as Chaplain, the Assembly, despite some moments of challenge and thought, very much felt itself to be a time of inspiration and thankfulness to God for all that we are called to be.

Fiona gently, but helpfully, chaired us through the range of business with a little help from former Moderators.  Lindsey’s wonderful leading of worship gave us absolutely the right context in which to do the business, the theme being that we were in ‘a space of grace’.

Much of the Assembly was concerned with how we can be better equipped to be the church as we considered in depth the range of considerations emerging from the Church Life Review Group.  However, there was also a strong element of outward looking with resolutions on relationships with churches in Ukraine, poverty in the UK and the Illegal Migration Bill.  A complex, but important, moment was the strong support for a resolution affirming the human dignity of transgender, non-binary and gender non-conforming people.

An important moment for the National Synod of Scotland was the resolution appointing the Revd. Lindsey Sanderson as the next Synod Moderator, with effect from 1 January 2024.

For more information and a flavour of what happened, please go to the denominational website – www.urc.org.uk – or click on the links for a summary of each day.

General Assembly day one round-up: 30 June 2023 - United Reformed Church

General Assembly day two round-up: 1 July 2023 - United Reformed Church‍

General Assembly 2023 day three round-up: 2 July - United Reformed Church‍

General Assembly day four round-up: 3 July 2023 - United Reformed Church