The 2025 meeting of the United Reformed Church General Assembly, opened at The Hayes Conference Centre in Swanwick on 4 July.
The meeting began with Communion led by the Revd Tim Meadows General Moderator 2025-2025, and with worship led by the Revd Andrew Mann-Ray and Andrea Heron, his chaplains.
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As Andrew is a lover of folk music, he led Assembly in singing unaccompanied the folk hymn John Ball. The reading was from 1 Corinthians 13, about the supremacy of love. Andrea reflected on the 60ft sculpture in the Vatican, Resurrection by Fazzini, in which Christ emerges from nuclear crater. It encapsulated what it meant to live under the threat of nuclear war in the mid-20th century.
“It is one of my favourite things,” said Andrea. “And it scares the life out of me.”
She said: “The idea of the destruction of everything I recognise, know and that gives me my sense of self and identity, scares me senseless. But that image of Christ rising out of the ashes – now that, that makes my soul sing!”
As Christians we should know that there can be no resurrection without crucifixion, but it can be hard to really grasp that. Traditional western images of crucifixion are beautiful, but unreal.
“So,” said Andrea, “we are called to join with those going through real suffering and stay there. God invites us to share his greatest moment of suffering and that is the path to joining in his resurrection. What a beautiful privilege! Because we are promised resurrection, we are called to go through the world of suffering. Love is the path that will lead us through crucifixion to resurrection.”
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Session one
Introduction and greeting of ecumenical guests
The Revd Philip Brooks, Deputy General Secretary (Mission) reminded Assembly that “there is a world outside the United Reformed Church” and that it is represented by ecumenical guests. Uniquely, ecumenical guests are normally full members of Assembly with voting rights. This year’s guests are:
- Dr Francesca Nuzzolese (Waldensian)
- Martin Heninger and Anja Behrens (Evangelical Church of the Palatinate)
- Júlia Berecz (Reformed Church in Hungary)
- Charles Klagba-Kuadjovi (Eglise Protestante Unie de France)
- Revd Chantal Noppen (Church of England)
- Revd Tom Osborne (Methodist Church in Britain)
- Hilary Treavis (Baptist Union of Great Britain)
- Fr Dominic Robinson (Roman Catholic)
The Revd Géza Kacsó was warmly welcomed and invited to address the Assembly. Mr Kacsó serves as pastor of the multi-cultural Reformed community of Bátyú in Transcarpathia, an area of western Ukraine. He said getting out of Ukraine since the war began has been extremely difficult, especially for males of the population, and that he was fortunate to be one of the exceptions.
He said Transcarpathia has been relatively safe from bombing and missiles but that his community has lost many people who have moved away, including children – “our future” – and males conscripted to the army. He said that in many ways life in Transcarpathia goes on as normal, though many women are taking up the work of men sent to war. None of the ministers have left, he said. He concluded: “We hope for a better future and we thank you for all your support, financial and through prayer.”
The Right Revd Rosemary (Rosie) Frew, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, brought greetings from her General Assembly, and on behalf of all the ecumenical guests thanked the URC for its hospitality. She said that Christian denominations are all facing similar issues, and that this is a time of learning and sharing.
This is the first year as Clerk of General Assembly for the Revd Sarah Moore, joined by the Revd Dr Alex Clare-Young, the new Assistant Clerk. To explain how business and voting works at General Assembly, Sarah recruited members of the National Synod of Scotland who introduced a mock debate around the colour balance of sweets in supermarket brands of pastilles. The debate was “fruitful” and gave Assembly much to “chew on”.
Assembly voted in favour of resolutions nominating members of the Facilitation Group for Assembly and as the Convenor of Tellers.
Synod Moderator’s Report
The 2025 Synod Moderators’ Report, presented by the Revd Geoffrey Clarke, Moderator of East Midlands Synod focuses on the theme of grace and draws upon both scripture and lived experiences from churches across the denomination. The report calls the URC to be “full of grace”, not just in word but in witness. Geoffrey commented that in terms of style the report may well be judged to be more like a “sermon” than a report.
“That should in itself come as no surprise, given that we exercise a ministry of Word and Sacraments,” he said. “This year we share a word of encouragement and challenge – for each of us is urged to hear afresh the call to be a people who are full of grace.”
In the report moderators reflected on the contrast between the grace we receive through Christ and the “famine of grace” in society today, marked by harshness, contempt, and division.
To illustrate the point, Geoffrey walked Assembly through several examples of a lack of grace in modern society: Jackie Weaver, the star of a viral parish council meeting who ejected members of the meeting for their bad behaviour, and Trump’s behaviour towards Zelinskyy in front of television cameras.
The Church, while not perfect, is called to be countercultural: a people defined by generosity, compassion, and gratitude. Geoffrey acknowledged that although it would be good to be able to claim that within church settings how we treat one another and the behaviour in our meetings is exemplary, it is sadly not always the case.
Drawing on the biblical encounter between Mary and Elizabeth and the glimpses of grace that we can catch in one another, Geoffrey reminded us that each gathering can be a moment of recognising God’s work in and through us.
Geoffrey acknowledged that the membership of the Moderators meetings had recently been completed by the arrival of the Revd David Downing as Moderator of South Western Synod. However, since the report was submitted the Revd Bridget Banks, Moderator of Southern Synod, has taken early retirement on health grounds. Geoffrey thanked Bridget for her service and wished her well in her retirement.
Members of Assembly then discussed briefly questions for reflection within the report, such as: Where and in whom did we most recently catch a glimpse of grace, and did we remember to give thanks for that grace observed? and How is gratitude encouraged and practised in the regular life of our local church?
The report was received warmly by Assembly.
Paper T2: Safeguarding – Safeguarding Training Framework
General Assembly adopted the updated Safeguarding Training Framework for use across the Church and instructed the Denominational Safeguarding Team and Synods to oversee the implementation of the framework. It also asked the Business Committee to look at future updates because it was a technical document across three nations.
The Revd Roger Jones, Convenor of the Safeguarding Committee, introduced the paper with Matt Knowles, a Synod Safeguarding Officer. “This is more comprehensive and an updated version and follows a consultation with more than 200 people from across the URC,” Roger said.
The new framework reflects the differences and changes across the three nations and introduces combined and intermediate courses without increasing workloads as it continues to deliver substantial amounts of essential training.
The first training framework was brought to General Assembly 2021 and there have been various changes within safeguarding in that time, including a significant change in safeguarding personnel, the cultural and attitude shift to see safeguarding as who the URC is as a Christian denomination and not just a compliance issue, and important external reports and inquiries related to other faith organisations.
The framework has been regularly reviewed and critiqued, and it was felt by the Safeguarding Committee and other key stakeholders that the changes needed to be adopted by the General Assembly.
The framework outlines the training pathways: Introduction, Foundation, Intermediate, Advanced and Bespoke, along with pathways for different roles. The training programme has been designed not just to be informative but based on case examples, and some training will be available as online learning which will enable more participants to engage.
In Wales, training is aligned with the National Safeguarding Training, Learning and Development Standards and the framework set out by the URC.
In Scotland there is a Service Level Agreement with the Church of Scotland regarding training and everyone in Scotland is required to complete it in line with the requirements set out in the Church of Scotland’s framework.
Andrew Evans of West Midlands Synod reminded GA that Safer Recruitment is essential and asked if others could be added to the list to undertake this training.
Michael Hopkins, Convenor of Resources Committee, proposed an amendment so that future frameworks could be reviewed by the Business Committee instead of the General Assembly, after consultations with national Synods.
Lindsey Sanderson, National Synod of Scotland, said that as a national Synod, the chance to discuss a framework at the General Assembly was appreciated, and that a committee might not have the wide range of skills for analysing different rules in different nations.
The amendment, which became resolution 37a, was carried.
Session two
Paper H2 Criteria for the 13 new pioneering posts
On behalf of the Ministries Committee, the Revd Mary Thomas brought a paper asking Assembly to agree the “criteria” for 13 new pioneering posts, designed to “intentionally grow new Christian communities”.
Though we often speak about decline in the Church, there is a growing interest in faith in the UK, Mrs Thomas said. She said that pioneering ministry grows out of where ministry already exists. There is a stronger intention to take risks, she said, and to draw more lay workers to ministry.
The criteria had been developed in part to reflect the “missional lens” that the Mission Committee will bring later in the Assembly. For that reason, the posts “will be committed to engaging with issues of Legacies of Slavery and anti-racism, the environment and net zero, poverty, the URC’s reinvigoration of its ecumenical vision and areas of deprivation, where appropriate”.
Mrs Thomas said that though pioneer ministry is “ever-evolving and never static”, the criteria would guide how to establish the new ministries.
In response to a question about when a person would be assessed as eligible to be a pioneer, the Revd Nicola Furley-Smith, Secretary to the Ministries Committee, said there was an expectation that ministers put forward by synods would receive training.
The Moderator of the National Synod of Wales was concerned that posts would be created for people. Mrs Furley-Smith felt the scheme allows a synod to say where there is work to be done and then develop a post accordingly. The URC Assembly Moderator asked whether, if a synod didn’t manage to create a post, the opportunity could be transferred to another synod – in response Mrs Furley-Smith said this is not part of the current proposal.
The Revd Dr Susan Durber asked for clarification about the nature of pioneering – could only certain types of people do pioneering? The General Secretary said there is no intention to create an “order of pioneering ministers” – these are roles for stipendiary ministers of Word and Sacrament; the new ministries are intended to be centres for ministry and worship where the sacraments can be offered. For that reason, these would not be roles for CRCWs.
One speaker said he found the word “pioneer” problematic; he said it has colonial overtones, and the Secretary accepted that finding the right word is difficult. However, a motion from the floor to remove the word “pioneering” from the resolution, though met with some sympathy, was ruled out of order.
There was also a request for lay people to be considered for the roles. In response, the Secretary said the funding for these posts come from Ministries but she hoped that lay opportunities will be coming through decisions already made at previous meetings. In response to two other questions, she added that there is training available for pioneering, and also that it would be possible for ministers who have transferred from other denominations to take up the new posts if they hadn’t been filled by URC ministers through the certificate of eligibility scheme.
With one further amendment, the Assembly accepted the resolution proposing the “process” (not “criteria”) for creating 13 new pioneering posts.
Paper H4 Review of the URC Retirement Policy
General Assembly considered a report from the Ministries Committee on the possibility of removing the normal retirement age of 68.
The review of the Church’s retirement policy is not complete, but the committee asked Assembly for an acknowledgment of its work so far, and for a steer on whether to continue in this direction.
The Revd Mary Thomas, Convenor of the Committee, and Revd Nicola Furley-Smith, Secretary for Ministries presented the report and responded to questions and comments.
The first resolution, noting the work of the committee, was passed without discussion.
Asking Assembly’s guidance on whether to continue with the review, Ms Thomas said that a great deal of work and consultation had already happened and more would be needed. The question had financial implications, and it would have an impact on the question of planned changes to pastorates.
Ms Thomas said that the number of minsters likely to be affected in the coming years seemed small – most wish to retire at 68 or before. For those who do not, there is a process available to extend their ministry.
Thoughts shared in discussion included that it is useful to know one’s expected retirement time, and healthy to have that as a general approach. It is possible for ministers with the support of their pastorate or post, and of their Synod, to seek an extension to their ministerial service beyond the normal retirement age.
On the otherhand there is the question of equality, as a stated retirement age can disproportionately affect less privileged groups.
The URC’s Legal Adviser, Andy Middleton, explained that compulsory retirement is direct age discrimination under the Equality Act 2010, however unlike other forms of direct discrimination, direct age discrimination can be objectively justified if it is a “proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”.
The General Secretary, the Revd Dr John Bradbury, pointed out that whichever way Assembly votes it will only be giving a steer to the committee, there will be much more work to do, and because of the complex legal issues that require further consideration, it may be the case in the future that the General Assembly will be invited to make a different decision to the steer given by this resolution.
Assembly passed resolution 29b, giving a steer against removing the normal retirement age. The Ministries Committee will continue its work on retirement age and bring proposals to Assembly Executive in February 2026.
Reporting team: Andy Jackson, Ann-Marie Nye, Steve Tomkins and Laurence Wareing.
Videos: Ann-Marie Nye. Photos Kevin Snyman.