Upton-by-Chester United Reformed Church

God's Love is for all. Our mission is to show it, share it, live it.

Our Vision

The adoption of our Mission Statement led on to the question of how are we going to fulfill that mission in practical terms, seizing opportunities, meeting needs, and involving the whole Church community in playing their part, and in supporting and encouraging each other. Central to the vision is the belief that the Church will grow spiritually, in awareness, in fellowship, in witness in the community, and in numbers, by living out that vision, by meeting for prayer and fellowship, by becoming more involved in the community and in support for wider witness in the world.

In order to implement and live out our Mission it was recognised that we needed to address two major concerns:

 

1. How are we at Upton URC going to involve the whole Church with everyone playing their part?

2. How can the task of leadership be spread more widely, overload on Elders be avoided, and resources found to be involved a very wide range of activities?

After preliminary discussions at Elders' Meetings, a scheme was proposed and developed at an Elders' Retreat Day. The various functions and activities of the Church are covered by four Task Groups. A members of Elders' Meetings acts as Co-ordinator for each Group, with each other member of Elders' meeting being a member of one of the Task Groups. The emphasis of each Task Group is to make things happen and they seek to encourage and involve all of our Church Fellowship in ways in which we are most suited. The Vision is to encourage the greater use of everyone's gifts, improve communication and to help create a more effective structure in the ongoing mission of our church.

 

AIMS OF TASK GROUPS

 

Outreach - To seek and foster opportunities to proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ to the people in our community of Upton and beyond.

 

Worship and Education - To explore and develop appropriate and relevant ways and means of helping and enabling people of all ages to worship God in ‘Spirit and Truth’, and to encourage, nurture and deepen our love for God in response to His love for us.

 

Pastoral - To encourage a greater sense of love, support and belonging in our church fellowship; to help draw people closer to one another; to develop better communication and to be aware of wider needs.

 

Stewardship - To ensure a responsible use of our human, financial and building resources to help fulfill our ongoing mission.

 

SAVING TO SHARE

 

Established for over 20 years, 10% of the church’s weekly offering is given to charity. A committee is responsible for administering the scheme. It works very successfully supporting various projects locally, nationally and internationally. Saving to Share also seeks to publicise issues relating to social justice and third world development. We are a Fair Trade Church, support the "Drop the Debt" Campaign and run a Fair Trade stall after morning service on most Sundays.