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Yorkshire Synod Somerset House St Paul’s Street Morley Leeds LS27 9EP
Synod Moderator
Rev. Jamie Kissack 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. J Kissack, C/O Synod Office Tel 0114 438 1887 [email protected] Mr T Crossley, C/O Synod Office Mob 07936 362673 [email protected]
Clerk’s Weekly Briefing
No 13 – 2nd July 2020
Dear Friends,
For those with eagle eyes, there has been a change in the header and footer of this leading page of this
Briefing. As of 1st July Rev Jamie Kissack took up the mantle of Moderator of the Yorkshire Synod following Rev
Kevin Watson’s retirement on 30th June. Many of you will know Jamie as his ministry within Yorkshire is long
and varied, in Hornsea, Sheffield and in various Synod roles as well. I hope that you will be able to join me in
praying that Kevin enjoys a long, happy and fulfilling retirement as well as praying for Jamie as he continues his
ministry in new surroundings and potentially in a new environment for the Church as we respond to the
changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic.
We were able to partake in an online valedictory service for Kevin, led by
Rev Jason McCullagh on Tuesday afternoon. For those who would like to
watch, it can be found on the Yorkshire Synod Facebook site, and will be
available on the new Yorkshire Synod YouTube channel which has
recently been set up.
As a reminder these are the links to the e-card that we sent and Kevin’s
goodbye message on the Synod Website:
https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/portfolio-items/synods-farewell-card-
to-kevin-and-lynne/ https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/good-bye/ .
One thing that was not mentioned in the service, but I’m allowed to
mention here is that the contributions to the charities of Kevin and
Lynne’s choice have reached a grand total of £3315 and I hear this figure
is due to increase over the next few days. So I am happy to let you read
of their choices in Kevin and Lynne’s own words: “£1000 to each of the
first three charities mentioned below with the remainder towards a print
(explained below). Hope it all makes sense, reflecting Lynne and I as people, and our concerns. All four worth
looking on their websites. In Christ’s love,
Kevin
1. Community Awareness Programme, 2 Market Street, Wakefield, WF1 1DH tel 01924 381119 email
[email protected] Charity number 1076401
This programme helps relieve suffering caused by want and poverty in the Wakefield area, to raise awareness
of the needy. A centre for meals, showers, toiletries, clothing, household items and furniture. Friendship, care
and employment and benefit application advice are given. Referral and signposting to other agencies. Many of
its users have alcohol or drug dependency, are sofa surfers or homeless, and mental health issues. Foundation
is the New Life Christian Centre, with paid workers, and volunteers from many Christian churches.
This charity represents where we have been – with Lynne having been a volunteer when we first came to
Wakefield.
2. Woodhouse Close Church Community Centre, Proudfoot Drive, Bishop Auckland, County
Durham, DL14 6PD Church Secretary Mr. Roger Gibson, tel 07702095876 email
[email protected] or Community Centre tel 01388 450838/602935, email
[email protected] Charity Number 1148458
Its work is to engage with its surrounding community, one of the most poor and vulnerable communities. At
the moment only the Food Bank still operates because of the restrictions of Lockdown, and on Easter Morning
the Church was burgled, and finding nothing of value, the masked raiders trashed the building.
This charity represents where Kevin and Lynne are going to – an Anglican Methodist LEP which welcomed
into its life the United Reformed Church members when our church closed in 2000, situated at the heart of
its estate, and is the ministry they will be engaged with.
3. Foundation of Light, Beacon of Light, Stadium Park, Monkwearmouth, Sunderland, SR5 1SN tel
01915634777 email [email protected] Charity Number 1089333
The registered charity of Sunderland AFC – pioneering Sports charity with programmes impacting health,
behaviour, attitudes and skills, using the power of football to involve, inspire and educate young people and
their families, helping tens of thousands of people across the North East each year, whatever their football
affiliation or none, especially in the most vulnerable of communities.
This charity represents what Kevin is passionate about – not only Sunderland AFC but the opportunity for all
young people to develop their lives in positive ways.
4. The Hearth Arts Centre and Cafe, The Hearth, Main Road, Horsley,
Northumberland, NE15 0NT Office tel 01661 852545 email
[email protected] Charity Number 1106143
Owned and run by Horsley village church, it is a hub for arts, music, heritage and
hospitality, providing studios for local artists and crafts-folk, space for exhibitions, concerts
and workshops for all.
This represents Kevin and Lynne’s passion for the spirituality of Art. The project was set
up when Kevin was minister of the church to encourage local artists, and musicians.
Kevin and Lynne would like to use the remainder of the money and add their own
contribution to purchase a print from one of the artists, Rebecca Vincent, as they are
struggling because of the pandemic restrictions. It is called “On the Edge”, a picture of a
tree growing out of a rock face in Yorkshire – a great symbol of new life and hope, which
would always be a reminder of our happy years living in God’s own country.
Church links and Mission Activities 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.
Copyright Rebecca Vincent
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. Also not to be missed is the Good News section of the website, which includes these two brilliant stories from around our Synod: https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/portfolio-items/well-done-to-grace-the-superstar/ https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/portfolio-items/wyke-scarecrow-festival/
Also Megan and Jon our Children and Young People Development Practitioners would like to share the Wilderness Faith Maps Resource. It is currently a Facebook group. Here is the link: https://www.facebook.com/groups/faithmaps/ or it can be found by searching Wilderness Faith Maps on FB. Faith Maps is a discipleship resource which is released weekly and based on the lectionary scriptures. It is designed to be intergenerational and flexible to suit different households and different settings.
Also happening are the intergenerational times of prayer each month. Check out the Facebook page for details to see that it will be happening at 4pm on the 15th of July, August and September. In addition the Newsletters are still being produced https://mailchi.mp/2d3da9a4b688/the-latest-news-from-the-wilderness-team?e=fb33124ced and are full of all the events which are happening as a result of the brilliant work our Children and Young People’s practitioners are doing.
Nick Percival, a retired minister who served recently in the Barnsley area has published a kindle version of
meditations based on hymns, called “On Autopilot”. If this is of the same standard as earlier ones he has
written, it will be a good tool for prayer and reflection. You can download it by following the following
Amazon link: "On Autopilot?" by Nick Percival, https://amzn.eu/0vydtxX.
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, although this week a little break is being
taken.
Our friends in North-Western and Mersey Synods have asked that I bring your
attention to these webinars on Managing Memory Loss in Worship being held on
the 13th and the 27th July. It is being led by Mel Breeze and Jane Burgess and details
of how to join can be obtained from [email protected].
More information can be found on their website
https://www.urcmerseysynod.org.uk/welcome.htm
General Information and Resource Sharing
Since the last Briefing last month there has been movement along the road of lifting of the lockdown. As a reminder the URC nationally has an array of resources that is kept as up to date as is possible. This has been quite a challenge since the end of June, and that challenge has been noticed by the Synod Team. To try to make it as simple as possible for you all to negotiate the complications of the ever-changing regulations surrounding opening churches, either for Private Prayer or for Congregational Worship a letter has been sent out to Ministers and Church Secretaries which can be found on the URC website here https://urcyorkshire.org.uk/covid19/. In this link you will also find other vital files which will help you prepare for reopening. Similarly the national URC site is full of resources which will help you in the task of making sure that your buildings are capable of hosting services. By visiting https://urc.org.uk/coronavirus.html you can access all the resources that you need to prepare for reopening. The key documents are Ready for the new “normal” and Emerging into the “new normal”. Also available on this page is the downloadable blank Covid-19 Risk Assessment (PDF) with a guide as to how to use it. Many other resources including all the recently published guides can be found here https://urc.org.uk/information-guides.html whilst downloadable posters and other display items can be found herenhttps://urc.org.uk/coronavirus-resources. For those who need to get to grips with how our preparations sit with Government advice, the latest advice regarding the opening of church premises is here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-places-of-worship-from-4-july/covid-19-guidance-for-the-safe-use-of-places-of-worship-from-4-july and guidance regarding small marriages and civil partnerships is here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships/covid-19-guidance-for-small-marriages-and-civil-partnerships. We do appreciate that there is a huge amount to take in, and despite knowing that coming out of lockdown was going to be a difficult experience, we have been taken aback as to the amount of “red tape” that it has generated. To help churches through these complexities, Jane Bunyan-Murray, the Synod Property Officer is organising a Roadmap to Reopening Question and Answer event on July 13th. It is designed to help churches and individuals plot a way through all the new regulations which we are having to adhere to as we bring our church buildings back to life. Jane, with other members of the Synod team, will be available to answer questions specifically on how churches can prepare for the future. There will be two sessions at 10.00am and 2.00pm. To register please get in touch via the e-mail on the poster.
In my capacity as Clerk I do need you as individuals and as churches to ask yourself the following questions: Are you able to participate safely in public worship? Can you or your place of worship provide a safe environment in which worship can take place? If you are unable to answer the question positively then Synod’s advice is to persevere with the lockdown provisions until such a time as the restrictions are lifted further.
This then leads to the question of “What Do We Want To Be?” This is addressed to us as church going Christians and as we emerge from Lockdown this question will need to be addressed. Watch this space as in the next few weeks I know that there will be courses designed to answer such questions
Fresh information has been received from Ioannis Athanasiou, the national URC Safeguarding Adviser. The Quick Guide to Safeguarding and Covid-19 is now online as a web page: https://urc.org.uk/church-information-guides/3500-quick-guide-covid-19-and-safeguarding.html. Also added to the Safeguarding section is https://urc.org.uk/safeguarding-people-in-the-midst-of-coronavirus.html. They are both available as PDF and Word documents. Matt Knowles also tells me that the online Safeguarding courses are now being rolled out. For more information please drop him an e-mail at [email protected].
A message as well from Simon Peters, who many of you will know is the Walking the Way Project Manager. He has asked that we help out the University of Zurich which is currently carrying out a piece of ecumenical, international research into the ways churches around the globe have used online technology in response to the current Covid-19 crisis. Anyone involved with the URC is welcome to fill in the research form, but it is clearly intended for ministers, elders, community workers and others in leadership roles in local congregations. The form can be found here: https://www.contoc.org/contoc/contoc-int/ and the deadline for submissions is Sunday 12 July. If you want more information, contact Simon on 020 7520 2718, 07909 910 582 or [email protected].
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
