Church Life Review
Here you can find out about the Church Life Review; when and why it was set up, what it aims to achieve, and the latest news, papers and webinars.
The Church Life Review was set up in 2020 to review the life, structures, resources and work of the URC to enable a faithful response to the challenges presented in Paper A1 Toward the Future of the URC. This paper reflected that the pandemic has become a moment that has revealed strengths, weaknesses and possibilities in the life of the church we maybe were not aware of.
The CLR is now in its second phase, and is being guided by a Steering Group and overseen by a Sub-Committee of the Business Committee. CLR phase two started at General Assembly in 2023, and was asked to explore new ways of working across four workstreams:
- Provision of shared support services
- Employment of lay workers in local church roles
- Financial resource sharing
- Establishment of new URC communities of worship and discipleship.
The objective of phase two is to undertake a range of investigations and deliver a set of proposals to General Assembly in November 2025.
The Steering Group are responsible for:
- Identifying/designing options for future ways of operating
- Exploring the feasibility for possible models and establishing ‘living labs’ to trial models on the ground
- Testing models against the values and principles agreed by General Assembly
- Consulting widely upon potential changes
- Producing proposals for General Assembly in 2025.
Church Life Review: The Story So Far
The following is taken from the September issue of Reform and maps the progress so far of the Church Life Review.
Church Life Review Update from General Assembly 2024
The presentation from the Church Life Review group, from General Assembly 2024, can be downloaded below.
- Church Life Review Update – GA 2024 (PPT | 6mb)
You can also view the Church Life Review session from the GA in the video on this page, or from our YouTube channel.
In the presentation there is mention of a ‘living lab‘, this may be a new term for some people.
A living lab, in this context, is essentially an on-the-ground trial of a new way of working delivered in collaboration with a synod or synods, covering a pre-defined area which has been judged to be suitable for the trial. They will allow us to rapidly gain feedback about how innovative models work for local churches and synods, i.e. whether they ease the burden, or add to it.
Church Life Review Group Papers from Previous Years
2024
- GA2024 – Church Life Review Update (PDF | 58kb)
2023
- Church Life Review Report – General Assembly 2023 (PDF | 198kb)
- Church Life Review Structures – General Assembly 2023 (PDF | 209kb)
- Synods and General Assembly: Combined Financial Analysis ( | 396kb)
- Local Churches and Good Governance (PDF | 566kb)
2022
- Church Life Review Report – General Assembly (PDF | 55kb)
- Initial Update from the Church Life Review (PDF | 85kb)
- Church Life Review Report – Executive Assembly 2022 (PDF | 98kb)
- Church Life Review Session Presentation (PPTX | 924kb)
Other Church Life Review Group Papers
- Towards a URC Theology of Money (PDF | 338kb)
- The URC: A Paradoxical Church at a Crossroads (PDF | 13mb)
Church Life Review Group – financial information webinar from MKS
The United Reformed Church has lacked good quality, consolidated, and comparable financial information across its Synods and General Assembly with which to take decisions for its future.
The Church Life Review Group, General Secretary, and Chief Financial Officer selected Moore Kingston Smith (Non-profit Advisory) to collect information from URC Synods and then to consolidate this information for the CLRG.
This webinar provides an understanding of the work that MKS has carried out on behalf of the Church Life Review Group.
For a full list of papers being presented at this year’s General Assembly, visit General Assembly Papers
