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What is URC
 Formed in 1972 by the union of the Congregational Church in England and Wales and the Presbyterian Church of England, the URC has continued to express its deep commitment to the visible unity of the whole Church by its subsequent union in 1981 with the Re-formed Churches of Christ, through continuing talks with other traditions and in more than 400 local churches united with other denominations.
On April 1, 2000, the Congregational Union of Scotland united with the URC.
Though one of the smaller of Britain's 'mainstream' denominations, the URC stands in the historic Reformed tradition, whose member denominations make up the largest single strand of Protestantism with more than 70 million members world-wide. Along with other Reformed churches the URC holds to the Trinitarian faith expressed in the historic Christian creed and finds its supreme authority for faith and conduct in the Word of God in the Bible, discerned under guidance of the Holy Spirit. The URC's structure also expresses its faith in the ministry of all God's people through the structure of democratic Councils by which the Church is governed.
The URC comprises 150,000 adults and 100,000 children and young people in 1,750 congregations spread throughout England, Scotland and Wales, served by some 1,100 ministers, both men and women. The Congregational Union of Scotland has brought a further 60 churches and around 6,000 members into the URC.
Theologically, the URC is a broad church. Its membership embraces congregations of evangelical, charismatic and liberal understandings of the Christian faith - in a variety of mixtures!
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chapter > 'URC
and its Belief'
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