St Columba's United Reformed Church is a congregation of the United Reformed Church (URC) in the centre of the city of Oxford. It is located on Alfred Street, off the High Street.
It was founded as a chaplaincy to Presbyterian students in Oxford in 1908 [1] and was initially a joint initiative by the Church of Scotland, the United Free Church of Scotland, and the Presbyterian Church of England.
It became a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of England in 1929, and on the union of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches in 1972, a congregation of the United Reformed Church (URC).
The church continues to provide a chaplaincy to students in the University of Oxford from Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregational church backgrounds.
The congregation has included John Buchan (an elder), Ran Laurie and his son Hugh, and Guy Warrack (organist).
The church building dates to 1915, and was designed by T. P. Figgis. The foundation stone was laid by James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce in 1914. Funding for the building was provided in part by Agnes and Margaret Smith, the 'Sisters of the Sinai'. The church has a long nave and shallow, rectangular chancel. The stained glass in the chancel was made by Theodora Salusbury. The front courtyard was replaced in 1960 when a vestibule, designed by E. Brian Smith, was added to the church. Pevsner described the building as 'well-mannered'. [2] [ full citation needed ]
St Columba's performs same-sex marriages and blesses civil partnerships. The church also hosts First Sunday, fellowship for LGBTQ Christians. [3]
Among the Ministers to have served the church are:
Since 2001, the church has shared ministry with Cumnor United Reformed Church.
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church. Presbyterian churches derive their name from the presbyterian form of church government by representative assemblies of elders. Many Reformed churches are organised this way, but the word Presbyterian, when capitalized, is often applied to churches that trace their roots to the Church of Scotland or to English Dissenter groups that formed during the English Civil War.
Presbyterianpolity is a method of church governance typified by the rule of assemblies of presbyters, or elders. Each local church is governed by a body of elected elders usually called the session or consistory, though other terms, such as church board, may apply. Groups of local churches are governed by a higher assembly of elders known as the presbytery or classis; presbyteries can be grouped into a synod, and presbyteries and synods nationwide often join together in a general assembly. Responsibility for conduct of church services is reserved to an ordained minister or pastor known as a teaching elder, or a minister of the word and sacrament.
The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it had approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers.
Congregational churches are Protestant churches in the Reformed (Calvinist) tradition practicing congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs.
Westminster College in Cambridge, England is a theological college of the United Reformed Church. Its principal purpose is training for the ordination of ministers, but is also used more widely for training within the denomination.
The Evangelical Presbyterian Church in England and Wales (EPCEW) is a reformed and conservative evangelical Presbyterian denomination based in England and Wales with churches in Germany, Switzerland, and Sweden. Founded in 1996, the denomination is small but growing.
Greyfriars Kirk is a parish church of the Church of Scotland, located in the Old Town of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is surrounded by Greyfriars Kirkyard.
The Scots' Church is a Presbyterian church in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the first Presbyterian church to be built in the Port Phillip District and is located on Collins Street. It is a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of Australia and has been described as "an icon for well over a hundred years".
New College London (1850–1980) was founded as a Congregationalist college in 1850.
Downing Place United Reformed Church, Cambridge is a church in Cambridge, England, that is part of the United Reformed Church. It was formed in 2018 in a merger between St Columba's Church, Cambridge, and Emmanuel Church, Cambridge. The church occupies the former St Columba's building in Downing Place, which is close to a site occupied by Emmanuel's congregation before 1874.
Avenue St. Andrew's is a United Reformed Church in Southampton, England. Part of the church building is Grade II listed.
St Luke's Church is a United Reformed church in the Silverhill suburb of Hastings, a town and borough in East Sussex, England. The congregation was originally independent before taking up Presbyterianism, and worshipped in a private house from its founding in 1853 until a permanent church was provided in 1857; this was one of the oldest Presbyterian places of worship in southeast England. The growth of the community has resulted in several extensions since then, and severe damage caused by the Great Storm of 1987 was quickly repaired—except for the loss of the building's distinctive spire. The church, along with most other Presbyterian congregations, joined the United Reformed Church when that denomination was formed in 1972. It is one of four United Reformed Churches in the borough of Hastings.
Trinity Congregational Church, later known as Union Chapel, is a former place of worship for Congregationalists and Independent Christians in Arundel, an ancient town in the Arun district of West Sussex, England. Protestant Nonconformism has always been strong in the town, and the chapel's founding congregation emerged in the 1780s. After worshipping elsewhere in the town, they founded the present building in the 1830s and remained for many years. Former pastors included the poet George MacDonald. Robert Abraham's distinctive neo-Norman/Romanesque Revival building was converted into a market in the 1980s and has been renamed Nineveh House. The church is a Grade II Listed building.
The Revd Thomas Caryl Micklem was an English minister in the Congregational and United Reformed churches, hymn writer and religious broadcaster.
The United Reformed Church is a congregation in Stamford, Lincolnshire, based in a late-Georgian building situated on Star Lane.
St Andrew's with Castle Gate United Reformed Church is in Nottingham.
Richmond Green United Reformed Church was a church and congregation in Richmond, London from 1877 until 2015.
Headingley Hill Congregational Church is a redundant Unitarian church at the corner of Headingley Lane and Cumberland Road, in the Headingley area of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The church, which is a Grade II listed building, was designed in the Gothic Revival style by Cuthbert Brodrick and completed in 1866. It was the only church to have been designed by Brodrick, who is noted for Leeds Town Hall and the Corn Exchange.
The Weybridge United Reformed Church situate at Queen's Road, Weybridge, near to its junction with York Road, is a Victorian Grade II Listed church building that is now no longer used as a place of worship.
The Highland Church was a Gaelic-speaking congregation of the Church of Scotland, based in Tollcross, Edinburgh. Formed by the union of St Oran's Church and St Columba's Gaelic Church in 1948, the congregation continued united with Tolbooth St John's in 1956.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)