A description by a couple of members of the congregation
Our church has an unconventional name, but we are part of a mainstream denomination: the United Reformed Church (URC)*. Our members and participants extend across a wide range of Christian beliefs and stances, interests and activities, as well as age-groups and social classes. On a Sunday morning, the worship and prayers may be led by anyone from a Church of England priest or our Church Community Worker Mark to a group of our own members, and you can be sure of variety. We enjoy singing, sometimes traditional hymns, sometimes lively modern songs, sometimes singing softly and thoughtfully.
An important part of what we do is the word “Community”: our building, our members and Mark, our Church Community Worker living next door are there to be useful, and are available for all ages from toddlers to senior citizens. We are not a large congregation, but the commitment of our members’ time and money allows us to do a lot. Come and help us to do more – in faith and service!
We are a varied mixture of people, such as might be found anywhere in Birmingham. We get together most Sundays, and at other times, with the aim of worshipping God and serving our neighbour, within the broad Christian tradition. We all have different ideas of what ‘God’ means, who our ‘neighbour’ is, and how to understand ‘spiritual life’. Some of us work in the ‘caring’ services, some of us have a scientific background, some have retired after years working in a factory, some are bringing up children in a deeply puzzling world, some of us have a long term physical or mental disability and offer a different contribution of experience, some are undergoing education or training. Most of us have learnt to be tolerant of other people’s beliefs and peculiarities, along the journey each of us is making.
We, in different degrees, feel a long and deep sense of both the warmth of God and the strangeness of God. We are not ‘on top of’ this business. It is not that we ‘know God’ – it is God who knows us, and who knows all the human race, who breathes life into human beings, and blows on the spark of life in us all.
