The formation of Christ Church South Manchester URC
The history of the URC
The creation of the United Reformed Church in 1972 formally merged the Presbyterian Church of England and the Congregational Church in England and Wales, (Parrs Wood Road and Burnage were both formerely Congregational Churches). One Member of Parliament at the time described this merger as: “one of the most historic measures in the history of the Christian churches in this country.”
The denomination expanded when Churches of Christ (Green End) joined it in 1981, followed by Scottish Congregationalists in 2000.
The URC is a nonconformist Church. Put most simply, this means that we are not an ‘established’ Church, with a formal link to civil authority like, for example, the Church of England has.
However, the URC is committed to working closely with Churches of all traditions, in prayer and social action, and many of our local churches are now united with local churches from other traditions (Baptist, Church of England, or Methodist to name a few).
Christ Church
Though both Parrs Wood & Burnage both became members of the URC when it was formed in 1972, they continued as separate entities with their own ministers and manses till 1980
Scarcely had the dust settled on the golden jubilee celebrations for Parrs Wood Road than we turned our attentions to the growing collaboration between the Green End and Burnage Churches. At that time the Churches of Christ had not yet become part of the URC, but we happily anticipated that event when our three churches decided to join together to become "One Church meeting in three Places." There was much discussion on what we should call ourselves and although "Trinity" was a strong contender it was eventually decided that "Christ Church" would be more appropriate.
ONE CHURCH MEETING IN THREE PLACES
And so it was that at Easter 1980 Christ Church came into being with a service of celebration presided over by United Reformed Church Moderator the Revd Douglas Stewart and the General Secretary of the Churches of Christ, the Revd Philip Morgan. By happy coincidence the Burnage Christian Council was also formed at the same time so that henceforth Parrs Wood'sr allegiance would be transferred to that body instead of the Didsbury Council of Churches. A less happy consequence, however, would be a decline in our close relationships with the Didsbury churches, and in particular our friends and neighbours in St Nicholas Church.
. . .
In Christ Church the most immediate benefit resulting from our 'marriage' came in the wealth and variety of worship styles and preaching, some of which we had already had a foretaste before we came together formally. Moreover the periodic sharing in combined services with a congregation three times its normal size provided a stimulus for inspiring worship, reminding us that we were part of a bigger family of Christ's people.
At a practical level we began to share resources in personnel, equipment, premises and administration, although it was to be another 20 years before we had the courage to drop our three separate congregational magazines in favour of "Crosstalk."
We shared in social events, too, in dances, concerts, holiday weekends and conferences, and very quickly adopted the Green End tradition of travelling to Marple Ridge on Easter Day in the forlorn hope of seeing the sunrise, before sharing a short act of worship and returning for a welcome breakfast in the Green End Church Hall. These, and many other things, have become such an established feature of our life in Christ Church that it is difficult to remember what it was like without them.
(Extracts from; Conversations with Luke - A Kind of History - This is the story of the church which began life in 1928 as Parrs Wood Road Congregational Church and later developed into Christ Church, (United Reformed) Parrs Wood Road.by Bernard Cowley 2004)
Since we became one many changes have taken place; ministers have come and gone; buildings have been demolished and rebuilt (Burnage) or demolished and the land sold for social housing (Green End) or undergone radical structural refurbishment (Parrs Wood Road); founder members of both Parrs Wood Road and Green End Churches have passed on their history to us and sadly passed away or moved to other parts of the country, but worship and fellowship continued with new people and new ways of doing things keeping everyone at Christ Church at the forefront of revealing the Kingdom of God to its members and the wider community till June 4th. 2023 when. Didsbury URC joined us and we became Cornerstone United Reformed Church. Same aim, new name!
N.B. There's a lot more of the story to tell, which will be added when time permits.