About us

Candlelight Service Christmas Eve

Rothbury URC supports Messy Church normally held in ith parish rooms at 4pm on the third Sunday of each month.

FOR BOOKINGS PLEASE CONTACT Sylvia Crane 01669504131

SAFEGUARDING STATEMENT OF INTENT

 Rothbury URC is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of both adults and children regardless of gender, ethnicity, disability, sexuality or belief.

We will seek to establish a caring environment in which there is an informed vigilance about dangers of abuse and will implement, maintain and regularly review the procedures outlined in our safeguarding policy, which are designed to prevent and to be alert to abuse.

About this church

Our congregation is the spiritual inheritor of a free church tradition in the Upper Coquet  that probably goes back at least as far as the late 1600s when Presbyterian services were held under the Preaching Trees at Windyhaugh high in the Valley.  Thriving Presbyterian congregations developed  in Harbottle and Thropton as well as over the hill in Redesdale.

In Rothbury, a Congregational congregation was founded in 1835.  In 1972, along with many Congregational and Presbyterian congregations throughout the country, we all became part of the United Reformed Church.

Over the last 30 years these Valley congregations have gradually merged to form the current congregation, worshiping in Rothbury.  Many of the church buildings still exist, but are no longer places of formal worship.

A building for the Congregationalists in Rothbury was opened in 1840 towards the west end of Rothbury.  The congregation grew from strength to strength, and after fifty years a larger building was needed.  The present site in Market Place, Rothbury was offered by Lord Armstrong, who laid the foundation stone, and the new church was opened in 1896 – it cost £1,497!  The pipe organ, installed in the old building ten years earlier by Mr F.C.  Nicholson of Newcastle at a cost of £197, was dismantled and rebuilt in the new church.  Since the recent alterations to the church we have removed the pipe organ and have installed an electric church organ.

Nearly 100 years later, the church building underwent alteration and modernisation.  This included renovation and protection of the windows, provision of an enlarged Welcome Area, a small kitchen, a disabled persons’ toilet, new heating system, new internal layout of the worship area and new curtains and carpets.  Pews have been removed and a new floor installed to make this a multi-purpose building.  All these changes have proved of great value to the local congregation, to all the churches in the Valley and to the community.

In 2004 all the four Christian denominations in the Valley signed a Covenant to work and worship together more closely.  This has been a highly fruitful action.

In 2012, Rev Ed Butlin became our minister – he is also minister for the United Reformed Churches in Glanton and Longframlington.

We are proud of our church building and trust that you will find it an attractive place in which to worship God.  We know that you will find the congregation here welcoming.

Dear Visitor

We are delighted to welcome you today, and we hope you will enjoy your time with us.

If you are visiting the area, we are sure you will have a happy time here, meeting people and exploring the sights of the Coquet Valley from Cragside to Chew Green.

We would be glad if you would sign our Visitors’ Book, which is on the table in the Welcome Area, before you leave.

If you have recently come to live in  Coquetdale, we hope you will quickly feel at home in your new surroundings.

The Church and Community magazine, “Over the Bridges” is available free of charge and it lists events, including church services, taking place in the Valley.  You  can usually pick one up from our own Welcome Area and it is also available online. http://overthebridges.org/

We look forward to seeing you.

Sunday services

Our Sunday Morning Service is at 10.30 am.

About half the services are led by our Minister, Reverend Edward Butlin, and the other by a variety of visiting preachers or by members of the congregation.

Communion is celebrated once a month but the actual time in the month varies – see the latest “Over the Bridges” for details.  All who love the Lord Jesus are welcome to share in this Communion.

We use hymns from Rejoice and Sing and from Complete Mission Praise and our singing may be led from the organ, piano, an electronic hymnal or occasionally led by a small band.

There is an Upper Coquetdale Churches Together service on the fifth Sunday of relevant months. These services travel around the churches of Upper Coquetdale – details of location and times are in “Over the Bridges”.

A Prayer for this church

O God of pilgrimage,

in your embracing love

you keep the way to heaven open to all.

Make the door of this church

wide enough to receive all who need

human love and friendship

and a Father’s care.

Make the door of this church

narrow enough to shut out

all envy, pride and lack of love.

May the needy find help

and the sorrowing comfort

within these walls.

May the careless be awakened

and the penitent assured of forgiveness

by the people who worship you here.

Here may all your children

renew their strength

and go on their journey

with hope and joy,

knowing that their pilgrimage will end

with you in glory

with Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen

(Adapted from a 17th Century prayer)