The Hyde URC : Our Mission

The Mission of the Hyde is:

To experience God's love, forgiveness, life and power and to proclaim the Good News of the Kingdom of God within the area.

To teach and nurture new believers and those seeking Christ.

To respond to local needs by loving service within the community, through the welcome and care of this fellowship and to respond to the wider needs of the world.

Growth Initiatives

The Church is looking at where we are and where we will be going in the future, reflecting on our past, and what sort of church we will become. Certainly the "workers are few and the harvest plenty" - (Matt.9 v 37). In some ways due to our small number of active members at this time, we are limited to what we can realistically achieve, working on the basis that "from small acorns oaks do grow". However, in recent months, we have been led to discussions with the Chinese Church in London, who also worship at The Hyde. In partnership with them, we plan to redevelop parts of the premises which have become rather seedy and neglected, thus making them available for counselling, prayer, and youth work.

Growth and evangelism is all about relationships being built. We believe that a stranger to any church makes their mind up about it, whether to stay or leave, within a matter of minutes, on its appearance alone. "All are welcome here" is on our Church notice board and indeed a visitor to our church is never intentionally allowed to leave without someone greeting and talking with them.

We have also undertaken to improve the image that we present to those who pass by and have "opened" the front of our church by the installation of glass doors, a newly decorated foyer with plants and water feature. New disabled facilities have been installed around the church to facilitate access for all and wheelchair bays made in the pews.
Why not take a Virtual Tour of our Church?

Appearance of course is only a start, but in all important works there must be a start somewhere and a continual assessment of it. As John the Baptist prepared the "road", so are we preparing the "road" for our future, block by steady block and realise that true growth and change do not happen overnight. In any case, God will build His church, we are just caretakers in it for our short lives.

Our Saturday Coffee Morning has a regular attendance of non-churched people, our relationship with them touches their lives, and a bi-weekly social hour on Thursdays (Hyde-de-Hi!) is open to all

Relationships continue in our House Groups with new members actively seeking Christ, and the minister conducts sessions "Exploring the Faith" in which we can experience a 'refresher', or prepare for confirmation.

There is a lively musical tradition at The Hyde. Paul Day, one of our members, was commissioned by the URC's District Council to write a Millennium musical, which received its Premiere at Easter 2000, performed by a choir involving people from some eight local churches. "Time for Jesus" subsequently was taken to about a dozen churches in London and further afield. The choir still flourishes, and a second musical "Wise Man, Foolish Man" which was first performed in Autumn 2003 completed its current 'tour', in November 2005. "Time for Jesus" is being reprised in a few selected venues at Easter 2006, so the tradition continues. (A third musical is now 'on the stocks' - watch this space! - but meantime you can keep up to date by checking the choir's website)

Perhaps in our life time we will never see the tangible results of all our relationships with those we meet. But God does. The Hyde Church may be only one thread in the silk tapestry of the whole "Church" or in someone's life, and for this reason, although being small, we go on week in week out, like many other churches known and unknown to us, building relationships and in our own way promoting Christ.

We ask for your prayers for our growth and future mission.