About Us  This church sees its Mission:
To share the love of God and the gospel of Jesus Christ
with the people of Tonge Moor
through worship, fellowship and action. Background Tonge Moor United Reformed Church was originally founded (as a Congregational Church) in 1891. In the year 2000, prompted by the Millennium, the Church prayerfully took stock of its situation and reviewed its calling of service to the Community of Tonge Moor. Four major issues emerged:
1) the need to work more closely with other Churches,
2) the need to work more closely with other organisations supporting the Tonge Moor community,
3) the increasing burden of upkeep of its 110 year old building, and
4) the increasing age and decreasing numbers of members.
The Church responded to these issues by initiating two courses of action:
1) The Church invited other neighbouring Churches (Anglican, Methodist and Roman Catholic) to join in creating Churches Together in Tonge Moor.
2) (After taking advice on the potential uses and limitations of its existing building) the Church approached Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council and East Bolton Regeneration with a view to making the Church’s land available for the development of a Community Centre, which would include accommodation for the Church.
Following a couple of false starts, the Church was invited (in October 2003) to join in the creation of a new Children’s Centre, to be built on the Church’s land and that of the adjacent Tonge Moor Community Primary School. Since 2003, the Church has been working with Partners in the creation of the new Centre, which was opened in May 2006. The experiences gained during 2005 / 2006 are referred to in Section 4.
This Mission Plan sets out how the Church is looking to develop into its new role as a Partner in service to the local Community, providing Christian fellowship, worship and education for those members of the Community who wish to share. The Church acknowledges the need to work with others, and so this Plan should be seen as a ‘work in progress’ to be shaped by input from the wider URC, other denominations and other agencies supporting the people in the Community of Tonge Moor.
Why have a URC fellowship in Tonge Moor?There is a demand for a form of worship and liturgy attractive to those people for whom the nearby Anglo-catholic Church does not cater. Whilst the majority of the current members of the fellowship have their roots in the Congregational and United Reformed Churches, many people who grew up in the Church now live outside the immediate Community and do not share (as residents) the problems and aspirations of local people. There is a need for the Church to be shaped by local residents into the form of fellowship which best suits the needs of the local Community. The Church feels the need to develop into a Community-based Church, and has shared this aspiration with the wider Church and District Council and Provincial Officers who have indicated that the United Reformed Church should continue to be involved in caring for and supporting the Tonge Moor community. | The Future of the URC Fellowship
The Church has considered various potential ‘futures’:
• Closure has been rejected (at least until the current initiative has run its course).
• Ecumenical partnership with the Anglican Church will not (in the foreseeable future) include liturgy and worship.
• Ecumenical partnership with the Methodist Church (3/4 mile away) would remove a free church from the immediate locality and fail to take advantage of the opportunity for involvement of a faith group in the new Centre
• Passive use of the new building (limited, say, to worship on Sundays) would represent a position of ‘insularity’ to the local community.
• Integrating the life of the Church within the new Children’s Centre is seen as the way forward.
Consequently, the Church is looking to maximise its involvement in and contribution to the new Children’s Centre Partnership. Realistically, this involves not only the current Fellowship, but also major input and commitment from the wider URC, and is shaping the way in which the Church moves forward:
• into a new pastorate,
• in seeking a new minister
• in supporting the Tonge Moor community.
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