What we believe

Jesus said, “I have come in order that you might have life – life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). Here at HURC, we believe that’s great news!

We believe that:

God loves you

God created a good world for us to enjoy

We've made a mess of God's world - but God comes to rescue us

Sadly, we’ve not always recognised how much God loves us. We’ve turned our own way and done our own thing, making a mess of our lives and the world at large. 

The amazing news is that God doesn’t leave us in this mess. Over 2000 years ago, God came to visit us in the person of Jesus - that’s what Christmas is all about.  

Jesus taught people about God’s love and how God was wanting to put the world right by bringing in His Kingdom. Jesus worked miracles and healed people of diseases. And Jesus called us to follow Him: “The right time has come and the Kingdom of God is near! Turn away from your sins and believe the Good News!” (Mark 1:15).

Our sin is everything that we have done and continue to do that takes us away from God and the fullness of life He wants for us. It is our selfishness and the way we put ourselves before God and other people. Jesus says that we can be forgiven of all of this sin, we can be put right with God, and we can experience a joyful, life-giving relationship with God, our Creator and Heavenly Father.

God forgives us

Jesus says, “For God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not die but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Jesus came to live, but also to die. At the age of 33, He was unjustly sentenced to death and executed on a Roman cross. It looked like the greatest defeat, but was in fact the greatest victory. On the cross, we believe that Jesus took upon Himself all of the brokenness of our world – my sin and your sin – and it died with Him. The punishment that we deserved from God was paid by Jesus, and we were forgiven. 

New, eternal life - for you!

Jesus died on the first Good Friday. On Easter Sunday, everything changed. Jesus came back to life. The tomb was empty, and Jesus was seen by hundreds of His followers. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, all of us were offered a new start, a new life that begins now and lasts for eternity. Jesus showed us that death is not the end of the book of our lives, but merely the beginning of the next chapter – a chapter which will never come to an end.

To receive these wonderful gifts, all we have to do is confess our sins, accept what Jesus has done for us, and offer Him our lives. This is what Jesus calls ‘repentance’ – recognising our wrong and turning our lives towards God.

Living for God today

In response to this good news, we are called to follow Jesus and obey His commands as we wait for God’s Kingdom to come in all its fullness and for everything to be put right. Jesus summed up His commands by saying that “you must love God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength; and you must love your neighbour as you love yourself” (Mark 12:33).

It is this love that leads us to serve our community and to share God’s good news with others. To help us, God has sent us His Holy Spirit, who we can invite to live inside of us. The Holy Spirit helps us to believe, equips us by giving us gifts and talents, and gives us strength to do all that God asks of us.

You can find out more about what the URC believes here.