St Columba's United Reformed Church is a congregation of the

United Reformed Church The United Reformed Church (URC) is a Protestant Christian church in the United Kingdom. As of 2022 it has approximately 40,000 members in 1,284 congregations with 334 stipendiary ministers. Origins and history The United Reformed Church resulte ...

(URC) in the centre of the city of Oxford. It is located on

Alfred Street Alfred Street is a street running between the High Street to the north and the junction with Blue Boar Street and Bear Lane at the southern end, in central Oxford, England.

, off the

High Street High Street is a common street name for the primary business street of a city, town, or village, especially in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth. It implies that it is the focal point for business, especially shopping. It is also a metonym fo ...

History

It was founded as a chaplaincy to

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...

students in

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

in 1908 and was initially a joint initiative by the

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland ( sco, The Kirk o Scotland; gd, Eaglais na h-Alba) is the national church in Scotland. The Church of Scotland was principally shaped by John Knox, in the Reformation of 1560, when it split from the Catholic Church ...

, the

United Free Church of Scotland The United Free Church of Scotland (UF Church; gd, An Eaglais Shaor Aonaichte, sco, The Unitit Free Kirk o Scotland) is a Scottish Presbyterian denomination formed in 1900 by the union of the United Presbyterian Church of Scotland (or UP) and ...

, and the

Presbyterian Church of England The Presbyterian Church of England was a late-19th century and 20th century Presbyterian denomination in England. The church's origins lay in the 1876 merger of the English congregations of the chiefly Scottish United Presbyterian Church with vario ...

. It became a congregation of the Presbyterian Church of England in 1929, and on the union of the Presbyterian and Congregational churches in 1972, a congregation of the

(URC). The church continues to provide a chaplaincy to students in the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

from Reformed, Presbyterian and Congregational church backgrounds. The congregation has included John Buchan (an elder), Ran Laurie and his son Hugh, and

Guy Warrack Guy Douglas Hamilton Warrack (6 February 1900 – 12 February 1986) was a Scottish composer, music educator and conductor. He was the son of John Warrack of the Leith steamship company, John Warrack & Co., founded by Guy's grandfather, also c ...

(organist).

Building

The church building dates to 1915, and was designed by

T. P. Figgis T. P. (Thomas Phillips) Figgis (1858–1948) was a British architect working in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. His work included private houses as well as public buildings. T. Phillips Figgis was the second son of Thomas Gilbert Figgi ...

. The foundation stone was laid by

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, (10 May 1838 – 22 January 1922), was a British academic, jurist, historian, and Liberal politician. According to Keoth Robbins, he was a widely-traveled authority on law, government, and history whose expe ...

in 1914. Funding for the building was provided in part by Agnes and Margaret Smith, the 'Sisters of the Sinai'. The church has a long nave and shallow, rectangular chancel. The stained glass in the chancel was made by

Theodora Salusbury Theodora Salusbury (1875–1956) was an artist and craftswoman in the Arts & Crafts-style. After training with some of the best artists in the field, she worked as a stained glass artist at her studios in Cornwall and London. Salusbury's windo ...

. The front courtyard was replaced in 1960 when a vestibule, designed by E. Brian Smith, was added to the church. Pevsner described the building as 'well-mannered'.

LGBTQ Ministry

St Columba's performs same-sex marriages and blesses civil partnerships. The church also hosts First Sunday, fellowship for LGBTQ Christians.

Ministers

Among the Ministers to have served the church are: * Revd David Lusk (father of

Mary Levison Mary Irene Levison (8 January 1923 – 12 September 2011) was the first person to petition the Church of Scotland for the ordination of women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament in 1963. This was achieved five years later and Levison became a m ...

) * Revd Roy Drummond Whitehorn, later Principal of

Westminster College, Cambridge Westminster College in Cambridge, England is a theological college of the United Reformed Church. Its principal purpose is training for the ordination of ministers, but is also used more widely for training within the denomination. History ...

* Revd Ray Bailey * Revd John Thornton * Revd Caryl Micklem (1978–1990) * Revd Wesley Workman (1990–1992) * Revd Dr Susan Durber (1995–2007), later Principal of

* Revd Dr Carla Grosch-Miller (2008–2016) * Revd Helen Garton (since 2018) Since 2001, the church has shared ministry with

Cumnor Cumnor is a village and civil parish 3½ miles (5.6 km) west of the centre of Oxford, England. The village is about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Botley and its centre is west of the A420 road to Swindon. The parish includes Cumn ...

United Reformed Church.

References

{{coord, 51.7517, N, 1.2559, W, type:landmark_region:GB-OXF, display=title United Reformed churches in England Presbyterian churches in England Churches in Oxford Chapels of the University of Oxford