United Reform Church - Chandlers Ford

The "Congregational Church" in Kings Road, Chandlers Ford, now the United Reform Church, was built under the leadership of Reverend Daniel Lloyd Jones, a retired minister, who began by holding services in his house. The church was opened on 17th October 1929.

A hall and kitchen were added in 1961, and further much larger hall with rooms erected in 1965.  Two further extensions were added to the sanctuary and halls in 1976 and 1989, with a new kitchen, disabled persons’ toilet and storeroom included.

In 1993 a new brick Scout Headquarters was completed on the church grounds. Pews replaced the wooden chairs in 1962, which were then exchanged for more comfortable upholstered chairs in 1997.

For a number of years after that, the question of a new building was the target of our fundraising, but that eventually gave way in 2005/6 to reconsider and take on major building works to renovate what we have instead.

We are one of three non-conformist churches in the town and are part of the South West Hants Group of churches. This Group comprises three United Reform Churches (URC) in Southampton and two ecumenical churches, one in Lord's Hill, Southampton and one in Valley Park, Chandlers Ford. More details can be found elsewhere on the churches website. We are also part of the Wessex Synod of the URC, which stretches from Banbury to Lyme Regis.

We like to think that our church is for local people of different denominations, building Christian values that have been handed down to us over the years and providing a friendly welcome to those that come to us. We believe that this diversity is one of our strengths.

Our worship to the Lord also reflects this diversity with traditional services interspersed with ones, which have a more modern feel. Our new minister, the Reverend Tim Searle was inducted on 17 August 2008 and we are anticipating that he will continue in this vein. We like to think that our services are Bible-based, in order to provide us with good teaching and to challenge us to share the love of Jesus in the work and service we undertake within our local community.

You are very welcome to come and see for yourself. For details of our services and youth work please visit the church website at: -

www.urc-chandlersford.org.uk

Our dairy of events can be found by clicking here.