MUDDIFORD
UNITED REFORMED
CHURCH
Please come and join us. All welcome.
For more information please ring
01271 850438
A Prayer for Peace, based on the words attributed to Francis of Assisi:
Make me a channel of your peace,
where there is hatred let me bring your love,
where there is injury, your pardon Lord,
and where there is doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of your peace
where there's despair in life let me bring hope
where there is darkness, only light,
and where there is sadness, let me bring joy.
Make me a channel of your peace
It is in forgiving, that we are forgiven
and in giving to others that we receive
and in dying that we enter into eternal life.
What was it?
A stone beside a stream? Yes, a foundation stone for what was to become a place of worship for generations to come! It was 1845 and the local congregation, which until then had met in a small wooden chapel adjoining a cottage in Muddiford, were able to purchase a plot of land by the Colam Stream for a larger stone chapel to be built to house their growing congregation. The chapel built at a cost of £250, was almost entirely paid for by members of the parish and was officially opened on September 9th 1846. 110 people attended the opening service and the total offerings received on that day amounted to £11, equivalent to almost £600 today! A generous benefactor paid for a solid oak front door, which is in place to this day.
What's in a name?
Nothing is for ever; the building was initially known as The Independent Chapel, then Muddiford Congregational Church and since 1972 Muddiford United Reformed Church. Over the years different ministers have over-seen the church, different people have taken services, various folk have worshipped there but through it all the welcome and witness remain the same.
Similarly the early days of the Sunday School (led by John Prideaux for 36years) with anniversary services & festivals may be a far cry from a more recent youth club, but the message of Jesus has reached young people down the generations.
On 22nd December 2012 when the Christmas decorations were in place, the building was badly flooded (you can't be much closer to water!). A disaster? Maybe but, as part of the re-ordering process, a decision was made to remove most of the pews and replace them with comfortable chairs; meanwhile a cross, crafted from one of the pews, was erected on the wall at the front of the church.