St James’s United Reformed Church (URC) in Newcastle, England hosted a multicultural worship service on 3 June, bringing together people from diverse cultural backgrounds to celebrate their shared unity in Christ.
The gathering centred on the biblical accounts of the Tower of Babel and Pentecost. Through Scripture readings, prayers, music, and worship in different languages and traditions, participants reflected on how God’s love transcends cultural and linguistic boundaries.
Worship drew on Tamil, Chinese, African, Jamaican, and English traditions, while the stories of Babel and Pentecost were shared through multilingual readings. The service concluded with participants reciting the Lord’s Prayer in their own languages.
The vision for the gathering came from Alvin Mark, youth apostle for St James’s URC, who sought to create a space where people from different cultures could worship together while celebrating their distinct identities.
Working alongside Pat Poinen, the Northern Synod’s racial justice advocate, and with support from St James’s and the wider church, Mark helped bring the vision to life.
“If I had been alone, this would have remained just a dream. The willingness of so many people and communities to participate made it a reality,” Mark said.
“What we experienced was more than a one-off service; it felt like the beginning of a much bigger conversation about multicultural worship within the synod and the wider URC.”
The gathering reflected the URC’s wider commitment to becoming an anti-racist and intercultural church, recognising racial justice as central to Christian witness, discipleship, and mission.
Organisers hope the service will encourage churches across the Northern Synod and the wider URC to explore further opportunities for multicultural worship, offering a living expression of God’s vision of people from every nation, tribe, people, and language worshipping together.
