VALUING the small and traditional alongside the massive and pioneering was a recurrent theme because the Governing Body (GB) of the Church in Wales met in Llandudno last week. “We have fun the massive stories but in addition the small ones from those small communities who work away at all of it, Sunday after Sunday,” the chair of the Representative Body (RB), Professor Medwin Hughes, said.
“But it’s concerning the people of God sitting together, sharing opportunities that others will come and walk with us. . . I see strong community engagement, discipleship, the helpful opportunities of creativity, telling the Welsh story and what it means to say, ‘I feel’.”
The RB committed £100 million from capital reserves to a Church Growth Fund intended to encourage innovations for sharing the gospel across Wales. Speaking of its opportunities, the Archdeacon of St Asaph, the Ven. Andrew Grimwood (St Asaph), expressed his happiness concerning the development. “We are normalising the work of evangelism. That is extremely exciting,” he said.
Projects approved ranged from grants of as much as £10,000 — the smallest (£1629), for a Wellbeing Journey Course at three churches in north Cardiff — to those of greater than £10,000, of which the biggest (£4,685,03) was to mission-hub churches in St Asaph.
The meeting included just one formal debate: a non-public members’ motion on extending the term of office for elected mission/ministry-area council members. Much centred on feedback from a Diocesan Learning Community event last November, wherein clergy and laity considered how the ministry/mission-areas (MA) — launched 12 years ago to exchange the parish system — were working in practice.
Survey results were mixed. Comments included: more clergy and more funding needed, simplifying administrative processes, developing a strategic approach to managing church properties, supporting bilingualism, and inspiring innovation. The survey covered areas including outreach evangelism and the involvement of lay people. The picture was found to be best where, the meeting heard, recent ministries complemented fairly than replaced traditional ministries.
Dr Heather Payne (Llandaff) described the outcomes as “data with soul”. Bob Evans (Monmouth) believed information to be “the essential glue that holds us together”. Some practical issues around them surfaced elsewhere: essentially the most heartfelt appeal got here at Question Time, when Cathryn Brooker (Monmouth) asked: ‘What is the Church in Wales strategy for closing and closed churches, and who’s ultimately liable for the open churchyards of closed churches?”
Margam AbbeyMargam Abbey, near Port Talbot, held its Remembrance Service for the eightieth anniversary of VE Day on Saturday
The Archdeacon of St Davids, the Ven. Paul Mackness (St Davids), replied that there was no national policy of closing churches, and that the closure of a church didn’t close the churchyard, which remained the responsibility of the Ministry Area, although acknowledged the complexities. “It’s very hard to take that responsibility at ministry-area level. The day will come when people will just say no. Money can have to be found. Rural Wales goes to be covered with declining buildings, and religion in Wales dead.”
The Revd Matt Davies (Monmouth) asked how the Church in Wales could respond theologically, morally, and practically to the inevitable use of AI in all the things from email to sermons and prayers, and its ethical use in church communities.
The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Andrew John, reflected: “AI can mimic human tasks but it surely lacks self-awareness, spiritual conscience and moral responsibility. The Church can set an example through the use of AI responsibly. . . It must affirm the sacredness of non-public dignity.”
An issue from Robert Charlton (Swansea & Brecon) focused the GB’s attention on the conviction of Anthony Pierce, a former Bishop of Swansea & Brecon, sentenced to 4 years for indecent assault on a teenage boy (News, 14 March). Public confidence appeared to demand the earliest possible conclusion of the Church’s disciplinary process, he suggested. He received assurance that the draft report must be accomplished this month and matters concluded in July.
Safeguarding kept cropping up. In a session after his presidential address, the Archbishop described the emphasis on it as an invite “to not be some form of Thought Police association, but to grasp it as a golden thread running through all [its] activities”.
Anthony Mullins (Llandaff) urged the Archbishop to “expose and don’t protect” any known perpetrators, to make congregations feel secure. The Revd Ruth Coombs (co-opted) pondered on how the Church might shift its culture “from one among deference”. The Archbishop said that where there may need been constraints ten years ago, questions could now be asked, in the sunshine of “learning and language which previously eluded us”.
Facts and figures on membership were reported as emerging from a membership app being trialled within the CiW. Churches can use it to enter weekly attendance figures for Sunday and midweek services, life events, and other activities similar to Café Church and Messy Church, with the aim that resources and support are directed to where they’re needed most. Currently, 30 per cent of churches use it.
An invited speaker, Dr Monica Attias of the 70,000-strong Sant’Egidio Community, brought passion and energy to the meeting. The leader of its Humanitarian Corridors programme, she described its members as “unusual individuals who decide to view the world from a perspective of those living on the periphery. . . We decide to be not befrienders of the poor but friends of the poor. . . It just isn’t skilled assistance but friendship.”
“The world now stresses the word ‘I’, ‘me’, at all times ‘me’. We live in a time of rapid acceleration in things similar to AI, and Christians should keep as inspiration that the word of God is alive. Nationalism, populism, loneliness, and fear dominate. We are witnesses to the triumph of emotion over reason. The perception of migrants is dominated by fear not reality.”
“Many of our young people come from a really secularised background,” she continued. “Let’s draw them to the poor and they’re going to discover the true essence of Jesus.”
Her words struck a chord with Canon Andrew Lightbown (Monmouth), who ministers in Newport, a town with the best levels of homelessness in Wales. “The Church in Wales can’t possibly do anything by itself,” he said. “Ecumenism have to be befriending others of goodwill. Thank you for reminding us we’re a Church that must go to the margins. Our faith demands we stand in solidarity and take risks.”
The GB also welcomed the Principal of St Padarn’s Institute, the Revd Professor Jeremy Duff. “The decision ten years ago to create St Padarn’s now feels visionary,” he said. “We help the Church to live together right across Wales. We do imagine that being competent increases confidence. There is more to ministry than preaching a superb sermon. Cynicism kills well-being. We don’t do cynicism. We don’t imagine that all the things good is across the border.”
Canon Mark Clavier (Swansea & Brecon) had experienced ministry in three Provinces. “I’ve never known clergy to be so demoralised as we are actually within the West. Quite a bit has to do with challenges we face directly in our ministry. The power of our narrative is in decline. Many of us have never known what it’s to minister in a growing Church. I heartily commend the work being done, but [there must be] further attention to how we develop cultures wherein clergy can thrive.”
The Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Revd Dorrien Davies, was clear. “Burnout just isn’t an option. We should be resilient, refreshed, and rested for the tasks of which we’re about. The Lord had time to rest. . . That expectation is anticipated of you furthermore mght. I appeal to all clergy: be liable for your time without work.”
Bishops had a low profile at this meeting, except the Bishop of Monmouth, the Rt Revd Cherry Vann, who presented each the Bench of Bishops’ report and the Ministry Development report, which is a component of her portfolio.
She acknowledged that it was “a giant transient to carry. If we wish to see people called into ministry, we want a Church that’s more diverse and reflecting the communities wherein they’re set. That’s the work of us all, not only the clergy. But it’s their job to accumulate and empower the laity.”
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