It is sometimes noted that Wales has gone from being one of the greatest locations of revival to one of the most resistant places in terms of the gospel within a period of just 50 or 60 years. There are many views as to how that happened but the fact is that some are now working very hard to see the church renewed in that land.

Part of the problem has to do with division – the division between church and chapel, between traditional non-conformists (Presbyterians and Congregationalists) and the newer Pentecostal and New Church groupings, between Welsh speakers and non Welsh speakers, between North and South and to some extent mid-Wales, between Calvinists and Arminians, between evangelicals and liberals, between those who practise adult baptism and those who baptise children, between rural and city congregations to name a few! Another part of the problem is the de-population of the rural scene so that many churches just don’t have the population around them that they once did.

So imagine trying to plant Baptist churches in rural Welsh speaking communities or even any kind of Welsh speaking Baptist church. The first newly planted Welsh speaking Baptist church in Wales for decades is now in the process of being planted. Marc Owen has responsibility for such initiatives; he speaks in the video of his “take” on the challenges facing him.
(content and video provided by www.togetherinmission.com)