Wales enjoys a wonderful Christian heritage but does it have much of a future?

Research by the Evangelical Alliance in Wales has found that in spite of the nation’s history of revivals, at the turn of the millennium Wales was the least evangelical of the UK nations.

Similarly, a recent gathering of church leaders was reminded that a survey of UK church attendance published by Tearfund in 2007 showed that Wales had the least number of regular church goers (12%) and the highest number of closed de-churched - people who once had some church contact and are resistant to any further engagement (46%).

It’s not all “doom and gloom” of course. It is not difficult to find vibrant churches that are impacting their communities in all sorts of ways. Indeed the “Faith in Wales” report published in 2008 shows that faith groups in Wales (the vast majority of whom are Christian) contribute over £100 million to the national economy.

“Waleswide” is yet another promising initiative. “Waleswide” is a network of evangelical churches that works with leaders to see churches established especially where there is no evangelical church presence, and where churches need to be strengthened in their effectiveness.

At its most recent conference in February, “Waleswide” revealed that in a poll of over 260 church leaders, some 5,728 people became Christians in the first decade of the new millennium. This is heartening news, and we should not dismiss the importance of every single conversion. But it leaves no room for complacency either, given that the population of Wales increased by some 107,000 over the same period!

There is clearly still a lot of work to be done, not least in clearing away the rubble of our religious heritage.

You don’t have to go far in Wales to hear the charge of hypocrisy. Rightly or wrongly the church has gained a reputation for “talking the talk” but not “walking the walk”. So what can be done to turn the tide?

It should come as no surprise that the latest “Waleswide” survey noticed that the churches that show signs of the greatest growth share some common approaches to connecting with their various communities. These included meeting the needs of their communities through debt counselling, running a Foodbank, working with prisoners, getting involved as Street Pastors, and particularly working with families and young children.

In so doing, they have recognised, whether consciously or unconsciously, that a key factor in church growth is the relationship the church enjoys with its prevailing culture. Martin Robinson and Dwight Smith have shown this in their exciting study “Invading Secular Space’ (Monarch Books).

According to Robinson and Smith, it is clear that the biggest factor influencing church attendance is the credibility of the church.

“But clearly it is much more likely that people will respond favourably to the witness of the church when the church is well regarded,” they write.

The people of Wales need to see that as churches we really do believe what the Scriptures say, and not simply pay lip service to them. They also need to see that we can experience God in life changing ways, and not merely muse about this in sermons or sing about it from song sheets and screens!

Above all they need to know that we care for them and do not wish to sit in judgment on them; that we are people shaped by grace and truth rather than by a lifeless, vacuous formalism.

Put simply the churches of Wales need to re-establish a reputation for credibility rather than hypocrisy. It will not come quickly but it need prove to be no pipe dream; in the final analysis we will reap what we sow.