Surge of spiritual interest among youth in Wales

Through the faithful preaching of God’s word, prayer, and community outreach, several churches in Wales are seeing God “doing more… than He ever has before” and lives being transformed by the gospel.

Mount Elim Church in Pontardawe was founded in the 1980s and underwent a revitalisation project 13 years ago. Since then, the church has outgrown its current building and is now in the process of constructing a new home to accommodate their thriving ministry.

“The Lord gave us a real optimism and faith that He will build His church,” said pastor Steffan Jones, noting that the church has a “very simple strategy” of praying, teaching the truth, and getting involved in the community. By participating in assemblies in local schools, hosting mum and baby groups, supporting the council food bank and more, Mount Elim has been able to develop a presence in the post-industrial Welsh town.

While ministry in what Jones describes as a “very broken, needy area” presents some challenges, such as people struggling with addiction, trauma and abuse, there are also opportunities.

“Because of the nature of the area, people don’t tend to move away,” Jones explained. “One person comes to faith and the door is opened to the entire family … We’ve really seen the Lord responding.”

There also seems to be a growing interest, especially among young people, in doing courses like Christianity Explored. “You can see an interest in the things of the spiritual realm. Within that, we’re coming across openness to read the Bible," Jones said.

Many people in Pontardawe have no foundational understanding of the gospel, which requires time and resources, Jones explained, noting the need for more pastors and leaders within the church in Wales.

“We’re really just scratching the surface,” he said. “We have to be prayerful. We have to be confident. We pray that the Lord will move.”

“We just lift up Jesus”

Further east in Maesycwmmer, pastor Hywel George is seeing a similar openness to the gospel, with about ten from the village being converted and coming into the church within the last year – the majority of interest coming from younger people.

“What they’re responding to isn’t the same thing that their parents and grandparents turned their backs on,” George explained, noting the contrast between false gospels and a Christianity that will “kill me and remake me”.

“People are intrigued with what’s going on here,” he added. “This is the main thing – we just lift up Jesus.”

With six closed church buildings in the village, Mount Pleasant Church is the last remaining. Due to their growth, they are currently building an extension.

“We just need the breath of God”

Dave Cox has been a pastor for seven years at Bethel Evangelical Church in Nelson, a small ex-mining village. During the first six years of his ministry there, he baptised eight people. Last year, he baptised nine.

“God is doing more among us than He ever has before,” Cox said. “It’s exciting to be a part of. Five, six, seven years ago we weren’t seeing that.”

Like Mount Elim, Bethel’s approach to ministry hasn’t changed, but there seems to be more openness to the gospel, especially among the younger generation.

“There’s no observable pattern,” Cox said. “We’ve done nothing different at all.”

Hope Church in Cefn Hengoed, just outside of Swansea, is experiencing the same trend of slow yet steady growth. The church’s youth ministry now welcomes 25 to 30 children each week, and most of them aren’t “church kids.”

“In God's goodness we have experienced growth across many of our activities and have a number of exciting opportunities to reach the valleys communities that we serve — but would love to see the breath of God sweeping across the valley of dry bones in conversions,” said Rev. Alun Johnson. “A lot of the ingredients are there — we just need the breath of God to bring life to people’s souls.”