A Seat in the Gogs - Being church in the north of Cymru

Wider leaders gathering

Last night Helen and I attended a gathering for church leaders in the north jointly organised by Pete Leavers of Antioch, Colwyn Bay, and Dave Latham of City Church, Liverpool. Apparently, Dave has been gathering leaders in the city for some time and has been seeing some leaders travel in from north Wales to his meetings. He partnered with Pete to set up a similar gathering within the north itself. This was the first of what is intended to be a three-times-year-meeting.

The format was a combination of having a simple meal together, a time of worship, and then a speaker. Marilyn Harry was invited to share about her work and inspire us to re-evangelise the nation. With her were two lovely young women, full of passion for Jesus. They shared their testimony of how they had been drug addicts and how God had rescued them and totally transformed their lives. The healing he has brought to them was so obvious in the way they shared and then sang together.

Having outlined the bare details of the meeting let me now reflect some of my views and feelings about it. Meeting up with people we value and love is always good. The leaders and people at Antioch, Colwyn Bay, are always encouraging and are an invaluable support in what we do. Last night was no exception. Our work on the island is often not easy and receiving good support is essential. Having worked closely with Pete and Polly to plant Antioch I know how committed they are to church in the nation. We share that same core value.

Here on Anglesey we have been gathering leaders together for the past 12 months, so we know how hard it can be to build a strong relationship with leaders in a region. We find that we don’t share the same views on everything, but still believe it important to build links between church leaders. Numbers were low last night, which I felt was disappointing. But it is the start of a new initiative so we can only pray that it grows and that God draws together those he wants to partner in the north.

Marilyn’s passion, directness, and realism are refreshing. It could be argued that her methods of evangelism are of a different era and I certainly prefer the friendship-evangelism model. But she has a crucial understanding of the role of the five-fold ministry – where evangelism has to be followed-up with pastoral care and teaching so that coverts become disciples and stay the course of the Christian life.

Here in Brynsiencyn, our model of reaching the lost is to get fully involved with village life, so Helen’s role in the Post Office is crucial. Rather than being a quick hit, it is a slow building up of relationships that will hopefully turn into opportunities not only of sharing the good news but of sharing life with people.

So – a good start to what will hopefully be an exciting journey of building relationships with other leaders across the north. You can read more about what we do, think, and say at http://blogdyfedwynroberts.blogspot.com/.

 Dyfed, Anglesey