About gig » Wales - the background
What’s it like today in ‘the Land of Revivals’?
Wales has a strong Christian heritage. It is known throughout the Christian world as the land of revival, of chapels, of great preachers and of famous hymns. Welsh missionaries and preachers – often Welsh-speakers, of course – have in the past made a huge contribution to the work of expanding God’s kingdom, faithfully carrying the Gospel to far flung areas of the world, witnessing to the love of Jesus and winning new people for the Kingdom. The seeds planted continue to bear tremendous fruit: expressions of gratitude continue to be sent to Wales from churches throughout the world in recognition a Welsh connection.
The reality of the situation in Wales today is, sadly, very different. Today, only 8.7% of the population attend church on a Sunday. Few people under 50 go to church, which means that two generations are almost entirely missing from our congregations. And most worrying of all, 92.3% of children have no church background at all (Challenge to Change – Welsh Churches Survey 1995).
This contraction in numbers attending church is not unique to Wales: it is common throughout the UK. It is encouraging that there is some evidence that this trend is being reversed, owing somewhat to the great increase seen over the past 20 years or so in the range and variety of contemporary and relevant resources and initiatives available to churches to assist them to grow both spritually and numerically. These have often proved highly succesful, especially in terms of reaching people in a language or style which is familiar to them and have, without doubt, contributed greatly to growth in some churches.
However, the move towards more relevant, contemporary styles which has proved a factor in the growth of a number of English-speaking churches in Wales has not, in the main, been experienced in the Welsh-speaking church. Wales is a bilingual nation. It is not merely a question of differing dialects: Welsh is a separate language from English, with very different linguistic roots. It is the language in which many Christians in Wales pray, worship and live their lives: it remains as the normal, everyday medium of communication for a significant number of people in Wales. The 1991 Census showed that around 20% of the population were able to speak, read or write the language: the next Census is expected to show an increase in that percentage, primarily due to the tremendous increase experienced over the past 20 years in the number of people of all ages who are learning the language.
Despite the fact that today almost all of the population are able to speak English, to do so in some situations – especially Church – would be totally alien. Simply utilising English initiatives and resources – no matter how good they are – is not therefore an option which is always available. The danger is that unless something is done, the disturbing trends outlined above will continue, and if anything could be more marked in the Welsh-speaking Church as Welsh speakers respond positively to the outreach of English churches. If the Welsh Church is also to succesfully engage Welsh speakers and present the Gospel through the medium of Welsh in relevant, comprehensible and accessible ways, then our churches – both Welsh and English – need appropriate tools, resources, and training. gig believes that there is an urgent need to equip and to help local churches to do this. This could involve both the adaptation of existing resources, and the preparation of tailor-made materials.