Welsh dragon: roaring but wounded

In this issue we carry a variety of items about Welsh evangelicals.

Two are wonderfully encouraging, one much less so. The first piece of good news is the remarkable ministry of the church at Noddfa, which has grown from single figures to more than 150 in recent years. We also report on the renewed ministry of the Evangelical Movement of Wales centre Bryn-y-groes, Bala, which has welcomed its first in-person post-lockdown contingent of people.

At the same time, things are very serious for evangelicals in the Church in Wales, the local variant of Anglicanism in the country. It has approved the blessing of same-sex relationships, and a so-called conscience clause provides little if any actual freedom of conscience in practice for evangelical ministers. They now face some very tough decisions. The silence from many English evangelical leaders and bishops (at least at the time of writing) when their Welsh brethren might quite reasonably have hoped for public support has been embarrassing and discouraging.