Settlement

Having explored a little of the significance of place and migration I want to look at settlement patterns in Wales, to see if there may be anything that we can learn from them. I am not a geographer so I may need correcting on this, but I think it is helpful to recognise three major settlement types: rural, peri-urban, and urban.

a)    Rural

The great need for the gospel in rural parts of Wales is obvious. It seems to me that a bi-vocational approach to gospel ministry should be explored here: farmer-pastors, teacher-pastors, mechanic-evangelists, etc. Simon Bowkett is a good example of this approach. No doubt there are others. 

There is a huge need for church planting. Have we given sufficient thought as to the shape of such churches? I wonder if we should consider a model in which small village churches, probably meeting in homes, could be networked together with larger churches in the market towns, bi-vocational pastors providing the lion’s share of pastoral care and even teaching.

We also need to look out for other opportunities: e.g. demand in Powys for doctors. Can a church planting network recruit young doctors via CMF? Clearly the area is unattractive to newly qualified doctors, but I wonder that if the church can help meet the social and cultural needs as well as provide spiritual support such an influx could have a tangible impact on these communities.

b)    Peri-urban

The Welsh Valleys form a characteristic peri-urban region, making them different from both rural and urban places. Though similar to urban spaces, they can be isolated and neglected by the powers that be and even by the church. A report for the Welsh Government tells us that the Valleys constitute "a distressed area unique in Great Britain for the depth and concentration of its problems" (R. David, et al., “The Socio-Economic Characteristics of the South Wales Valleys in a Broader Context.” A report for the Welsh Assembly Government [2003]). While social and economic problems deepen, local authorities have been cutting back their services, apparently abandoning smaller settlements, e.g. Afan Valley.

Is this an opportunity for the church? There is still a real sense of community in many Valley settlements. Can we tap into that? We should learn from the example of John Funnell in Abersychan, and others like him.

c)     Urban

This is by far the most complex geographical type. I won’t go into any discussion of the meaning of cities here but that is a discussion that needs to be had before we seriously engage with the city. Gospel churches in Wales, as in other parts of the UK, are generally to be found in the suburbs, though in recent decades, there has been an encouraging development of gospel churches in the city-centre.

I want merely to point out the following features of the cities of Wales that should figure in any attempt to formulate plans to reach our cities with the gospel:

i)               Social diversity

One of the features of the city to have emerged since industrial times is that of the ‘estates’ – pockets of social housing with high rates of social and economic deprivation. I don’t have any particular contribution here except to suggest you follow the tweets and blogs of such people as Stephen Kneale, Ian Williamson, Mez McConnell, and Duncan Forbes. (Tim Chester’s Unreached and the older, but still useful, Urban Harvest by Roy Joslin should also be studied to understand the context better.)

Let me say, however, that I think discussions about ‘class’ are often ignorant and lazy, talking about the ‘working class’ and the ‘middle class’ as if they are social groups. They are not. We need to recognise the distinction between social groups and societal groups and not get them confused. It would make our discussions more nuanced and concrete.

ii)              Cultural diversity

The cities are by far the most culturally diverse settlements in Wales, as elsewhere. Immigration is far more pronounced here than in peri-urban or rural environments. Now many of us have a high ideal when it comes to displaying the multi-cultural nature of the Bride of Christ. That is good. But often we show a lopsided attitude. We expect minorities who come to our churches to adapt to us but don’t expect the majority to have to adapt to them. Furthermore, not many of our churches demonstrate our value of multi-cultural diversity in the makeup of our leadership. Are we looking out for potential leaders among our ethnic and social minorities? It would be easy to overlook them. They are often quiet, perhaps because they have a strong sense that they are guests. I am just scratching the surface of a difficult phenomenon that some of us should be making a matter of much prayer and study.

iii)            Religious diversity

At this point I want to say something distinct about reaching those of other religious traditions. It seems to me that the evangelical church in Wales has hardly begun to give this matter much thought at all. We lump all ethnic minorities together. But I think we need to take the context from which these minorities come very seriously indeed. I have given this issue the major part of my thought for 34 years.

I want to suggest that we give careful consideration to community-specific churches rather than automatically disqualifying such a notion as being unbiblical.

I think the ground reality is such that we will never get very far at all unless we move in this direction. I have written extensively on this elsewhere (e.g. here).