On 20 September 2024, the Church in Wales announced investment totalling nearly £10M in four major projects designed to promote growth in church attendance across the nation[*]. Projects in north east Wales, in Swansea and in Monmouth will be given multi-million-pound grants to develop new initiatives, centres and church communities.
The grants are being made from the Church Growth Fund, in which the Church is investing £100M to support projects in a once-in-a generation opportunity to resource confident and consistent evangelism throughout Wales. The Church Growth Fund is a development of the Church in Wales’s recent Evangelism Fund programme, which has been successful in helping create fast-growing congregations in several parts of Wales, including in Hope Street in Wrexham and Citizen Church in Cardiff, as well as the innovative Pererin pilgrim trail project in Gwynedd.
St Mary’s Church
St Mary’s Church in Swansea city centre will become the first minster church in Wales next year, as part of a multi-million-pound transformation. The Church in Wales announced that St Mary’s will receive a £2.8M investment over the next five years, helping to create jobs and safeguard the future of the Swansea landmark. St Mary’s, which was rebuilt in the 1950s after being burned to the ground during the Nazis’ three-day blitz of the city in World War II, will be designated a minster church next year. The Vicar of St Mary’s, Canon Justin Davies, said:
“The doors of St Mary’s will be open 7 days per week for prayer, peaceful space, presence and proclamation of the good news that the Gospel of Christ Jesus holds for all…Our transformation work will start in earnest before the end of 2024 and gather pace during the first half of 2025.”
“Minsters”
The Swansea and Brecon Press Release explains “Minster is a title given to a large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church, and reflects the importance of St Mary’s to the city”. This is not dissimilar to usage in the Church of England, when in 2016 the then Archbishop of York, Dr Sentamu said:
“The status of Minster is an honorific title bestowed on major churches of regional significance in the Church of England, to reflect their importance and contribution to the local communities they serve”.
However, the situation is more complex where the “Minster” title results from a former monastic connection.
[*] The other Church in Wales investments were: six new Mission Hub Churches in the St Asaph diocese; Pioneer Missioners in rural areas in St Asaph diocese; Schools outreach work in Monmouth diocese.