Recently, one of our supporting churches in the United States sent me a list of questions aimed at understanding our ministry in Wales more fully. After reflecting on my answers, I thought that others might be interested to read some of them and so I plan to post those here (slightly edited for a more general audience) over the next couple of weeks. This is the second installment of the series: click here to read Part 1.

Can you describe your primary strategies in fulfilling your role?

I will summarize my responsibilities at “church development worker” for Temple Baptist Church in the following way: (1) advising and working alongside the elders and wider leadership team in the local church, (2) intentional discipleship through teaching, preaching, & training believers, both formally and informally, (3) developing, implementing & overseeing a ministry internship program (two interns at the moment), (4) building a missional strategy that will enable and empower local believers to reach their town, their region, and their nation with Gospel intentionality, and (5) nurturing the multiplication and development of small groups.

The evangelical community within Wales is quite small: everyone knows everyone else, if not personally, then at least by name. I have traveled extensively throughout this small nation, preaching and participating in a variety of evangelical conferences, workshops, and even conducting chapel services at the Wales Evangelical School of Theology in Bridgend. As a result, I am asked by churches and church planters to offer my own experience to their particular situation. For example, two large churches in Cardiff requested that I meet with their pastoral staff to talk about developing a greater vision for planting new churches; and one of them wanted me to provide a mentoring relationship with a young man who was preparing to plant a church for the first time.

I have also been involved with a national church planting initiative known as Waleswide, serving on their steering group for several years. Recently, I felt that my role would be better suited to assist churches, church planters, and potential core groups anywhere throughout the nation. We work across all evangelical streams within Wales, including Reformed evangelicals, Assemblies of God, independent evangelical churches, Welsh Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and Charismatics. Our aim is to give practical assistance and training while allowing each group to maintain their own unique identity and heritage, especially when it comes to secondary issues.

Sometimes our roles seem to merge or blend together within the Pontypridd community where we live. God has sent a number of homeless, drug addicts, alcoholics, and mentally ill people to our doorstep. Some we have taken into our home until they can be placed in more appropriate accommodations (like Christian residential drug rehab facilities) and others we have simply befriended or helped in other practical ways.

For example, an alcoholic man appeared in the Christian bookshop one day with a handful of pills, intending to end his life if my wife would simply give him a glass of water. She phoned me at home and I contacted the local police who arrived in minutes and took him to a local mental hospital for evaluation. Several weeks later, he appeared on the front steps of our local church (right after our morning service) asking for food. I invited him out to lunch and we began a friendship that day; and he began attending our church quite regularly and he expressed an interest in getting help for his lifelong addiction to alcohol.

My primary strategy in reaching people with the Gospel is through low-key, long-term, relational evangelism. We also use short-term mission teams, when available. The first week of July 2008, a large team of 110 people (mostly from the USA) touched the lives of 8,000 people over a seven-day period; and using a variety of evangelistic approaches saw sixty-five people express an interest in Jesus Christ. Three weeks later, I gave direction to a small team (10 people) coming from an Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church in South Carolina for ten days, conducting backyard Bible clubs, organized sports in the local park, and a youth hang-out in our church building in the evenings.

One thing I learned about “strategies” when I came to Wales: most American methods of planting and strengthening churches had to be left behind quicker than you can say, “Tim LaHaye.” I found this to be especially true of my “ministry experience” as a life-long Southern Baptist, and particularly my seven years as a church planting strategist with the North American Mission Board in Florida. The cultures are completely different, the British paradigm (understood as “their way of looking at things”) has very little in common with the American mindset, and the established church culture goes back at least a thousand years compared to just over two hundred years in the United States.

Something I forgot to mention in my response to the church that asked these questions is my continued work with Grace Church Planting Ministries (GCPM): our non-profit corporation (aka “registered charity” for our British friends) established “to promote cross-cultural evangelism and the planting of biblical churches throughout the nations.” Just yesterday I invested well over an hour with an aspiring church planter in southern India: first by telephone and then a more extended chat via Yahoo! Messenger. Between e-mails, telephone calls, and instant messenging, this type of long-distance mentoring has been happening quite frequently since GCPM was established in 2003; however, a very perceptible shift has occurred in the geography of that ministry. Most requests now originate in India and Africa, with additional regular contact with Myanmar (Burma) and the Philippines. It’s a joy to have contact with these brothers and sisters in Christ!

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READ THE NEXT ARTICLE HERE –>: “Our Ministry in Wales, Part 3“