Warm welcome to colourful celebration

Oct 9 2006  South Wales Echo

The following article appeared in a series of articles about the decline in church attendance. The South Wales Echo contacted Bethel as they were looking for stories of churches that  were "bucking the trend" - the news desk was aware that Bethel was that type of church.

Gerry Holt, South Wales Echo


Echo reporter Gerry Holt had a revelation in the pews of the Bethel Baptist Church:

Having not been to church since I was eight years old, my lasting memory was one of sitting on a rock hard church pew in a freezing cold draught, listening to an old man tell me things I felt had no bearing on my life.

And all that after the trauma of being dragged out of bed, being told to put on the same outfit as my twin sister and then to hold her hand.

So to be honest I've harboured a fair amount of dislike for church over the past 20-odd years - and with the numbers of people visiting Welsh churches in gradual decline it would seem I'm not alone in my way of thinking.

But when I visited Bethel Baptist Church yesterday all that changed.

From the moment I arrived at the community church I felt welcome. The setting was colourful and warm and everyone seemed genuinely joyful to be there, including the many youngsters who turned out.


The sermon, from assistant minister Jonathan Vaughan-Davies, managed to be both relevant and funny - which if you watched any of the speeches during this year's political party conference season you'll know is a hard balance to strike.


I'm not a religious person, but as everyone fell into silent contemplation I couldn't help but think about all that is great in life - which, trust me, is not a usual Sunday morning occurrence.


If more churches adopted the same vigour and feeling of celebration rather than penance, I'm certain many more people would turn out to Sunday services across the country.