News Archives

Bilingual heritage shapes Welsh Methodism

7/8/2003 News media contact: Tim Tanton · (615) 742-5470 · Nashville, Tenn.

For related coverage of the British Methodist Conference, see UMNS stories #347, #351 and #352.

By Kathleen LaCamera

LLANDUDNO, Wales (UMNS) - Welsh Methodists carrying a daffodil, a leek and a red dragon - traditional symbols of Wales - welcomed delegates and visitors to the opening of the 2003 British Methodist Church Conference on June 28.

Of Britain's 320,000 Methodists, 15,000 are Welsh Methodists. Of those, 3,000 worship in Welsh-speaking Methodist churches.

John Wesley, who started the Methodist movement in the 18th century, first preached in Wales, or Cymru as it is called in Welsh, in 1739 and often passed through Wales on his trips to Ireland.

His inability to speak Welsh meant that in the early days Wesleyan Methodism grew in predominantly English-speaking areas, according to Sister Eluned Williams, president of Welsh Methodism for the past six years. At that time, Wesley looked to the leadership of Welsh-speaking preachers like Howell Harris, whose legacy is the modern-day Welsh Presbyterian Church, to reach Welsh-language communities he couldn't.

It was Thomas Coke who, in 1800, launched a serious mission to Welsh-speakers that resulted in the growth of both Welsh- and English-language Methodist chapels.

Speaking at the 2003 British Methodist Conference, Williams explained that as a result of the 1536 Act of Union - when Wales officially became part of the United Kingdom - the use of the Welsh language was banned from public life, including churches. Scholars and church leaders at the time, worried about the demise of the Welsh language, set about translating the Bible and the Book of Common Prayer so that people could read them at home in their mother tongue.

Williams, a native Welsh speaker, reported that as recently as the 1970s, two employees working at the Welsh Trawsfynydd Power station were fired for speaking to each other in Welsh. Well within living memory here, the "Welsh Not" campaign required anyone caught speaking Welsh either in school or at work to wear a card around their neck with "Welsh Not" written on it. The only way to get rid of the card was to report someone else overheard speaking Welsh.

Despite this painful legacy, modern-day Wales is a bilingual country within the United Kingdom, and the Welsh Methodist Church is a bilingual faith community within British Methodism. Welsh Methodism makes up three out of the British Methodist Church's 33 districts. They include the English-speaking Southwest and Northwest districts and the Welsh language Y Gymanfa District, which takes in all of Wales.

The Rev. Jenny Hurd is the only full-time pastor working with 12 of those Welsh-language congregations in the Y Gymanfa District. She was not a Welsh speaker and learned the language in order to serve these churches. Hurd says she felt warmly welcomed by her congregations, who appreciated the effort she made to learn Welsh and to "be alongside them" as their pastor.

"We're dealing with a very deep shared memory of when Welsh language was almost beaten out of people," Hurd said.

Around the world, Wales is known for its rugged, romantic landscapes, its famous sons and daughters such as Richard Burton, Shirley Bassey and Catherine Zeta-Jones and its traditional Welsh Male Choirs. One of the most popular hymns ever written came from Welsh writer William Williams, who wrote, "Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah." But Williams says there is a problem when the people of Wales, both English and Welsh speakers, only look back to the "glory days."

Williams believes the future for the Welsh Methodist Church means embracing a shared future. She says there has been a "fear of bilingualism" and that those who don't speak Welsh can be made to feel inferior.

"I believe we need to be more visionary and adventurous," she told United Methodist News Service. "I believe we need to see the Welsh language as a gift we have to offer and not something we have to protect."

Despite a difficult past, she said her Welsh-speaking colleagues can be "too precious" with their language. Welsh-language churches are losing members faster than their English-speaking Welsh counterparts. Williams is especially worried that young Welsh speakers don't come to church at all.

"Welsh is an original Celtic language and the oldest surviving language in all of Europe," she said. "â€¦. I believe that by moving closer and with respect for these two cultures, we can address these challenges. There is a future for Methodism in Wales as a body that is together."

For more information about Methodism in Wales, visit http://www.westwales.co.uk/methodism.

# # #

*LaCamera is a United Methodist News Service correspondent based in England.

Back : News Archives 2003 Main