Momentum and Stuff

The Baptist Assembly in Wales, called Momentum, gathered in Carmarthen on Friday and Saturday last week. I travelled on the Thursday, taking our caravan, and did a short tour of the area en vélo. The caravan site was a little basic, but cheap. Here’s a picture of the shower block:

The Assembly was very enjoyable, getting together with other ministers and church members, and able to spend longer chatting and getting to know people over meals (which were excellent). There were some very good, interesting parts to the Assembly, such as the guest speaker, Eric Bryant, and the news of what is going on in Baptist circles in Wales, and in BMS.

I drove down to Llansteffan on the Friday evening after the close of play, and when the rain had stopped.

On Sunday I went to Glenwood Church in the morning, and St Mark’s, Gabalfa, in the evening. I found Glenwood to be a wonderful example of what church should be, in that they do so much in the community, as well as ministering to one another, and worshipping in a joyful, informal way. There was a presentation about a charity that works with local disaffected young people, and how they make video documentaries with them, and paint murals in scruffy underpasses. The charity is called People Around Here, which I think is a superb name!
The pastor, Paul Francis, was the preacher, and he looked at how we should give God our best, based on Mark 14.
St Mark’s was quite different to Glenwood. I know they are quite a large, lively, evangelical Anglican church, but I suppose most people go to the morning service. It was an enjoyable service and a blessing and a typical Anglican service.

This week I’ve been working on our Hymns Database – copying the Songs of Fellowship scripture index into it, and working on a combined Songs of Fellowship thematic index. (This is church work, but the kind of thing it is impossible to make time for in usual life. I did say in advance that I would try to do this job during the sabbatical!)