The two Rhondda valleys occupy an important place in Welsh history, politics and culture and are home today to almost 100,000 people. Alongside the economic decline they have suffered in the wake of the closure of heavy industry, they have also seen significant spiritual waning across Christian traditions and denominations. They are, however, renowned as the cradle of a strong and resilient community – which seems to be opening doors to new forms of Baptist ministry.
Morwenna
Morwenna Thomas was raised in Tonypandy in the heart of the Rhondda Fawr valley, leaving only briefly for stints of work and study away. As she puts it, “I’ve always felt a clear call to community – which for me, means these communities.”
In the face of the slow closure of chapels across the valley and beyond, the East Glamorgan Baptist Association wanted to support missional ministry in the area through non-traditional means, and appointed Morwenna in November 2022.
“When I started,” Morwenna explains, “a pay-as-you-feel cafe was growing quickly at Blaenycwm chapel, run by a small group there. I started going along there to get to know people from the community and just help out.” The cafe has now closed – or rather morphed into a seasonal warm space – but the links the initiative have created seem to have fed into a curiosity in the community about what the church is there for.
Geraint Davies, secretary of Blaenycwm chapel, said, “We are pleased as a church to be able to support and be involved in a number of different initiatives in the community, including the foodbank which we have run for 12 years. It is part of the Rhondda Foodbank which runs a comprehensive service throughout both valleys. We are fortunate that we have a rota of volunteers to run it. It has been good for us as a church to support Morwenna in her work as our Missional Minister as she involves herself in several of these projects.”
As Morwenna went on to explain, “A lot of what I do is very organic – and open-ended. Sometimes that leads to stories like the guy from a Men’s Shed who was curious when I said I was going to Blaenycwm Chapel’s Bible study, and asked to come along – which has led to him becoming a regular there! And other times it’s much more about being there, getting to know people, and listening to them – with an openness to what God may be doing.”
The Woods
On the morning we meet, Morwenna has just been out in the woods above Treherbert with a group hosted by Welcome to Our Woods. A community-development organisation run by locals for locals, they work to use the area’s incredible natural resources to feed, house and support local people, and in recent years have started running ‘green prescribing’ sessions in collaboration with regional health services.
Up to 35 people turn up every week for the Woodland Therapy session that Morwenna helps out at, and at which she’s invited to run a weekly meditation – that morning’s had been on the topic of fire, which has many similarities to prayer.
“In some ways it’s very similar to going to the cafe at Blaenycwm chapel – I’m going in order to get to know people. But I suppose I’m at the Woodland Therapy sessions as their guest. A Baptist chaplain out in the community, in a way?”
Noddfa
As this work was developing, the cause at Noddfa, Blaenclydach was coming to an end and the decision made to close the building. Although she lived in that community and her husband had preached there, Morwenna had never had any direct links to the church before it closed.
One day she met another Baptist minister in Blaenclydach, who pointed out to her what a gift it was that she could be sat in a cafe and know almost everyone who came in and out. “Why don’t you see if God opens doors for you to do something in this community too?” he asked.
A series of seemingly chance conversations in autumn of 2024 then led her to discovering that the Noddfa building hadn’t yet been sold – and that the trustees would be very open to holding onto it for her to see if a new work could be started there.
“It was quite incredible how everything happened,” Morwenna reflects, “and we’re still in early days of discerning what would be a good initial use of the small building there, that fits with what the community needs – which might be around a music space, or something for young people.” Whatever the next steps, God certainly seems to be opening doors for new things to emerge in the Rhondda valleys.