Thought for the week

PUB Quiz question. ‘Which vicar played centre forward for Derby County in an FA Cup 5th round tie against Crewe Alexandra and in which year? Extra point if you can give the result.

The answer is, the Rev Llewellyn Gwynne, January 7, 1888, and the score was 1-0 to Crewe. Llewellyn Gwynne, born in Swansea, was a remarkable person. Encouraged to read his Bible at Swansea Grammar School by the headteacher and by his older brother Charlie, Llewellyn discovered a living faith in Jesus Christ. His big hero was General ‘Pasha’ Gordon, a charismatic, but eccentric Christian soldier who became Governor-General of Sudan and died while defending its capital, Khartoum.

Llewellyn Gwynne volunteered to be a missionary to Sudan to bring the love of God to its people at a time when many in the “civilized” west considered them to be of no consequence: ‘fuzzy wuzzies’ as the insensitive Corporal Jones of Dad’s Army used to refer them as. The stories of Gwynne’s pioneering trips up the Nile by steamer are stirring, including travelling west in such harsh conditions that 25 out of the 29 pack donkeys died. Gwynne became Bishop of Sudan in 1920, having been an inspirational Chaplain General to 900 army chaplains in the British army in

France during the First World War.

2020 is being celebrated as the centenary of the Anglican Church in Wales. Part of the celebrations is, with Christian Aid, to honour the memory of Bishop Llewellyn Gwynne with support for the church in South Sudan, which amidst suffering, war and poverty, is growing in a way that is a challenge to us and all Christians in the UK.

Rev Peter Marshall