Bishop wants church to reach out to young

EVERY church should spread the word of Christianity and more must be done to engage young people, the Senior Bishop of the Church in Wales has said.

In his presidential address to the church’s governing body, the Bishop of Swansea and Brecon, John Davies, called on churches to reach out to people in engaging ways and put evangelism at the heart of their work.

Bishop Davies was speaking at Cardiff City Hall.

He said: “We must want and prepare our church to reach our centenary having really got to grips with re-imagining and refreshing our faith, our own knowledge of scripture, our understanding of our own discipleship and our potential to evangelise others.

“We need to become, afresh, a Jesus movement. But – and this is a big ‘but’ – we have to begin with ourselves, we have to re-evangelise our life – because, unless we really know what we are about, unless we really are fit for purpose, there is little point in trying to reach out to others and to invite them in.”

He said: “We have to recognise that, while many young people apparently find both Jesus of Nazareth and the Gospel message of love, justice and inclusivity immensely attractive and inspirational, they often don’t find the church to be a place where these are readily and engagingly encountered.

“So, we are challenged to listen to what the members of the Youth Forum have to say to us, and then not just to nod affably to it, but to ask how to take seriously our evangelism of the young.”