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The book’s cover features a painting of Bethesda Chapel, Burry Green, the oldest of the Calvinistic Methodist Gower churches, built c. 1814-15. Tudor Lloyd still lives in the house to the left of the chapel. Burry Green is a village about 4 miles from the Western tip of Gower((rhymes with “flower”), which is a 15 mile long peninsula on the South Wales coast.

“The contributions brought together in this volume are a testimony to the power of faith; better, to the power of the one in whom we place our faith … We are invited to learn about a fragment  of the story of the work of God in Gower over the decades and centuries: a divine activity and a human chain. … It is the story of a church animated by the power of the Spirit.”

—From the Foreword.

 

 

Pleasant Places: A Tribute to the Gower Ministry of B. Tudor Lloyd, Edited by Eifion Evans, with contributions from several others, Gower Presbyterian Churches, 2006.  

Why would anyone without a special interest in Wales be interested in this book? I wondered that myself when I got my copy, and I was surprised at how much interest there is here for the general Christian reader. I admit, however, that I do have special interest in this place, knowing the author (as do many in Cornerstone), being fascinated with the great Evangelical history of Wales, having spent a day in Gower visiting some of these churches, and having met on that day Tudor Lloyd, the man in whose honor the book was written.

This book is about sister churches to Cornerstone, or maybe, cousin churches, churches sharing the same heritage, heart, and faith, but churches in very different places and times. Here’s what you will find about them:

  • Two small biographies of their outstanding ministers. One is of B. Tudor Lloyd (1924- ), the book’s honoree, 82 years old in 2006, written by an active minister in the Gower. Lloyd spent his life ministering there starting when he was 32. That should ring a bell to Cornerstone people, as our pastor started here last year when he was 32. That biography is Chapter 1, “A wise master-builder”, 15 pages.  The other biography is of William Griffiths (1788-1861), who also who spent his life ministering there, but when their denomination was young. He earned the informal title, the Apostle of Gower. That biography, written by Tudor Lloyd, is Appendix 1, 31 pages. There are other tidbits about Lloyd and Griffiths elsewhere through the book. Both biographies are full of struggles, sorrows, and triumphs.

  • The Historic background of their denomination. The Calvinistic Methodist Church, now the Welsh Presbyterian Church, is very similar to the PCA in its heritage. Chapter 3, “To set up the house of our God” and Chapter 4, “Foundations strongly laid”, both written by Eifion Evans, discuss the early days of the denomination. The church was a product of the 18th Century Evangelical Awakening, and its beginning in Gower was in the early 19th Century. These chapters are 12 pages each. They are followed by Chapter 5, “The winds blew, the house did not fall”, 14 pages, about the often sad events in the church in the 20th century. This history, in its trends and spirit, has many parallels with the US Presbyterian Church.

  • Histories of the individual churches. Each one of these churches has interesting origins and charming stories, and they are told in Chapter 6, “Houses full of good things”, 50 pages, by a lady in the church once pastored by Lloyd. Stories, often vivid and colorful, of rural, mostly small churches in very different times and places, can have great appeal.

So whether you know where Gower is or not, and whether you have any interest in the Welsh or not, you can find much reward in this little book.

—     Dean Brown

November, 2006

 

 

 

 

Eifion Evans is a retired minister in the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Living in Carmarthenshire, he has preached at Cornerstone at least twice.

He is the author of a number of books, two of which are already in the Cornerstone Library, dealing especially with the subject of revival. He wrote the article about his denomination in The New Dictionary of Theology, published by Inter-Varsity Press.

He regularly preaches in both English and Welsh, in various churches around South Wales, and also leads Bible studies there.

 

 

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