Aneirin Glyn

Apologies for being a bit slow with this but last Sunday afternoon I stepped slightly out of my comfort zone on two fronts at a time when we went down to the Welsh Anglican Church of St Benet (nothing to do with Phil Bennett apparently), near St Paul's in the City of London to be at the licensing service for Aneirin Glyn.
I say on two fronts because  the service was both an Anglican one and partly in the Welsh language. The Welsh language wasn't an issue as I have some Welsh and being an Anglican service it was all written out (and translated).

The service was led by the Bishop of London, Richard Chartres. I did have to look at him for a short while to remember where I'd seen him last - speaking at the royal wedding! We again had a 10 minute sermonette that you couldn't really object to but that you weren't entirely sure of the meaning of either.

The service itself was okay with lots of nuanced evangelical statements but other things that made you a little nervous. Even the bishop thought it a little ludicrous that Aneirin had to swear allegiance to the Queen, rather than that being taken for granted. I could probably cope with the dressing up and some of the other pantomime elements but the episcopal nature of the arrangement wouldn't sit well with this particular nonconformist I must confess.

Being licensed obviously includes some caretaking duties as a big thing was made of giving Aneirin the key to the building. As it turned out when he tried to get in with it there was a problem and he had to ring the church bell to get back in again. ;-)

There were about fifty people present and we all had our picture taken afterwards before enjoying some food and drink. We knew one other couple there visiting and one of the main families in the church through the school. Eleri had also been in school with the organist. The newsreader Huw Edwards was sat in front of us. I also had a brief chat to William Taylor from St Helen's, where Aneirin has close connections, who I know by sight but had never spoken to before. (I don't think the St Helen's crowd are quite aware that there are other Welsh speaking churches in London - at least 10 - and some have evangelical input. See here.)

I think it will be an uphill task to cut though the layers of churchiosity that mask the gospel in a situation like that but the gospel is powerful and who knows what might happen if it is unleashed. 

Demand to learn Welsh in London is certainly on the rise. There were 60 places available on the most recent course at the London Welsh Centre in King’s Cross; it was oversubscribed and the number of places on the next course has been expanded to 75.

An article appeared in the Times recently (here) which you may be able to access.

There Aneirin says “London has a large Welsh community and I would love St Benet’s to be the place where they can hear the great news about Jesus in the language in which they are comfortable. ....  I think for some people in London, Welsh is the language in which they think and speak. We want to meet people where they are. Some people ‘feel’ Welsh, so if that happens then we will gladly welcome them and share the Gospel in Welsh.”
The church website is here.
The other thing about St Benet's is that this is where Thomas Adams was the minister before the Great Fire.