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This Month:

	Dear friends
	Our Ministries: Mission Wales
	Camps
	The EMW Theological Training Courses
	Fairs and Eisteddfodau
	Bryn-y-groes
	Ministry to Gospel Ministers
	EMW Days
	Bryntirion Press
	English and Welsh Magazines
	Llwybrau
	Conferences
	Bookshops
	Management Board
	Volunteers
	Financial Matters
	Future Developments

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Printable versions:

You can download a PDF copy of this prayer letter in English or Welsh - perfect for printing. Why not print a copy for your church prayer meeting, or to keep in your Bible?

"For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures"
1 Corinthians 15: 3-4

Each year, for the September - October prayer letter we produce a report which reflects back on the past year and looks forward in terms of priorities. We continue to be committed to our mission statement of “Partnership in the Gospel” and the priorities identified two years ago. These priorities continue to drive the vast majority of our activities and ministries. They are:

1. Evangelism and Church Planting - by stimulating desire and providing opportunities
2. Biblical Literacy and Discipling - ensuring that relevant and biblical resources, teaching, and discipling are widely available
3. Networking and Co-operation - providing opportunities for meaningful co-operation
4. Training and Leadership - offering encouragement and training for church leaders and future leaders

Our Ministries: Mission Wales

Mission Wales is our most recent step in taking the gospel out to Wales. Three of our pilot missions were undertaken in very different communities: Townhill and Mayhill (Swansea), Caernarfon (North Wales) and in Lampeter (Mid Wales). The pilots have been undertaken through the medium of Welsh in Caernarfon, English in Townhill and bilingually in Lampeter. A further mission was held in Pontardawe, in the Swansea Valley, where over 4,000 newspapers were distributed around the vicinity. Working at the invitation of a local church in each community, we undertook a variety of activities including football coaching, distributing a community magazine/newspaper, speaking to people in the open air around a literature table, providing activities for children, families and communities, all free of charge. Teams of volunteer workers were drawn together for each mission from churches across Wales. Three further missions are planned for the next twelve months, in Narberth in Pembrokeshire, Neath Abbey in South Wales and with a number of churches working together across Llanelli, Swansea and Pontarddulais.

Camps

We were grateful to God for many good reports from camps in 2008. Early reports from camps in 2009 reflect the prayerfulness of the officers, leaders and chaplains. There is a steady stream of young people being converted. Associate pastor Paul Gamston is the chair of the English camps committee. Gwydion Lewis continues as chair of the Welsh camps committee.

The EMW Theological Training Courses

The English and Welsh TTC courses have been modified in different ways. The residential weeks of the English course will now be based in North Wales at Bryn-y-groes. The Welsh course has been re-launched. Both courses have new members joining them, and enjoy fellowship and learning.

Fairs and Eisteddfodau

Roger Thomas continues to travel the length and breadth of Wales using the Movement trailer to support his work. A new gazebo has been purchased in order to extend the work to other fairs and eisteddfodau. We use the trailer in the Urdd Eisteddfod as our focal point. There were many conversations and encouragements at the National Eisteddfod tents in Bala this year.

Bryn-y-groes

We now have two new members of staff, Stuart Thut and Eifion Perkins. Pat and Dave Wilmot continue as managers. Our new hall continues to be a major improvement to our facilities and therefore an additional attraction. A member of the Finance and General Purposes Committee has been assigned to work with the manager in seeking to support and improve provision in the centre.

Ministry to Gospel Ministers

The day conferences were well attended, considering the very poor weather conditions. This was fewer than those who gathered in 2008. The annual residential ministers’ conferences, both English and Welsh, were encouraging and challenging times. Ministers’ fraternals continue to be a meeting place for many pastors across Wales, using a syllabus prepared by Stuart Olyott based on a book entitled The Supremacy of Christ in a post-modern world. A conference for new pastors is planned for November.

EMW Days

Well over 500 people attended the two Autumn day conferences of the Movement in October 2008. We trust that many more will gather for similar or greater blessings on Saturdays 3 (Cardiff) and 10 (Mold) October 2009. Many young people use the meetings as an opportunity to have fellowship with new friends and renew old friendships. In 2008 the preaching was undertaken by Gwynn Williams and Justin Mote in the North, and Rico Tice with Derrick Adams in the South.

Bryntirion Press

The publication of English and Welsh medium books continued. The preparation and publication of the Welsh version of Christianity Explored and its launch in summer 2009 was an important milestone for the Press. However the Press is a matter of concern (mainly because of recent significant losses sustained) and will be the focus of careful review this Autumn.

English and Welsh Magazines

Promotion of the English magazine in Christmas 2008 and summer 2009 have brought a significant number of new readers, and the quality of the English magazine has been remarked upon frequently. But numbers of Cylchgrawn readers have been gradually falling in recent years, despite the quality of the magazine. Promotion of the Welsh magazine is planned for the future.

Llwybrau

The new Welsh medium magazine for youth continues to be widely used across Wales. During the past year over ten new writers have been used and the Bible studies continue to be a source of encouragement and blessing to many young people.

Conferences

The Aber conferences continue to be a blessing to many in Wales and beyond. In 2008 around 1,500 people gathered for the English medium conference. We were blessed through excellent preaching from Arturo Azurdia III. The Welsh medium Conference was also well attended and appreciated with Sulwyn Jones each morning and a wide range of preachers in the evening meetings. Joel Beeke from the USA spoke at the 2009 English Conference, with a range of other speakers, including seminars on the 150th anniversary of the 1859 revival.

Bookshops

Sales continued to grow in some of our bookshops but sadly significant losses were sustained by the bookshops overall, as some shops did not achieve the target of moving closer to breaking even.

• Llandrindod Wells Bookshop - The losses in Llandrindod Wells shop continued to be significant. The churches in the town were given the opportunity to take over the shop, but they did not believe this to be the best way forward. It therefore became necessary to make both members of staff redundant and to close the shop at the end of the financial year. A bookshop has since been opened by local Christians in the garden centre.
• Wrexham Bookshop (Manna) - The number of people using Manna increased again. However the losses of the shop rose to almost £20,000. In the light of the overall losses of the Movement in 07-08 it became necessary to reduce staffing which sadly meant one person had to become redundant at the end of this financial year. Despite this, the sales have increased and we expect that almost 20,000 people will use the coffee shop during 2009.
• Neath Bookshop - In 2008, in order to seek to try to increase sales and improve our service to local Christians and local churches, we refitted the shop, which was reopened by the Mayor of Neath and his wife. Despite this, the impact on sales has been limited and the shop faced closure. However, the manageress volunteered to continue her work without pay, thus keeping the shop open.
• Cardiff Bookshop - In 2008 sales were down again. After many visits to local pastors in Cardiff an action group has been formed under the chairmanship of Peter Milsom. Unfortunately one member of staff had to be made redundant and was replaced with a half-time assistant manager. Nevertheless the plans for change give hope that we will once again see an upturn in sales and customers.
• Bala Bookshop - Because of the kindness of a Christian we are moving into new premises this Autumn. We will have a much larger shop with the opportunity to sell some coffee and show evangelistic videos to visitors.

Management Board

The new Management Board, with a bilingual approach to its main meetings and new membership was established in April 2008. Gwynn Williams has remained as Chair of the Trustees.

Volunteers

We continue to rely extensively in almost all areas of the Movement’s ministry on volunteers. It is impossible to adequately quantify the value of their work. As with last year the trustees estimate that the Movement has benefited from 22,000 hours of voluntary work during the financial year, equivalent to approximately thirteen full-time members of staff. This leads to a cost saving of approximately £150,000.

Financial Matters

Overall the figures for 2008-2009 showed a deficit of £40,000, significantly less than for the previous financial year. We have also budgeted over £40,000 cost savings for this financial year (09-10) and around £20,000 of additional savings for the year after that (10-11). We are also seeking to increase our income in order to maintain our diminishing reserves. We are grateful to God who has always provided our needs as we exercise due prudence.
The EMW’s policy is to have sufficient free reserves to cover working capital requirements and the day-to-day running costs and planned deficits without the need for bank borrowing. Apart from the income generated by our ministries, our main income derives from the generous giving of our supporters.
Attention is needed to ensure that we are good stewards of the resources God has provided. A further review is currently underway of the bookshops, Bryntirion Press and the administrative structure and costs.

Future Developments

We intend to continue to develop our ministries in accordance with our objectives and aims, giving particular attention to:

1. supporting church-based missions;
2. publication of evangelistic resources;
3. Llwybrau, the new Welsh language magazine for young people;
4. training for ministers/church leaders (‘For His Glory’ conference).

May the Lord bless you over the next few months.
In Christ alone,