A Beacon of Hope

St Catherine's in Gorseinon may look like "a typical local church," but behind its familiar walls an extraordinary transformation is underway.

It is already a thriving community hub – home to nearly 50 local groups and organisations, a foodbank and Baby Basics – and now it is set to start on its most ambitious project to date.

It has been awarded £2.8m by the Church in Wales' Church Growth Fund, a £100m initiative to resource confident and consistent evangelism throughout Wales, for its Stepping Stones to Faith project.

Stepping Stones to Faith will establish St Catherine's as a Mission Hub for the Llwchwr Ministry Area and will fund a new ministry team with specialised skills, including a Community Evangelist, Children and Families Pastor and an Older People's Chaplain.

The funding is in addition to £1.5m that has already been raised to transform the church hall, and is another show of faith in a project that was born from a meeting in a living room in 2018.

"This is a vision that's been born from the ground up," said Rev'd Dr Adrian Morgan, Vicar of St Catherine's. "Local people got together to pray."

"We gathered together in 2018, initially in my front room. Out of that meeting came a transformational vision for the church and the wider community. Together we created a community survey, which became known as the Big Conversation. It opened the door for honest, hope-filled dialogue with our neighbours, helping them to uncover the needs and strengths of their community. From that listening and learning, we began to dream and plan a faithful response and that's when this was first conceived.

"It was long before the birth of the Church Growth Fund and we really had no idea how we might achieve it, but we knew that a faithful God — who wants us to enjoy a relationship with him — would find a way to make the impossible possible, leading us as a church into a new season of life and growth."

Stepping Stones to Faith has been described by Director of Mission Mandy Bayton as "more than a project. It's a movement of faith, a living testimony of what happens when God's people listen, love, and act together" and it's a model Adrian hopes will be copied across the Diocese and beyond.

"We want to be a church that isn't simply surviving, but sending. New life and growth in Gorseinon will benefit the other churches of our Ministry Area, and it can be an example for the wider Diocese and for the Church in Wales," he said.

"We're not a Cathedral. We're not a Minster. We're simply a typical local church that believes that because God is good, the church can grow. And if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere in the Diocese and anywhere in the Church in Wales."

The new team will help to drive that growth, with an emphasis on intergenerational ministry across the community.

"This is about creating a church that really reflects our whole community, somewhere that everyone can belong and find a place – people of every age, stage and background. Whatever their story, they will be welcome here and we hope that they will discover that life with Jesus is better than life without him."

Work on the latest stage of the project will begin in the New Year, and the St Catherine's team is inviting the Diocese to pray for its success.

"We are really humbled by the news of this phenomenal grant and we want to say a big thank you. We will honour this generosity by working hard in the harvest field, but only God can bring the growth."

"So we'd also like to invite the whole Diocese to pray with us for what God has begun to do here — that we would see lots of new growth as lives are changed in Jesus' name."

"We hope that this will inspire others and be a pattern which they can follow, a beacon of hope for the Diocese and for the Church in Wales that says growth isn't just talked about – it's actually happening."