From maintenance to mission

Sunday morning at St John's Gowerton, and there's a screen at the front of the church where a band led by Rev'd Mick Elliott is playing. The Bishop is preaching, and there are 70 people in the building, including families with young children and people who have never been to this church – or any church - before.

They're calling it The Gathering, and for Rev'd Ben Jones, vicar of St John's Gowerton and St Barnabas Waunarlwydd, the numbers tell part of the story. When he arrived, the regular congregation was 20 to 30 people. Now it's 50 to 60 regularly, and with The Gathering it was more than 70.

"We're thinking 40 or 50 years down the line, not just five," Ben said. "If we want to sustain the church for the future, we need to grow younger. That's our hope and our passion."

From the outset, that long horizon has shaped how the two churches operate.

Alongside Ben are Llwchwr Ministry Area leader Rev'd Sue Rumbelow, and Rev'd Prebendary Mick Ellor and his wife Jan. It is a deliberately shared approach, with different people bringing different skills and experiences.

Their work together ranges across worship, pastoral care, community provision, teaching, music and leadership formation. The emphasis, they say, is not on individual profile, but on building capacity over time.

"Working together as a team is working well," Jan said. "We've all got different skill sets."

That shared approach also explains why change here has been deliberate rather than dramatic.

The screen at the front of St John's is one visible sign of that change. "A lot of people are unfamiliar with it," Ben said, "but it's bringing people on a journey." Band-led worship, a more accessible format, and a service designed with younger people and families in mind are all part of that journey. None of it is intended to replace what already exists.

Traditional services continue, shaped by the church year, familiar liturgy and long-established patterns of prayer. "I would like it to be a blend of old and new," Ben said. "We do the old well, and we do the new well."

The question the team keeps returning to is how to think in terms of the next century rather than the next few years.

For Ben, that means thinking seriously about leadership in its widest sense. "Ideally, we'd grow younger," he said, "And, by that, I mean having leaders spring up from the younger congregation, who can take on roles within the church. That might be leading home groups or Bible studies, or simply growing in discipleship."

St Barnabas in Waunarlwydd, the church employs an apprentice, helping with after-school activities, supporting a discipleship course, and learning the practical and pastoral rhythms of Church life.

Over time, Ben said, that kind of investment makes the church more sustainable "spiritually, numerically and financially".

The aim is not to discard what has formed people over decades, but to ensure that the church remains recognisable and viable long after current debates have passed.

Mick frames the challenge in terms of perception rather than preference. "It's about getting people to see what God is actually doing," he said, "rather than focusing on what they don't like. God is working here, and it's important to take people on that journey."

The approach they describe is one of discernment rather than control. "We can't do anything without God," Ben said. Mick refers to a quote by Rowan Williams: discovering what God is doing, and then joining in.

That way of thinking shapes the life of both churches beyond Sunday worship.

Every Tuesday, the hall at St John's hosts Tuesday Club, an after-school gathering offering children and families a free meal. Some weeks, around 100 people attend. "It's not just about food," Ben said. "It's fellowship for the whole community."

On Friday mornings, Friday Club offers something quieter but no less necessary: table tennis, pool, darts, tea and conversation for older and lonely people. During the winter months, St Barnabas has hosted a Warm Hub, supported by Swansea Council, with 20 to 30 people attending regularly.

These activities were not devised as programmes in search of participants, the team say, but as responses to needs identified through being present locally. "This is quite a middle-class area," Ben said. "Perhaps the needs aren't immediately obvious. But they're there."

Sue's contribution to that pastoral presence extends beyond the churches themselves. She serves as chaplain to the Old Mill cancer charity and at Singleton Hospital, roles that place her alongside people at points of acute vulnerability. That experience, she said, informs how the team thinks about care, patience and realism.

Alongside organised provision, there is a strong emphasis on being present in ordinary local spaces.

Ben coaches the under-14s at the local rugby club, drawing on his own background playing at a high level. He also visits local schools regularly, leading assemblies each week, and has developed links with the local comprehensive school, where a Christian Union meets and invites a speaker once a month.

Over Christmas, that presence extended into the community. Carol singing took place at the Farmers Arms, the local Conservative Club and a nearby care home, with Mick on guitar.

There is also a strong ecumenical dimension to the work. Once a month, churches and chapels from across the area gather for the Lighthouse service,. Last summer, those relationships led to a jointly-run holiday club, held under a marquee on the grass outside the church. Over three days, more than 30 children attended, finishing with a family service on the Sunday afternoon.

For Mick, the motivation is theological as much as practical. Working together, he said, matters "for the benefit of the kingdom". The emphasis is on cooperation and on recognising that no single church can meet every need alone.

That outward-facing approach is not confined to the local area. Members of the team have also been involved in organising regional days of renewal for church leaders, held in Llandrindod Wells and Pembroke. Around 50 leaders attended the most recent gathering, with another planned for April. The intention, they say, is to offer space for reflection, encouragement and renewal rather than instruction.

Back in Gowerton and Waunarlwydd, another development has been the response to the Saints Alive course, which includes what Mick describes as "chunky reading" of scripture — working steadily through Mark's Gospel, chapter by chapter.

"The amount of people who came and said they really enjoyed engaging with the Bible in that way was encouraging," he said. "It's led to people wanting to learn more."

That appetite has prompted requests for further study and teaching.

Asked what he wishes people outside the church understood about faith, Ben refers to a line from C.S. Lewis. "Life with Jesus is better than life without Jesus," he said. "We want to be a church that enables people to encounter Jesus — to come from wherever they are, encounter him, and grow in relationship with him."

On the Sunday morning when The Gathering drew a larger-than-usual congregation, Ben noticed faces he did not recognise, people who had not come through school links or community contacts. "Perhaps it's a prompting of the Holy Spirit rather than an invitation from us," he said. "Which is good."

Sue points to the range of worship now available across the two churches: traditional Eucharist, The Gathering, meditation and healing services, and Taizé once a month. "There's quite a variety of things people can join in with and find comfort," she said. The intention, she adds, is not to multiply activity for its own sake, but to offer different ways of belonging.

"We're trying to move the church from maintenance to mission," said Mick.

Find out more at stjohnstbarnabas.org.uk