Fix eyes on future, not past, says Welsh Archbishop

The church will only grow if it looks forwards, rather than back, the Archbishop of Wales told the people of St Davids Diocese at a festival of thanksgiving on Saturday.

Dr Barry Morgan said the message of Pentecost was to focus on the future, not the past, and not to restrict membership by insisting on a uniformity in the church. He was giving a sermon at a service to mark the end of Catalyst, a day of celebration of church life held at Carmarthen Showground.

He said, "The temptation of the church is always to look backwards. It was always the temptation of the people of Israel. God is the God of the future, not just of the past. And if one had to sum up the message of Pentecost, it would be 'don't look back, look forwards'."

He pointed to the example set by the first apostles who refused to look back and reminisce about the works and words of Jesus.

"They stepped into the future, believing that the Spirit present in Jesus was now available to them. And so they proclaimed the Gospel, were prepared to be martyred for their faith and insisted that Gentiles could be incorporated into the church without first having to become Jews."

He suggested that an more open approach to church membership could prompt growth.

"Gentiles were not required to observe Jewish food laws or the Jewish laws of ritual before becoming Christians. That was an incredible thing for the early church to do because its members were Jews and it would have been so easy to restrict membershhip only to Gentiles willing to become Jews first. But they fixed their eyes firmly on the future and not on the past - and the church expanded and grew," he said.

About 1,000 people from all corners of the diocese attended the event which featured performances from school children, workshops, theatre, debates, displays and exhibitions and a worship tent, with different styles of worship throughout the day. Royal harpist Claire Jones was also there to give a performance and lead a harp workshop for young people. A Question Time panel, which included Dr Morgan, took questions ranging from the forthcoming Lambeth Conference to the situation in Zimbabwe.

Dr Morgan also paid tribute to the work of the diocese, currently without a bishop, following the resignation of Bishop Carl Cooper in May.

He said, "The body of Christ in this diocese has been richly blessed by God - inspired to do things it might not otherwise have done, be it working with children, young people, the disadvantaged, and involvement in the important social issues of our day, such as fighting against injustice, torture and speaking up for the marginalised. And it is only when we come together in one place on a day such as this we realise the extent of God's blessing on us."