Wales 'still wants to hear the Gospel'

The themes of faith, hope and unity were highlighted at last week’s National Prayer Breakfast of Wales, chaired by Welsh Assembly Government Member Darren Millar.

Over the past twenty years the annual prayer breakfast has been held all over Wales and is attended by those who reflect a wide diversity of interest and service within the life of the nation.

National Co-ordinator Jenny Hill said: “As always we believed the Lord wanted to challenge us about the needs of our nation and the way in which we might pray and serve more effectively together."

During the breakfast, guests were awakened to the for prayer for Wales.

They were told that it has one of the highest teenage pregnancy rates, as well as one of the highest self-harm rates in Europe. Depression is also a major problem.

Welsh GP’s issued approximately 3.5 million prescriptions for anti-depressants in 2010 at a time when the population stood at around three million.

But needy as the nation is, the guests were also assured that they had much to be thankful for.

Millar’s obvious enthusiasm for the work of the Prayer Breakfast was warmly endorsed in a bi-lingual video message from Ieuan Wyn Jones, leader of Plaid Cymru and a former BBC Wales ‘Politician of the Year’.

He applauded the work of the Prayer Breakfast and spoke of the support and comfort he has gained from praying with other believers since his earliest days as a Westminster MP.

Evangelist Marilyn Harry aroused a sense of excitement through her keynote address claiming, “Thirty years of experience as an evangelist have convinced me that the people of Wales still want to hear the Gospel."

She was followed by a lady named only as Alyson, who told the amazing story of God’s grace. Alyson’s parents had been alcoholics. She was sexually abused and brought up in the care system before finally ending up a heroin addict, begging on the streets. But God did not abandon her and her life was totally transformed when she came to faith through the ministry of Teen Challenge, She is now a teacher.

Professor Jonathan Shepherd CBE FMedSci directs the Cardiff University Violence and Society Research Group. His research on clinical decisions and community violence has made many contributions to clinical and public policy and legislation. He sits on the Wales Assembly Government public services ministerial advisory group and as the clinical member of the Whitehall alcohol strategy group.

Professor Shepherd told the 230 guests that God had guided him into his work, as he encouraged them all to serve Him in their professional lives.

“We should serve the Lord with all our hearts and mind and strength,” he said.

“That means doing things as well as we possibly can. We need to learn to think outside the box as the Good Samaritan did. And we should get involved with government too, even if does not come naturally. It doesn’t to me.”

There was a strong emphasis on what can happen when Christians work together too. This was illustrated by the two video presentations which drew the morning’s programme to an end. The first focused on the exciting developments to be seen in Wrexham under the banner of ‘Mission Wrexham’. The second included a report on the local prayer breakfast held in Pembrokeshire last autumn. Stephen Crabb MP stressed the sense of excitement he felt too as he saw the Christians of his constituency beginning to work and pray together much more enthusiastically.

Elfed Godding, National Director of the Evangelical Alliance in Wales summed up everyone's feelings when he said, “'When over 200 leaders from all over Wales gather to celebrate excellent practice in church life, hope rises in our nation.

"The 20th National Prayer Breakfast highlighted examples of effective gospel proclamation and demonstration including Mission Wrexham and facilitated prayer for church growth'”