Congratulations to Swansea (soon to be) Minster

Next year will be a time of transformation for St Mary’s Church in Swansea’s city centre, as it becomes Wales’ first minster. The move will not only recognise the church’s role in the life of the diocese but also its importance to Swansea, both as a city landmark and the home to its civic services. The transformation is being made possible by a £2.8m grant from the Church in Wales’ Growth Fund, which it has described as a “once-in-a generation opportunity to resource confident and consistent evangelism throughout Wales”. The money will also enable St Mary’s to create jobs and expand its worship, ensuring it retains its place at the heart of the city.

Vicar Canon Justin Davies, said: “We are delighted and excited that the Church in Wales has announced significant investment in St Mary’s Church which sits in the heart of the second city of Wales. We believe it is one that is innovative, that is scalable and achievable, but equally one that’s very challenging to us, one that will enable us to make more followers of Jesus in the future.”

St Mary’s will be officially declared a minster early next year, but that is just the beginning of its transformation. “The money is essentially in two elements,” Justin said. “There’s one amount of money, relatively small, with which will be doing some building work within St Mary’s to give us a safe office space to work in, to give us room for children, youth and families work and to create a separate worship space so we can have more than one act of worship taking place. At the same time there’s also some work to be done on our kitchen facilities to enable us to invite more people in, to use the refreshment facilities that we have here in a more professional manner. The vast bulk of the money that we have is going to be used on the employment of more people - the employment of an additional priest, the employment of a cafe manager, a youth and family worker, and someone to go out into the community and work in our community right here in the heart of Swansea. There’ll also be somebody to take out the great tradition that we have of music within this building and go into our schools and colleges to encourage them in developing their music which they will then bring it back to us here into St Mary’s.”

It is an exciting time for the centre of Swansea, with an increasing number of residents, a bustling marketplace and the development of a new civic centre which is due to open next year.

“We’ll be doing a lot of work in the community, in the growing community,” he said. “So this is really a very people-based bid, which is all about making, finding, growing, enabling people to find their true heart and their true faith as somebody who lives and breathes the life of Jesus Christ.”

St Mary’s, which was rebuilt in the 1950s after being burned to the ground during the Nazis’ three-day blitz of the city in World War II, will be designated a minster church in February next year. Minster is a title given to a large or important church, especially a collegiate or cathedral church, and reflects the importance of St Mary’s to the city.

“It’s a recognition of the significance of this building in the heart of the second city of Wales,” Justin said. “We are the fourth largest building in the province and we have an important civic role that we already play in the city, and the word minster enables us to enhance that and develop it. It recognizes the special significance of the building in the city and to this part of the diocese, a place for people to gather together, and that’s going to be an important part of what we will do.”

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Rev’d Andrew John, said: “The Church Growth Fund represents a transformative step forward in our mission to reach communities across Wales with the love and hope of the Gospel. This significant investment will enable churches to grow, innovate and become vibrant centres of faith. I am excited to witness the gospel in action and the positive impact we will make in our communities because of our significant investment in evangelism.”

Simon Lloyd, the Chief Executive of the Representative Body of the Church in Wales, said: “The Representative Body is delighted to make these Growth Fund grants. All four grants provide additional resources over several years to allow local churches to engage and serve their local communities. I look forward to hearing stories of growth and lives impacted by the love of God and the good news of the Gospel.”

Work on the transformation will begin soon, ready for February’s minster service.

“Our doors will be open seven days per week for prayer, peaceful space, presence and proclamation of the good news that the Gospel of Christ Jesus holds for all,” Justin said. “Our transformation work will start in earnest before the end of 2024 and gather pace during the first half of 2025.”

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