Evangelicalism in Modern Wales

Religion is far from being a spent force in contemporary Wales; evangelical faith remains vibrant, and through six case studies this study explores how Wales’s evangelicals have experienced growth, renewal and renewed influence in recent times.

Evangelicalism is thriving in many parts of the contemporary world. While the numbers professing Christian faith in Wales have reached an all-time low, evangelicals have proven to be remarkably resilient.The numbers professing Christian faith in Wales today have reached an all-time low. Wales has become perhaps the most secularised part of the British Isles. Evangelical religion played a dominant role in Welsh life in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, but by a remarkable turnaround that position was eroded and then lost in the early-twentieth century. In six case studies, this book demonstrates that evangelicals have proven surprisingly resilient and able to accommodate themselves to the secular environment of the later-twentieth century. Through the careful study of groups like the Evangelical Movement of Wales, the Evangelical Fellowship in the Church in Wales, and Evangelical Alliance Wales, this book reveals that although some evangelicals have found modern Wales alienating and retreated from the public square, others continually reinvented themselves, maintaining a presence in contemporary Welsh society.