Ddois i ar draws enghriafft galsurol arall o’r agwedd golonial sy’n dra nodweddiadol o lawer o’r symudiad efengylaidd ym Mhrydain heddiw a hynny mewn erthygl gan David Instone-Brewer yn y cylchgrawn dylanwadol Christinaity. Roedd yr erthygl yn trafod ‘church splits’ ac fe agorodd ei erthygl fel hyn:

My friend Ken showed me a strange photo of the two small Baptist churches for which he was a joint minister in a small South Wales village: the churches were right next door to each other. In the photo the congregation of each stood on the steps leading up to their front door and Ken stood in the middle astride a small dividing wall with a foot on each set of steps. Despite his urging, they refused to amalgamate, even though they believed the same things, heard the same sermons from him, and had occasional joint services. Why? One church worshiped in English and one in Welsh.

Dwi wedi anfon gohebiaeth i mewn at y cylchgrawn yn ymateb i’r agwedd drahaus yma. Gobeithio y bydda nhw yn ei gyhoeddi yn y rhifyn nesaf. Dyma wnes i anfon mewn:

I was saddened when I read the opening paragraph of David Instone-Brewer’s Church Splits article (Christianity, July 2010). What shocked me as a Welsh speaking Christian was that he portrayed the existence of Welsh speaking churches side by side with English ones in Wales as a ‘split’.

In the Arfon area of North Wales where I live we view the existence of Welsh and English churches as a strength not a weakness born out of division and tension. In a naturally bilingual nation like Wales we have Welsh speaking Christians who want to be minister to, want to worship and enjoy fellowship in their mother tongue and we also have English speakers who need the same. The existence of this need is reflected in the existence of different language Churches, it’s how the Church responds to the cultural context it sees in front of it. It’s not as a result of tension and splits. My Welsh language Baptist church planted our towns English language Baptist church decades ago in a response to the growing English language community in the town. It was not born out of a split it was a missional plant. And to this day both churches exist side by side both respecting each others unique witness and mission and both praying for each others work.

Here in Wales we have unchurched folk who are both Welsh and English speaking who need to be reached with the gospel. From my own experience working amongst my fellow Welsh speakers a Welsh speaking church is best placed to bring the good news of Jesus Christ to them. From my understanding of Biblical theology on the question of language and culture ‘unity in diversity’ is the grand theme. It was a shame therefore that the article portrayed the existence of different language Churches in Wales in a negative tone.

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