The Union of Welsh Independents ( cy, Undeb yr Annibynwyr Cymraeg) is a Reformed congregationalist denomination in

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

History

Welsh congregational churches or Independents stand in the

Puritan The Puritans were English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who sought to purify the Church of England of Catholic Church, Roman Catholic practices, maintaining that the Church of England had not been fully reformed and should become m ...

tradition. The first congregational congregation was founded at

Llanfaches Llanvaches or Llanfaches is a village and community (Wales), community parish within the boundaries of the city of Newport, Wales, Newport, Wales. It lies to the east of the urban area, in the historic counties of Wales, historic county of Monmou ...

in 1639. Early founders were in the puritan tradition. Later several churches were founded and formed separate denominations. They embraced different theological positions. Finally the denomination was founded in 1872 as a voluntary association of churches. They called it Independent because each congregation claims to be under the authority of

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

. Individual congregations cooperate through associations. Now the Union works through six departments: finance,

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

ministry Ministry may refer to: Government * Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister * Ministry (government department), a department of a government Religion * Christian ...

, education, churches, communication. The Union churches have much in common with other free churches in Wales. Ministers can freely move their ministry among them. The Unions council met once a year. ''The Union is a free and voluntary body, its aims to help to make churches a fellowship that serve Jesus Christ''. The church has high emphasis on preaching the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

, and education, empowering church members. The denomination currently is working on a new mission strategy, the AGAPE program, started in 2005. The latest strategy is the Welsh Independents Development Programme.www.cwmeurope.org/en/about-cwm-europe/union-of-welsh-independents

Statistics

In 2006 it had 16 associations of churches, 450 congregations, 31,000 members and about 107 ministers. Its worship services are held primarily in the

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...

. According to the latest statistics in 2021 it had over 400 congregations. The president is Beti-Wyn James. Blaen y Coed Chapel (geograph 6893569)

Interchurch relations

The Union is a member of the

World Communion of Reformed Churches The World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC) is the largest association of Calvinist churches in the world. It has 230 member denominations in 108 countries, together claiming an estimated 80 million people, thus being the fourth-largest Chris ...

. Also a member in the International Congregational Fellowship,

Council for World Mission The Council for World Mission (CWM) is a worldwide community of mainly protestant Christian churches. The 32 members share their resources of money, people, skills and insights to carry out their mission work. Leadership The 32 member churches ar ...

and the

World Council of Churches The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a worldwide Christian inter-church organization founded in 1948 to work for the cause of ecumenism. Its full members today include the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Churches, most juri ...

. It has friendly relations with the

Congregational Federation The Congregational Federation is a small Christian denomination in Great Britain comprising 235 congregations, down from 294 in April 2014. The Federation brings together Congregational churches, and provides support and guidance to member chur ...

References

External links

Union of Wales Independents official site
{{Authority control Members of the World Communion of Reformed Churches Reformed denominations in the United Kingdom Christian denominations in the United Kingdom Congregationalism