Roger writes: “Last week I went to visit the EQUIP group which meets in Chester and consists of Anglican clergy from North Wales. John Benson, who leads the group, recently spent a week praying for North Wales. John reports as follows:
“I recently spent a week in Moelfre on Anglesey, praying, seeking the Lord’s direction, and reflecting on the Church in Wales. This arose from a growing burden for the advance of the kingdom of God in Wales. Moelfre was the location of the shipwreck of the Royal Charter in 1859. More than 400 people on board lost their lives in a ferocious storm. The villagers of Moelfre rescued about 40 survivors, and this marked the start of the community’s proud history of heroic sea rescues.
Moelfre today has two large lifeboats and a small boat used for rescues close to shore. In the Lifeboat Station you can see the RNLB Kiwi, poised at the top of the slipway and ready to launch out to rescue those in peril on the sea.
There is another lifeboat in the Seawatch Centre. The RNLB Bird’s Eye used to be in active service in New Quay, but it is now permanently housed as a museum exhibit, cut off from the sea. The paintwork is starting to deteriorate and the cracks between the wooden planks are showing. It looks like a lifeboat. It has been used as a lifeboat – it was launched for 89 rescues between 1970 and 1990 and saved 42 lives. It is no longer seaworthy. It is no longer fit for purpose. It is no help at all if you are in peril on the sea. It is just a museum curiosity.
Perhaps that is a picture of many of our churches today. They look like churches. Some have had fruitful ministries as churches. But today they are as useful in saving the lost as that retired lifeboat at Moelfre. When did we last see someone come to a living faith in the Lord Jesus Christ in our churches? Last week? Last month? Last year? I can’t remember when this last happened …
The Mathetes Trust 