Turning rich thinking into positive action

Tir Dewi, the diocesan support network for farming families, has been hailed as an exemplar of how the Church in Wales should be approaching rural ministry.

The organisation was one of several projects across the Province featured at the inaugural meeting of the Diocesan Learning Community, set up to highlight best practice in a number of key areas of Church activity.

The two-day event, entitled Telling a Hopeful Story, brought bishops, church leaders, officers from every diocese and provincial advisers together in a forum to share their experiences and to learn from and be inspired by each other.

In his introduction, the Archbishop of Wales, Andrew John, said good ministry was happening across Wales and, as the structure of the Church was changing, the forum provided an opportunity to “share, test and cascade” some of the rich thinking and experience gained.

Tir Dewi started in St Davids Diocese in 2015 and has since expanded across Wales. It now has 83 trained volunteers and eight employees who listen and help direct farmers to the help they need. Other volunteers promote the work of Tir Dewi at livestock markets and agricultural shows. The helpline is open from 7am-10pm every day, in Welsh and English. To date, more than 2,000 farmers have been supported.

“To get to the issues of what farmers are really going through you have to untie many a knot,” Tir Dewi’s founder, Archdeacon Eileen Davies, told the meeting.. “It takes guts for them to pick up the phone and ask for help.”

Tir Dewi also works with the young farmers’ clubs to encourage the next generation to be more open and prepared for conversations. “We need to get people to talk because you know from someone’s voice how they are truly feeling,” said Eileen.

Behind it all was the desire to share Christ’s love and care for all,” she said. “This is Christ working in and among us, out in the fields. That is what we are privileged to be able to do. The greatest honour and reward of all is to hear a farmer say, ‘Thank you, I am still alive’.”

As well as rural ministry, the forum also looked at various other areas of church life – urban ministry, church planting, cathedrals and the role of Bishops.

A full report of the forum can be found on the Church in Wales website.