Americans Invaded Wales!

June 15-28, 2008 Christ Memorial Church sent 100 people to Wales! The local press referred to this as "the American invasion."  Why did we go?

Christ Memorial Church has a vision to plant churches that preach the gospel of Jesus Christ.  To further that vision, several years ago we began The NETS Institute for Church Planting, committed to equipping servant leaders to plant gospel-driven churches in New England and abroad.  In order to minister oversees, NETS forms partnerships with seminaries in spiritually parched areas around the world.

Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST) trains men to minister in the UK, where only 1/2% of the people attend evangelical churches (compared to 10-30% for most of the US).  NETS is forming a partnership with WEST in order to promote planting gospel-driven churches in the United Kingdom.

Christ Memorial Church sent100 people to Wales this summer in order to upgrade the WEST campus and to promote this long-term partnership with NETS!  48 adults and 52 high school students invaded their property for 2 weeks to do cleaning, painting, remodeling of bathrooms, repairing of driveways and paths, clearing trees and bushes, and various construction and decoration projects. 

The most visible project to the community was the repairing and rebuilding of a long rock wall at the entrance to WEST.  This was helpful as we went door-to-door in the neighborhoods around the seminary to invite folks to 2 local churches, and see if they were interested in talking about Christ.  We also were able to do some sight-seeing in Wales, attend church in Cardiff, and do some street evangelism for that church.

We also were able to learn about the great spiritual awakenings in the history of Wales, and were encouraged to hear from local ministers who have faithfully ministered the gospel even though the churches are small.  We were encouraged & challenged by their committment to the gospel of Christ.

The staff at WEST were amazed at the amount of work that was done to improve their campus.  We enjoyed serving our brothers and sisters in Christ, and felt the wonderful bond of being in the family of God with them.  We left the seminary grounds much improved, and we pray that WEST can continue to provide traditional training to budding ministers and church planters, and that the Lord may again awaken Wales with the gospel of Christ!

Click here to learn more about Wales Evangelical School of Theology (WEST).

Click here to learn more about The NETS Institute for Church Planting.