Mission among Welsh speakers: an urgent need

In mid-October, Wales held its annual Shwmae Su’mae Day. Translated roughly as ‘hi there’, both shwmae (pronounced shoe-mai) in south Wales and su’mae (pronounced see-mai) in north Wales are colloquial greetings used to start a conversation.

Held since 2013, the purpose of Shwmae Su’mae Day is to encourage people to begin conversations in Welsh and promote its use in everyday discussions. Now in its 11th year, Shwmae Su’mae Day has become a national occasion as businesses, workplaces, and universities host events to motivate employees and students to practice the language.

As well as promoting the Welsh language, the Shwmae Su’mae Day reminds evangelicals to recognise two important gospel needs in Wales.

Mission among Welsh speakers

The first is the urgent need to reach Welsh-speaking communities with the good news of Jesus. According to the 2021 census, 538,000 people in Wales speak Welsh (17.8% of the population). However, in areas such as Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Ynys Môn, 67.7% and 55.8% of the population respectively speak Welsh. If the Welsh government’s target of reaching one million speakers by 2050 is to be realised, Welsh-speaking communities will likely grow in urban areas. Indeed, the number of Welsh speakers in Cardiff (approximately 88,400) has increased because of migration from rural areas and the success of Welsh-language education.

Even though there is a need to reach Welsh-speaking people with the good news, only a few gospel workers labour to make Christ known among these communities. Today, there are many Welsh-speaking communities without a local church in their area to speak of Christ. Since ‘the harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few’ (Mat. 9:37), we should pray that the Lord will send more missionaries to serve these communities.

The role of language in mission

The second need highlighted by Shwmae Su’mae Day is to understand the role of language in mission and evangelism. The urgency to reach Welsh-speaking communities prompts us to consider how the church can effectively evangelise distinct linguistic groups.

In 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul said that he had ‘become all things to all people so that by all possible means [he] might save some’ (1 Cor. 9:22). Paul certainly did not mean that he adapted the gospel to suit his audience. The gospel of Jesus’ cross and resurrection is God’s unchanging message of salvation for all time. What Paul meant is that he would adapt how he engaged with different groups when proclaiming the gospel. When he preached to the Jews, he did so in a way that took their customs and heritage seriously. Similarly, when he shared about Jesus with the Gentiles, he would engage with their culture and philosophy. Language was another likely factor: when talking to the Gentiles, he would speak Greek, but Hebrew or Aramaic were the appropriate languages when addressing Jewish audiences.

Paul’s principle for mission affects Christians’ approach to evangelism among distinct linguistic groups. To effectively reach Welsh-speaking communities with the gospel, evangelical Christians must adopt a missionary approach which takes their distinct linguistic, cultural, and historical context seriously. This is why we should pray that God would supply Wales with more pastors, missionaries, and churches who seek to reach Welsh-speaking communities through the medium of the Welsh language.

But why is praying for mission among Welsh speakers so important? Because, as Christians, we know that people ‘from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages’ (Rev. 7:9) will stand before the throne and the Lamb on the last day. And we can be sure that some among this great multitude will greet us with Shwmae or Su’mae.