The Movement is involved in a wide range of activity throughout Wales and amongst every age group.
The annual English conference at Aberystwyth regularly attracts over 1,000 people to enjoy Bible teaching and fellowship together on the West Wales coast. The conference has run for nearly fifty years, with Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones giving the main address in the inaugural conference back in 1957. Since then speakers have included Jim Packer, Eric Alexander, Al Martin, Donald Macleod, Sinclair Ferguson, Vernon Higham and Don Carson. Recordings from these conferences and many other events are available, and we hope to add these audio files to this website shortly.
The Camps work (for 10-21 year olds) has a similar long history, and over many years tens of thousands of children and young people have enjoyed EMW camps, both under canvas and indoors. Camp combines many aspects: plenty of enjoyable activities, meeting friends old and new, solid bible teaching, and practical down-to-earth discussion of Christian issues. It’s a pleasure to see many former campers remaining involved in their twenties and thirties and helping other children enjoy the benefits they once received.
The written word also plays a major part in the Movement’s work, with many books published each year both in English and Welsh, under the Bryntirion Press imprint. Bryntirion Press is the biggest evangelical publisher in Wales. The movement also has a chain of nine bookshops in all parts of Wales – again the largest number of any organisation. The bookshops fulfil a vital role in helping Christians obtain good quality Christian books from many different publishers. The Movement is also actively involved in sending books to Third World countries, and has a special fund set aside for that purpose.
A great deal of the Movement’s work involves encouraging those in full-time Christian work, particularly ministers. A residential conference for ministers is held a Bala each June, and one-day conferences held in both North and South Wales each February. A further, vital part of this ministry of encouragement are regular fraternals held all over Wales. Many ministers greatly value these times together where men can share ideas, enjoy fellowship and pray for one another.
Less visible, but equally important are four areas of work which frequently get overlooked:
- The promotion of evangelism within churches in Wales (the Movement also has an evangelistic presence each year at the National Eisteddfod)
- Encouraging churches to pray for God’s work in Wales
- Co-operation with other Christian groups and organisations
- The encouragement of a Christian witness amongst schools in Wales
- Supporting churches practically through the EMW Trust