‘Bold’ conference to discuss future of Wales’ chapel buildings

With declining and ageing congregations attending church and chapel services across the nation, a “bold” conference is set to take place next month, asking how Wales’ chapel buildings can be “repurposed for a modern Wales”.

The Presbyterian Church of Wales (PCW) is hosting a conference, bearing a title found in the Bible: What Do these Stones Mean? (Joshua 4:6).

The conference will feature an audience of ministers, charity and business leaders, missional pioneers and building experts who will explore how old buildings can be repurposed for modern Wales.

“What do these stones mean to us?”

Rev Nan Powell-Davies, General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Wales said: “This is an important and strategic event for our denomination.

“We have to ask ourselves ‘what do these stones mean to us today?’ We currently own in excess of 800 buildings including chapels and houses. The increasing regulation and upkeep work of these buildings falls on a decreasing number of ageing and faithful members within the congregation”.

Many PCW buildings are underused. When a chapel is no longer viable and the cause there comes to an end, the buildings are mostly sold with little consideration given to potential alternative uses.

In 2021, a survey* showed that 56% of PCW congregation are over 70 years of age.

In 2023, only 2.5% of its membership was under the age of 25.

Over the last 20 years PCW membership has decreased from 30,000 to 13,000, and church closure is accelerating especially since Covid.

From 2005 to 2017, the annual decline in membership was 5%, however, by 2022, it had increased to 12%.

Challenges

Rev Nan Powell-Davies said: “We cannot carry on like this. This is now the time for new dreams and new plans. Our ancestors built these chapels to serve God in their generation.

“The challenges of being a Christian community in Wales in 2025 are radically different to the ones a century and more ago. We must adapt to new opportunities, or we will rightly fade into history.”

“We must embrace change, or we will die. Although decline is not the whole picture, we must be intentional about what we do with buildings when they are no longer needed by the local congregation.

“These stones are speaking to us but are we listening?”

The conference, What Do These Stones Mean?, takes place on Wednesday 2 April at Gloddaeth chapel in Llandudno from 9am-3.45pm.