December 18, 2002

Dear Friends and Family,

For some unfathomable reason we have all our Christmas shopping done and the tree is up and decorated, even though it is only, as I write, the Tuesday after the third Sunday of Advent. Nothing like this has ever happened before. You will be pleased to know that some things can still be counted on, however. We have done nothing about Christmas cards. I hope this hasty letter finds you well.

Much has happened since I last wrote. The Synod of Wales' "Re-Imagining the Future" process's exploratory phase peaked at a three-day consultation held at the University of Aberystwyth in September. Now, it's down to practicalities. My part in the process, as convenor of the South Wales District Pastoral Committee, has been to begin developing teams of lay leaders and clergy to visit our churches, see what's working and see how we can support what needs to work better or differently. Right now, only about 30% of our churches are ever represented at any given District Council meeting. With the European church in free-fall decline, the sense of hopelessness in these churches is understandable. Whether or not we will actually be able to reverse the decline, we can at least stand together, and then perhaps explore together new ways of being "church" that may not look at all like what people are used to.

Another church I met with, in Llangynidr, was down to three members in a dilapidated building ridden with dry rot. Now, thanks to the enthusiasm of a local primary school teacher, they have thirty children in Sunday school every week in the morning, and over twenty adults at the Sunday afternoon service.

There is surprisingly good news at City Church where I'm serving as minister. After a twenty year steady decline, we are starting to build back up again. After my first six months we had our first growth in membership in living memory, and now this year there has been a net growth of a dozen more. That may not sound brilliant by American standards, but the folk at City Church are feeling pretty good about it.

I am enthusiastic about City Church. Seventeen members of our youth group went to Iona this last summer. We are supporting two asylum-seeking families from Zimbabwe. We have drawn on an experiment last Lent with "coffee evenings"-small discussion groups meeting in members homes, with three to five groups meeting each month. (We've looked at what Jesus says about money, done theological analysis of comic strips, and, most recently, looked at Christmas from an adult perspective.) I have done some lecturing in Reformed Spirituality at the University of Wales-Lampeter, I've taught a course on poetry this fall in our Adult Christian Education Centre, and have been supervising a student intern, a Methodist. We have worked imaginatively on building up our covenanted relationship with the Methodists and with the Presbyterian Church in Wales, and now have a Methodist minister on staff at City Church for a day and a half a week. Our main project is developing an ecumenical resource and training center here. The Covenant Support Group, an ecumenical body, has planned a celebration for the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January that will feature a gospel choir, our own jazz group, and a more traditionally Welsh choral group. For a speaker we have Cardiff's Lord Mayor, who is going to be interviewed by me on the theme "Beyond Economic Development: Seeking a New Humanity for the City." When he accepted, I panicked. What do I know about politics, economic development, or about cities, for that matter? Nothing! So I have the political editor of one of our better national papers coaching me for this. By mid-January, I hope to seem not so dumb.

The family seems to be doing OK. Marieke is working full time now as a social worker with learning disabled adults. Rachel worked on maths all fall in college, and is still looking for an elusive job. We don't hear from James much, which always means he is doing fine. The last time I saw him I was impressed at the way his life seemed to be smoothing out. Tina and Mike and baby Elliot are all OK, with Elliot developing by leaps and bounds. I just got back from a quick week visiting my mother in the States, who wasn't doing so well, but now is steadily improving and will no doubt out live us all. My own health isn't great. I've joined Weight Watchers and am losing weight, but my blindness is very annoying. I don't let it get to me. And I have tremendous support from the church with reading for me and ferrying me about. And thanks for your support, too. This ministry is something we all do together, or it wouldn't work at all.

Grace and peace to you all,

Tom and Marieke Arthur

The 2003 Mission yearbook for Prayer & Study, page 84