History and the Local Church
Written by Derek Rees
This article is from Issue 3 of the Reformation Fellowship Magazine. Read now.
John Pugh, Siloam (1796-1864): A giant of a man, a giant of the faith
If you ever receive the privilege of preaching at Carmel, Pontlliw, a Baptist church just outside the city of Swansea in Wales, United Kingdom, you will first walk through the warm and welcoming congregation before passing an individual who looks much, much sterner. This man is the Reverend John Pugh, not the present pastor but rather the first, whose picture is on the wall. Every time I walk past this photograph I think, “This is a man you would not want to mess with.” He’s a big man in dark, Victorian clothing, with a huge forehead and a considerable frown, and he’s looking straight down the lens at you as if to ask whether you really should go into that pulpit or not.
Our weekly Welsh Baptist newspaper, Seren Cymru (Wales’ Star), confirms that he was a strong[1] giant of man as well as being a giant of the faith.[2]
However, Pugh is not considered one of our great Welsh heroes. He is no Daniel Rowland or Christmas Evans. He did not lead a major Welsh revival or reach celebrity status. Rather, he was an ordinary pastor. No figurines or copies of his sermons were sold around Wales. He is not even well remembered within Swansea’s Baptist circles. We learn a lot from our great heroes of the faith, but could we learn more from the ordinary local church pastors sharing the good news of Jesus on their patch?
Pugh was born in Llanedi on the smallholding[3] of Clawdd Ddu in 1796. As a young man he went to work as a farm hand at Crwys (Three Crosses) and was a part of Hermon Baptist Church, Penclawdd. Joseph Harris (“Gomer”) was Hermon’s minister, and he baptised Pugh in 1819 at the age of twenty-three. Gomer invested in Pugh, and he was encouraged to preach and felt a call to the ministry. He was ordained minister at Dinas Noddfa, Glandwr (Landore), in 1830, and Daniel Davies, “the Blind Preacher,” was responsible for the laying on of hands and the sermon.[4]
Pugh pastored Siloam, Cila (Killay), faithfully from 1833 onwards and at the same time planted seven other churches whilst running the family’s sawyer business “on the side.”[5] This sounds remarkable, and to us, of course, it is. But we must remember that many local churches across Wales were planting nonstop in the nineteenth century, and their leaders were doing so bi-vocationally. “Church plant” had not been invented as a phrase, but here were local churches planting again and again. One new chapel building was being built every eight days across Wales in the first half of the nineteenth century.[6]
Pugh’s first plant was at Carmel, mentioned above; another is Penuel, Casllwchwr (Loughour); and another of the seven is a church that has become very dear to me over the past twelve years: Seion, Waunarlwydd. He planted Seion in 1859, towards the end of his life, showing that planting was a lifelong work for Pugh. He placed John Edwards, “the Sawyer,” as the church’s first deacon, showing his sawyer’s yard was supporting the church plants throughout.[7]
Before we look at Pugh’s planting, let us comment briefly on what it was not. It was not what we see in our textbooks time and time again—that is, one man moving fifty or so members from one place to another. Rather, what we have here is a pastor with a missionary mindset relying on finding people of peace and collaborating with others in discerning the will of God for a specific location. Pugh did not have one church planting formula that he applied in every location, but rather each church was planted in response to what God was doing in that place. What was fixed was his ecclesiology. These were Welsh Baptist churches with all of the common distinctives.
John Pugh was a pastor and church planter. He was described as “instrumental in expanding the boundaries of religion in the surrounding areas”[8] and “a first-class home missionary.”[9] Through God’s help, he grew the Baptist cause in the area and brought his own people to Jesus. He came from a smallholding and saw several smallholders turn to Christ.[10]
Though Pugh was in many ways an ordinary pastor, his life can still prompt our reflection and learning. The following three examples from John Pugh’s ministry speak into our situation here in Wales and further afield.
People of Peace—Pontlliw
In 1834, one Baptist lived in the village of Pontlliw, a man named John Morris. He contacted Pugh and asked him to come and set up a Baptist cause in the area. So, Pugh started regular meetings at Morris’ small home, and the church grew slowly, one or two at a time. Amongst others, the owner of Forge Lliw came to believe, and so the cause moved to the Forge before they went on to build their own chapel building.[11]
It did not take a huge moving of existing members to plant in Pontlliw. One man convinced of believer’s baptism was enough for Pugh to move and start a meeting. That gospel cause still exists today and shines brightly in the village of Pontlliw. As many congregations begin to disappear across Wales, we are reaching a similar point where there might be ones or twos ready to plant something new. We must look for God’s people of peace in our communities once again. Where are the living rooms and rented spaces that will see our new churches planted?
Pastors Collaborating—Pontardawe
John Pugh and the aforementioned Daniel Davies went to the Swansea Valley in 1853 to start a monthly meeting. The idea was to bring some order to the local Baptist cause. At the first meeting held in Bethania, Clydach, on November 8–9, the discussion turned to the need to reopen the closed Baptist church at Pontardawe. Several of the ministers who were present committed to preaching in Pontardwe in order to re-establish the church there. The ministers of Caersalem Newydd, Treboeth, Neath, and Clydach joined Davies and Pugh in the work.[12]
Coming together, these five pastors re-established a church by dedicating themselves to the work. Once the church was strong enough, a member was raised and trained as pastor. Pugh and his friends demonstrated the need to work together, not just to support one another spiritually, but to see churches planted, reopened, and spread across a wide area. This wasn’t a weak, watered-down ecumenism but rather a band of brothers advancing the cause of the gospel. The fact that they had a shared ecclesiology meant that they could work together knowing what was to be planted.
So often our ministers’ meetings focus on the essential work of supporting and encouraging but less upon working together. Our fierce emphasis on being independent can result in us not taking the steps God would have us take to work together to see churches planted.
Population Movement—Waunarlwydd
In the case of Seion, Waunarlwydd, planting meant gathering Baptists who had moved to the area for work. On June 26, 1859, Pugh baptised two and incorporated the new church that included seven others who had moved to the area.[13] Pugh was ministering in the midst of the Industrial Revolution, and Wales’ population was growing and on the move. Waunarlwydd drew people from far afield to its many coal mines, and some of them were Baptists and in need of a church. Pugh could read the times and see the need.
As Wales keeps changing, we must not ignore what is happening around us. We must learn how to read the times and see the real need of our communities. So often our decisions about church are made based on a period which has passed. There are people in communities across Wales who are in need of churches, so shall we give them churches?
Lessons
A big problem we face in Wales is that we have forgotten our history and therefore forgotten much of who we are. Our churches have forgotten that they were once planted and that they have exciting origin stories. Furthermore, many of our churches have forgotten that they once planted many others, that they have been missionary churches—and home missionaries at that. We must rediscover our roots and be enthused once again for the work of planting in the communities around us. This is not the story of an extraordinary one-off, or an extraordinary church. This is the story of an ordinary local church who worked with and supported their pastor in the planting of seven others. It must challenge us who are ordinary pastors and ordinary members, in ordinary churches, to do the same.
Pugh’s ministry was not inward-looking or isolated. He saw where God was at work, rallied his brothers, and read the situation; relying upon the Holy Spirit, they moved.
Pugh died “in the faith” on the twelfth of January 1864 having first contacted Rev. R.A. Jones, Swansea, and Rev. T Jones, Caersalem Newydd, to give them the readings for his funeral sermons. He is buried at Siloam, Killay, the church that supported him in all of his planting endeavours.[14]
[1] J. Davies, Merthyr Tudful, “Jubili Carmel Pontlliw,” Seren Cymru, September 9, 1904.
[2] Dienw, Siloam Killay, “Ger Abertawe,” Seren Cymru, June 15, 1900.
[3] A small farm.
[4] Marmora, “John Pugh Cilay,” Seren Cymru, January 4, 1901.
[5] Dienw, Siloam Killay, “Ger Abertawe,” June 15, 1900; J. Davies, Merthyr Tudful, “Jubili Carmel Pontlliw,” September 9, 1904.
[6] David Ollerton, Mission in a Welsh Context (Ph.D. Thesis, University of Chester, 2015), 64.
[7] W. Davies, “John Edwards y Llifwr,” Seren Cymru, February 15, 1884.
[8] B. Evans Castell Need, Marwolaeth y Parch, John Pugh, Sketty, Seren Cymru, January 22, 1864.
[9] J. Davies, Merthyr Tudful, “Jubili Carmel Pontlliw,” September 9, 1904.
[10] Marmora, “John Pugh Cilay,” January 4, 1901.
[11] Marmora, “Pwyntiau Pontlliw,” Seren Cymru, October 25, 1901.
[12] Marmora, “John Pugh Cilay,” January 4, 1901.
[13] Aelod, “Waenarlwydd,” Seren Cymru, 1859.
[14] Marmora, “John Pugh Cilay,” January 4, 1901.