- published: 16 Jul 2014
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The Church in Wales (Welsh: Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.
As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.
In contrast to the Church of England, the Church in Wales is no longer an established church. Disestablishment was effected in 1920, under the Welsh Church Act 1914.
As a member of the Anglican Communion it recognizes the primacy of the Archbishop of Canterbury who does not, however, have any formal authority in the Church in Wales (except for residual roles—in ecclesiastical court to try the archbishop, as metropolitan, in a handful of border parishes remaining in the Church of England and thus exempt from disestablishment, and the appointment of notaries). It has proved possible for a cleric of the Church in Wales to come to occupy the See of Canterbury, and the current archbishop, the Most Reverend Rowan Williams, is Welsh and originally held posts in the Church in Wales.
Wales i/ˈweɪlz/ (Welsh: Cymru;Welsh pronunciation: [ˈkəm.rɨ] ( listen)) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain,bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km2 (8,023 sq mi). Wales has over 1,200 km (750 mi) of coastline, including its offshore islands; the largest, Anglesey (Ynys Môn), is also the largest island in the Irish Sea. Wales is largely mountainous, with its highest peaks in the north and central areas, especially in Snowdonia (Eryri), which contains Snowdon (Yr Wyddfa), its highest summit.
During the Iron Age and early medieval period, Wales was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. A distinct Welsh national identity emerged in the centuries after the Roman withdrawal from Britain in the 5th century, and Wales is regarded as one of the modern Celtic nations today. Gruffydd ap Llywelyn was recognised as King of Wales in 1057. Llywelyn ap Gruffydd's death in 1282 marked the completion of Edward I of England's conquest of Wales. The castles and town walls erected to ensure its permanence are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Owain Glyndŵr briefly restored independence to what was to become modern Wales, in the early 15th century. Wales was subsequently annexed by England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535–1542 since when, excluding those matters now devolved to Wales, English law has been the legal system of Wales and England. Distinctive Welsh politics developed in the 19th century. Welsh Liberalism, exemplified in the early 20th century by Lloyd George, was displaced by the growth of socialism and the Labour Party. Welsh national feeling grew over the century; Plaid Cymru was formed in 1925 and The Welsh Language Society in 1962. The National Assembly for Wales, created in 1999 following a referendum, holds responsibility for a range of devolved policy matters.
The local churches (one-city, one-church) (Chinese: 地方教會) is a Christian group based on the teachings of Watchman Nee and Witness Lee and associated with the Living Stream Ministry publishing house. The term "Lord's Recovery" is also used by them about themselves because of their belief that truths, experiences and crucial elements from the Bible were lost in time and recovered from the Reformation onwards, and that today only they currently are what the Lord is recovering. One of the defining features of the local churches is their interpretation of the Bible refers only to churches as being defined by their locality and that the Christians in a city or locality are members of the church in the locality in which they reside. Many of the churches refer to themselves as "The church in (city name)", e.g. "The church in New York City" and "The church in Anaheim" even though according to this interpretation all Christians in a locality constitute the church in that locality.
The group began in China some time after Watchman Nee (倪柝聲) became a Christian in 1920. Between 1920 and 1952 Watchman Nee established local churches throughout mainland China. Watchman Nee was imprisoned by the People's Republic of China in 1952. It is asserted by the Living Stream Ministry that before his imprisonment, Watchman Nee asked Witness Lee to go to Taiwan in 1948 in the event that the Communists took over so that their work would not be lost inside China. In 1962 Witness Lee moved to California. Local churches are now spread throughout the world: in the United States, the far East, Europe, Russia, South America, Africa and the Middle East.The Shouters are an offshoot.[citation needed]