Our Story

Our story goes back to October 1984, when a small group started a youth club in Morfa with a simple goal: to reach young people.

The club was led by Geraint Jones, who had grown up in church as the son of Alwyn Jones, a long-standing deacon at Bethania. As a young adult, at the age of 22, Geraint felt a strong calling to see the local church in Wales rebuilt and restored.

At a time when many chapels were closing or struggling, he believed God was calling people not to give up—but to challenge man-made traditionalism and Nationalism and prioritise above these the propagation of the orthodox gospel and to rebuild and restore the local Church in a modern, contemporary and attractive manner in order to reconnect in particular with the younger generation.

It quickly became clear that many of the teenagers coming along were English-speaking and didn’t feel able to connect with Welsh-speaking services. They tried to bring about change where they had been for about 5 years, but realised that God was doing something new. The group discovered the benefits of meeting in homes midweek and began meeting in Barnabas Community Hall under the name Llanelli Christian Fellowship. 

In the early 1990s, the search began for a building of their own. They wanted to avoid traditional chapels, as they were already pushing against traditional perceptions of church while holding firmly to the true, authentic and unchanged gospel message. When Saron Chapel in Furnace came up for sale, they went to take a look.

Unexpectedly, they felt an incredibly strong sense of God’s presence in the building, and so this group of around 13 members, with their children and some attendees, stepped out in faith to make an offer. They made this chapel home, and learnt what it was to be a church, to worship, to know and live the Word, and to be salt and light in the community. 

Years later, after a full renovation, Saron reopened in 2007. They changed their name to 21st Century Church, with a passion to be a church relevant to this century. Since then, it has been busy, active, and open.

What began as a small group trying to connect with a new generation has become a legacy of decades spent worshipping Jesus, telling others about Him, and loving the community. Geraint Jones and Gerwyn Thomas (a founding member and long-standing Deacon) today continue to serve in leadership as elders, offering wisdom, experience, accountability and guidance to the Senior Pastor and ministry team leaders.