Hanover Manse Report 2009-10

August 26 2010

CLICK HERE to view a photo gallery of the renovations.

In the churchyard of Hanover Chapel, Llanover, Wales one finds the graves of the many ministers who have served this small chapel. The record of their faithfulness to the Gospel of Christ is literally etched in stone, as well as in the hearts and lives of the many that came through the doors of the sanctuary.

It has been a privilege over the last eighteen months to witness the continuing work of God's Presence, the Holy Spirit, here in Wales.

The barn and cottage, built around 1640, was enlarged in 1744 to become the Dissenters' Meeting Room.......a place of gathering. The evangelical and reforming zeal of the Non-conformists was opposed by the Established {state-sponsored} Church. The Dissenters, as they were called, were forced to meet clandestinely in such places.

The wall engravings, originally sited in the Meeting Room, testify to the commitment of those who met here. The wall plaques were relocated to the Chapel when it was completed in 1839.

The original Meeting Room and cottage were then converted into the manse. It was here that missionary Robert Jermain Thomas spent his formative years. His father Robert Thomas ministered at Hanover Chapel from 1847 until his death in 1884.

Over the last year, with the dedicated assistance of Huw Price and Mark and Sue Gill, the barn has been converted into a fine dwelling. It bears a new name, "TY FYNNON" in Welsh, translated as "The house of the spring/fountain"

Welsh tenor Huw Priday {www.priday.com} had encouraged us with the words of Isaiah 58 vs.11 He had been praying for our ministry and was given this text.

"The place will be a spring, whose waters fail not"
We also claimed the next verse as a promise. Isaiah 58 vs. 12
"You will become the repairers of the breech and restorer of paths"

Indeed collapsing walls have been rebuilt and paths made straight. Even a pile of mud and stones has, under Stella's watchful eye, become a beautiful garden.......a place of peace.......as our friend Kit Evans called it.
"Ty Fynnon" is our temporary home as we proceed to restore the 400 year old manse. The process is likely to take a year or more. Architect-daughter Rhiannon is overseeing the plans and we look forward to incorporating her creative ideas.

Despite the construction chaos we have welcomed hundreds of Korean visitors who visit the Chapel & manse each year. A number have stayed in the old cottage, despite its relative dereliction. They have considered it a privilege to stay in the ‘Thomas house'. Laughter, prayer and worship are the gifts they bring.

We have also held two successful ‘Hanover Gatherings' to which we invite local churches, neighbors and family to meet our Korean visitors. Their passion for Christ is contagious and has extended into the local town of Abergavenny, where they presented the Gospel message in mime and song. Passersby applauded their performance. Several stopped to talk and encourage and may have themselves been challenged.

A poignant reminder of the privilege we have been given at Hanover Manse came as a surprise one morning last fall. Our close friends Q day Lee and Huw Priday were visiting. Q Day, whose prayers are very passionate, was praying for Stella's ministry in Wales.

As Q Day prayed, Stephen who was sitting quietly at the kitchen table was suddenly overwhelmed by God's Presence and began to sob.

The Holy Spirit revealed how we were witnessing, there and then, the fruit born of Robert Jermain Thomas' mission and martyrdom in Korea.

Robert and Mary Thomas, the missionary's parents, sat in the very same kitchen where we now sat. In their lifetime they had never known of the ‘fruit' born of their son's witness. They had received very little information about his death and had been injured by the criticism levied at Robert by fellow missioner Jonathan Lees and others. Even the London Missionary Society had distanced themselves from his work in China and Korea.

The Thomases had lost not only a dutiful son but also a beautiful daughter-in-law Caroline, who was pregnant with their first grandchild.

They knew nothing of the fruit that was birthed by their sacrifice.......their contribution to the advancement of the Gospel in Korea; the Great Pyongyang Revival of 1907; the Thomas Memorial association; The Thomas Church and

Mission Boat.......and of the tens of thousands who have been influenced by their passion for their Lord. Today, 150 years after their deaths, lives are still impacted by their witness.

Q Day Lee, as he prayed, embodied the same passion and love that Robert and Caroline had shared.

Tears of gratitude flowed! The ‘halls of Heaven' must have echoed with our praise from that Welsh kitchen table!

We have welcomed many old and new friends to Hanover.

The daughter of Rev. Oh Mun-Hwan ....{ her father had in the early 1900's assisted missionary Samuel Austin Moffett in writing the history of the Thomas mission}.....visited the church in February 2010. Rev. Grace Oh has provided us with the original tracts concerning Robert's life and death which her father had produced.

Professors Elijah Kim and David Ryoo, whom we knew from the USA and Korea, have visited along with many others including Bonnie and Caleb Loring, the Walters family, hundreds of Koreans and our own children and grandchildren.

Film crews, including the BBC, KTV and the Welsh Channel S4C, have arrived to record the history of the Chapel and the Thomas story.

The goal of Emmaus Road Ministries is to use the barn and cottage to be a place of welcome. A ‘spring' from where a fresh realization of ‘God's Presence and faithfulness through time' is to flow.

"Ty Fynnon" is to accommodate visiting speakers/teachers as they come to ‘shepherd the shepherds' and encourage the leaders of the Church.

We have been offered the use of Llanover Retreat Center, which was formerly the Presbyterian Church, built and endowed by Lady Llanover in the early 19 century.

We trust that the Retreat Center and Hanover Chapel will be jointly used as places of restoration, renewal, revival and worship.

Since or return to Wales we have been well supported and loved by the congregation of Hanover Chapel. Proudly we came into membership on Pentecost Sunday, 2010.

We are looking forward to seeing what the Holy Spirit will accomplish at Llanover over the next years. We need your prayerful support.

Yours in His Gospel,
Steve & Stella Price
Emmaus Road Ministries.

CLICK HERE to view a photo gallery of the renovations.