Gweini

What is Gweini?

Gweini is the Welsh for to serve and has grew out of a seed that was planted in the heart of Dan Boucher, Jim Stewart's predecessor,  a few years ago. It is the Council of the Christian Voluntary Sector in Wales, seeking to represent, inform and network:

• We represent through our relationships with Assembly Members, civil servants and other strategic people involved in Welsh political life.
• We inform through our regular Gweini Post e-mail service, our six-monthly Gweini News & via resources such as the Taking Our place and The Naked Church books.
• We network through the setting up of local branches of Gweini throughout Wales and the National Gweini

What is the Voluntary Sector?

The voluntary sector is broadly used to define organisations that are neither in the public sector (providing government services) nor the private sector (the part of the economy not controlled by the government). Voluntary sector organisations are often:

• Independent - from the government and private sectors. They are self-governing and are able to make their own decisions. 
• Non-profit making - they reinvest proceeds from their activities into achieving the aims of the organisation and into helping the public
• Reliant on volunteers - although staff will often be paid, they will rely heavily on volunteers, without which the organisation/charity would not be as effective.

What are some examples of churches working in the voluntary sector?

All of the following are example of the church working in the voluntary sector:

• older people - coffee mornings etc
• the homeless - e.g. soup runs
• ex-prisoners - teaching life skills
• drug and alcohol rehabilitation
• debt relief
• children's work
• detached youth work, youth clubs
• overseas aid
• refugees and asylum seekers - support in filling out forms, teaching English etc

This is by no means an extensive list but will give an idea of the type of Christian-led work that we want to serve.

See the Gweini website for more information. Click here