Roots

In April 2005 Dai Hankey was sat on his sofa in his home in St.Mellons in Cardiff when he felt compelled by God to drive up to the Trevethin estate in his home-town of Pontypool. Dai responded, drove up and walked round the estate (for the first time) with his dog. There was clearly great need for the Gospel up there, and Dai returned home with a strong burden to pray for Trevethin. Two days later at a Cardiff Church Leaders Meeting, an American Pastor was speaking from Romans 15, and as Dai turned to the passage in his pocket Bible, he saw on the opposite page (highlighted in blue) these verses:

It has always been my ambition to preach the Gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation. Rather, as it is written: "Those who were not told about Him will see, and those who have not heard will understand."
Romans 15 v20-21

These were the verses that God had first given Dai when He called him to commit the rest of his life to preaching the Gospel. There and then God confirmed to Dai that He was sending him to Trevethin to preach the Gospel 'where Christ was not known'. Dai went and told his wife, Michelle. They prayed together and told God that they'd go if that's what He wanted.

Dai and Michelle were so involved in ministry in St.Mellons that an immediate departure was impossible, so they continued praying and trusting God's perfect timetable. During the next 12 months they started regularly going up to Trevethin to pray, and the picture of Trevethin as a 'city on a hill' became a permanent theme in Dai's mind (because no matter where you drove in the valley - there it was on top of the hill!) There were so many scriptures, words, 'coincidences' and even dreams that further confirmed the calling to go. So Dai went and shared the burden with the Highfields Church eldership.

The elders were keen to explore the vision of planting a church on Trevethin and following a visit to the estate, they formally agreed to send Dai and Michelle up there to do just that. At about this time a Highfields missionary couple called Roger and Diana Pomeroy returned from Pakistan after 35 years on the mission-field with a burden for the valleys. Roger soon caught the vision for Trevethin and offered to lend his support and help out in any way he could!

Thus Hill City Church was born. We're currently meeting in Pastor Dai's home each week, with a view to launching a weekly public worship service in September. In the meantime, however, as we walk the streets and rub shoulders with the locals, it's our prayer that as we let our light shine in Trevethin, people will genuinely meet Jesus, the church will grow, the community will change and God's name will be honoured.