Gwenda Richards was brought up in Caernarfon, where she is now
minister of
Eglwys Seilo. On leaving the local Grammar School, she
complete a BEd degree at Bangor University before being appointed to
a teaching post in her old primary school.
In 1984 she was ordained an elder in her childhood chapel, Capel
Engedi. But although she enjoyed teaching, it slowly became
clear that other paths were opening before her. She felt the
doors opening, and God calling her to the ministry.
She left her teaching post and started a BD course at the
Theological College at Aberystwyth. There, she met Elwyn and
they were married in 1987. After leaving Aberystwyth, she
accepted a call to a pastorate of three churches in the Porthmadog
area. She spent 14 years there. In 2001 she was called
back home, to be minister of Capel Seil. "It is an honour to
minister to my own people," she says. She is now also minister
of a small church in Waunfawr.
Among the aims of
Revd Richards for her time as Moderator is to strengthen the sense
of belonging to one Connexion.