The Church in Wales

The Church in Wales Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru
Modern logo of the Church in Wales
Independence	1920 (Disestablishment)
Primate	Archbishop of Wales (Position currently vacant)
Headquarters	Cardiff
Territory	Wales with 1,500 congregations
Language	Welsh and English
Members	84,000 members, 29,019 Sunday Average Attendance
Website	churchinwales.org

The Church in Wales (Welsh: Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses. It defines itself as "the ancient Church of this land, catholic and reformed. It proclaims and holds fast the doctrine and ministry of the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church".

As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The most recent archbishop, Barry Morgan, retired in January 2017 and has not yet been replaced.

Unlike the Church of England, the Church in Wales is not an established church. Disestablishment was effected in 1920 under the Welsh Church Act 1914.

As a province of the Anglican Communion, the Church in Wales recognises the Archbishop of Canterbury as a focus of unity but without any formal authority in the Church in Wales (except for residual roles — in ecclesiastical court to try the archbishop, as metropolitan; and the appointment of notaries, and the granting of Special Marriage Licences). Eighteen cross-border parishes remained in the Church of England and were exempt from disestablishment. A cleric of the Church in Wales can be appointed to posts in the Church of England, including the See of Canterbury; the former archbishop Rowan Williams was from Wales and served as Archbishop of Wales before his appointment to Canterbury.

The Church in Wales (Welsh: Yr Eglwys yng Nghymru) adopted its name by accident. The Welsh Church Act 1914 referred throughout to "the Church in Wales", the phrase being used to indicate the part of the Church of England within Wales. In 1920, a convention of the Welsh church considered what name to select and tended to favour "the Church of Wales". However, there were concerns that adopting a name different from that mentioned in the act might cause legal problems. Given the situation, it seemed sensible to adopt the title "the Church in Wales".