OUR ADVISORY PANEL
Reverend Ifan Rhisiart Roberts
A retired minister who served in four Presbyterian Church of Wales’ pastorates in various parts of Wales. He also served as General Secretary of the Presbyterian Church of Wales for seven years. He is currently Chair of the CYNNAL Advisory Panel.
Rheinallt Armon Thomas, JP, BA, M.Ed
Born in Dyffryn Ceiriog, Primary Education in Aberfan and Secondary in Denbigh. Graduated at Bangor University and starting a teaching career in Bolton. Returned to Bangor to lecture at Y Coleg Normal and then in 1979 was appointed as the first Director of the Welsh National Centre for Religious Education at Bangor University until retirement in 2000. Married to Rowenna since 1963 with two children Elfyn and Nia and seven grandchildren. Has been active in community and church activities all his life - an elder since 1966 and served widely within the Presbyterian Church of Wales and is a past President of the Free Church Council of Wales. Has been active with the Welsh Sunday School Council since 1970 and the Religious Education Movement of Wales over the same period together with SACRES locally and nationally. He has served as a Community Councilor for 40 years, a Justice of the Peace for 25 years and was the founder of the local Urdd Branch and Diner’s Club. He was honored with the White robe by the Gorsedd of Wales; an Honorary Gee Medal and "Lifetime Contribution" Trophy from the Wales Association of Publishers.
Reverend Canon Mark Owen SCP
Before ordination worked as a RMN and CPN. I had a keen interest in care of the elderly and dementia although had worked across the fields. I trained for ministry in the Church in Wales at St Michael's College Cardiff and was ordained Deacon and Priest by Bishop Dominic Walker Bishop of Monmouth at Newport Cathedral. I served my curacy in Tredegar. I became incumbent of Rhymney and then moved to be Rector of Mynyddislwyn Rectorial Benefice before becoming Ministry Area Leader of Upper Islwyn and then Ministry Area Leader of Islwyn Ministry Area. I was also Area Dean of Bedwellty, Area Dean of Pontypool and Area dean of the Gwent Valleys. I am currently also Canon of Newport Cathedral. I have served on the standing Committee DBF and clergy appointments panel for the Diocese and for many years also an elected member of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales. I have also been the South Wales rep for the RSCM. I serve on the Diocesan Deliverance Ministry Team.
Sharon Jenkins
Sharon is currently training for the Priesthood at St Padarn’s Institute. She previously worked alongside Wynford Ellis Owen at Stafell Fyw Caerdydd / Living Room Cardiff as the Centre Administrator. She later took on the role of Office Administrator at East Cardiff Ministry Area, a group of Anglican churches in East Cardiff, before beginning her studies and formation training for ordination into the Church in Wales in 2024. Sharon has a heart for those on the margins and, over the years, has worked and volunteered with different charities supporting the vulnerable in society. She currently lives in Cardiff and attends her local Jazz club regularly (though not as often as she would like!)
Reverend Guto Llywelyn
I grew up in Felinfach, Ceredigion. After 25 years as a librarian, I became a minister of religion with the Welsh Union of Independents starting as a minister in the Whitland area in 2013. After twelve happy years in the Tâf Valley I have just received a calling to be a minister in the Gwendraeth Valley. Back in 2018 I had a period of anxiety and stress and received support from Wynford Ellis Owen and Cynnal. Since then I have been attending weekly Cynnal meetings in Carmarthen. I am married to Catrin and we live in Caerbryn near Ammanford. We have two children in their twenties, Mari and Dafydd. In my spare time I like to play chess and watch cricket and football.
Reverend Christopher Prew
I'm originally from Denbigh. Following a degree in Theology at the Theological College in Aberystwyth I was ordained a Minister with the Presbyterian Church of Wales in the year 2000. I was Minister in Llangefni and the district for a decade and then moved to the pastorate of Porthmadog and the district in 2010. I am married to Rhian and we have three children. I was a member of the Cais management board and for a few years now a member of the Cynnal Advisory Panel and proud to be involved in this work.
Reverend Canon Dr Trystan Owain Hughes
Trystan Owain Hughes is the Director of Ministry Development in the Church in Wales, advising the bench of Welsh bishops on matters concerning faith and ministry. Trystan has attained an MTh from Oxford University and a PhD from the University of Wales, Bangor. He had been vicar of a large church in Cardiff, a university chaplain, a senior lecturer at various universities, and a director of an MA (Theology) course at a theological college. He is also widely published in church history (Winds of Change (UWP 1999) and in theology and spirituality (Finding Hope and Meaning in Suffering (SPCK, 2010), The Compassion Quest (SPCK, 2013), Real God in the Real World (BRF, 2013) Living the Prayer (BRF, 2017), Opening our Lives (BRF, 2021), To Hell’s Mouth and Back: Pilgrimage, Suffering, and Hope (BRF, 2025)). He has given papers at Universities across the world, including in Sydney, Chicago, Philadelphia, Edinburgh, and Dublin. He is canon emeritus of Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff and has been a regular contributor to BBC Radio 2 and BBC Radio 4. Trystan is married to Sandra, a German choreographer, and they have three children, Lukas, Lena, and Macsen, who are all trilingual.
Wynford Ellis Owen
After a 40-year career in theatre and television as an actor, screenwriter and director – he was responsible for creating the iconic characters, Sir Wynff and Plwmsan and the comedy series that introduced us to the eccentric characters of Llanllewyn in, Porc Peis Bach to S4C – Wynford returned to college to qualify as a therapist in 2006. Shortly afterwards he was appointed chief executive of the Welsh Council on Alcohol and other Drugs. That led, in 2011, to the establishment of Living Room Cardiff, the renowned community centre that offers treatment, support and aftercare to people suffering from all sorts of addictions and other harmful behaviours, and their families. He retired from that post in 2017, and immediately became employed as a Specialist Counselling Consultant to CAIS, the parent company of the Living Room, in order to extend the service to other parts of Wales and look after certain initiatives such as Cynnal, the counselling service for clergy, ministers of religion, Christian workers, and their families; Beating the Odds, the service for excessive gamblers; and Enfys, the service for Doctors and other medical workers. He also leads all the Living Room retreats. When CAIS and two other charities merged to form Adferiad Recovery in 2021, he continued to look after Cynnal, Enfys – and, later, the Living Room, which had by then moved to another part of Cardiff. He believes that addiction is a spiritual illness that demands a spiritual solution. Looking forward to celebrating 33 years of sobriety this summer, he said, "In order to change the nature of things, I had to change not the events, but those thoughts that created the events in the first place." He is the author of three books to date, and numerous stage and radio plays, and a Churchill Trust Fellow. He also won the IWA and Western Mail Inspire Wales Award in 2014, and is a regular columnist for GOLWG, the weekly magazine. He is married to Meira, the heroine of his autobiography, Raslas bach a mawr! (Gomer, 2004); father of Bethan and Rwth; and a very proud grandfather to Begw, Efa, Bobi, Jac and Jesi Iris. He now returns to the Council on Alcohol and Other Drugs, where he began his counselling career, to lead the Living Room, Cynnal, and the revolutionary, new Online initiative, A Place To Live, to extend these services, not just to the whole of Wales, but the world and in every language.