I have been asked to write a tribute to Monica – my Mum – following my Dad's own 'personal letter', sent out to all Prophecy Today subscribers earlier this week. As well as being Monica and Clifford’s eldest daughter, I have had the privilege of working alongside my parents in many aspects of their ministry.

Early Memories

In my early years, Monica dedicated herself to bringing up her children (myself, Alison and Stephen), whilst also teaching, and supporting my Dad in his pastoral ministry in Tottenham.

It was when we moved to East London in the 1970s that Mum really started to develop her own ministry by laying the ground for founding the British Church Growth Association, as well as working with Dad to develop The Newham Community Renewal Programme. During this time Mum was at the forefront of developing new principles of community-led evangelism, and faced many challenges when redeveloping the Harold Road Centre; employing youngsters under one of the Government’s first youth employment schemes.

One of my early memories of Mum’s ministry was helping her produce the first few editions of the Church Growth Digest, a magazine that she founded in 1979. In a time before computers, she would type the articles in columns and then I remember helping her cut and stick them into position so that each page could be printed.

In a time before computers, she would type the articles in columns and then I remember helping her cut and stick them into position so that each page could be printed.

Multiple ministries

Many years later, I worked with my parents to develop Moggerhanger Park; first as a volunteer and then as a manager of the whole estate alongside my husband Simon. During this time, it was a thrill to be able to help implement some of the community-led principles my parents had developed from their work in East London. I learnt a lot from my Mum.

Since the Pandemic, many of you will be aware that I am now chair of C&M Ministries and have enjoyed working alongside my parents, supporting them to catalogue and chronicle their ministry so that their experiences and wisdom can be passed on to future generations. It is a great comfort that much time last year was spent digitalising all past copies of the Church Growth Digest. These are now available on our website.

Also, in November we digitally published Monica’s book, ‘East Enders Restoration, The Harold Road Story’ chronicling her community development work in the 1970s, the work which was to prove foundational to much of my parents’ later ministry (read here).

It is a great comfort that much time last year was spent digitalising all past copies of the Church Growth Digest.

Thanksgiving

Monica was actually working on more material to go on the website when she collapsed and lost consciousness on 23rd December, and we will certainly be ensuring that this material is added to the Ministry pages of the C&M website shortly. There were a number of other books that my parents were working on in the last few months, and these will also all be published in due course.

We will be holding a service of Thanksgiving and Celebration of Monica’s life at 1.30pm on Friday 7th March, at Bunyan Meeting Church in Bedford; it would be lovely to see anyone there who wishes to celebrate my Mum’s life.

Finally, my father, Clifford, and the whole family have been overwhelmed with the prayers, messages and support we have received, and we pass on our grateful thanks.

(Prophecy Today intends to follow this article with tributes from two close work associates of Monica in next week's edition)