On Sunday 21st June 2015 it pleased the Lord to gather to himself our dear sister and co-worker, Monica Cook.
I met her first when I was speaking at Birmingham Bible Institute where she was a student. Prior to that she had trained and worked as a Primary School teacher and taught in schools in the UK and Australia. When she left Bible College she undertook some training within Mission for Christ. At that time I had set up and supervised the training. I quickly spotted her giftedness and arranged for her to come onto the staff.
We already had a gifted children's evangelist in Alfred Lavender so initially Monica's work was focused on setting up clubs to follow up missions we had conducted. These rapidly grew. Later she took on more responsibility for the children's part in the short term missions around the UK.
In 1988 when I left Mission for Christ she was among others who quickly followed. She shared my vision for encouraging and enabling churches to develop and sustain appropriate missional activity - in her case among children and their families. This led to setting up what was known as Rural Sunrise. When the branding was changed to Rural Mission Solutions, Monica continued to operate under our charity title of Sunrise Ministries. One particular aspect in which she was a pioneer was in developing ministry and mission with and by children, and not just "to" children. This proved vital in growing young disciples of Jesus.
In the forty years that we have worked together we occasionally hit difficult times but our friendship never failed and she has been a faithful friend and colleague. It had been my joy to introduce her to Christian work in Obambo, Kenya. She took this community on her heart and worked tirelessly to raise funds to put children through education and much more. While I shall miss her, and many more around the world who met her will miss her very much, none will miss her more than her "family" in Obambo.
As the apostle Paul faced the end of his ministry and life he wrote to Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, .."
Details of funeral and thanksgiving services will be posted on the website.
Barry Osborne
I met her first when I was speaking at Birmingham Bible Institute where she was a student. Prior to that she had trained and worked as a Primary School teacher and taught in schools in the UK and Australia. When she left Bible College she undertook some training within Mission for Christ. At that time I had set up and supervised the training. I quickly spotted her giftedness and arranged for her to come onto the staff.
We already had a gifted children's evangelist in Alfred Lavender so initially Monica's work was focused on setting up clubs to follow up missions we had conducted. These rapidly grew. Later she took on more responsibility for the children's part in the short term missions around the UK.
In 1988 when I left Mission for Christ she was among others who quickly followed. She shared my vision for encouraging and enabling churches to develop and sustain appropriate missional activity - in her case among children and their families. This led to setting up what was known as Rural Sunrise. When the branding was changed to Rural Mission Solutions, Monica continued to operate under our charity title of Sunrise Ministries. One particular aspect in which she was a pioneer was in developing ministry and mission with and by children, and not just "to" children. This proved vital in growing young disciples of Jesus.
In the forty years that we have worked together we occasionally hit difficult times but our friendship never failed and she has been a faithful friend and colleague. It had been my joy to introduce her to Christian work in Obambo, Kenya. She took this community on her heart and worked tirelessly to raise funds to put children through education and much more. While I shall miss her, and many more around the world who met her will miss her very much, none will miss her more than her "family" in Obambo.
As the apostle Paul faced the end of his ministry and life he wrote to Timothy, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will award to me on that day, .."
Details of funeral and thanksgiving services will be posted on the website.
Barry Osborne
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