Dear Praying Friends of C and M Heritage
Welcome to the first heritage mailing with an update on what is happening on the heritage front of C and M Ministries from the start of 2022. We are so grateful to you for your interest in all the changes that are taking place, and we expect this to be the first of regular bimonthly email communications, alternating with bimonthly live Zooms when we will be happy to meet informally with you online and give you information and build up relationships.
Our suggested times for two December 2021 Zooms will be
7.30 pm Monday, 13 December and 2 pm Tuesday, 14 December
We do hope that you are able to join us on one or both of these occasions; we will send a link and reminder early that week unless you let us know otherwise. We appreciate your involvement to make this dimension as interactive as possible.
The Current Situation
We are already developing a number of new roles and we now have two joint coordinators in Angela Isbister and Roy Smith - each with different responsibilities, plus a ‘willing-to-be active’ team of volunteers already working together and six new trustees taking over charitable responsibility for C and M ministries with Roy becoming its new chairman from the New Year. We are currently sorting out the finances and ensuring that both PT and the ongoing work of Issachar Ministries have sufficient support - any help you can give on this and in the new plans for heritage work will be much appreciated.
On the practical, more visible, side our website page will be expanding and three new introductory pages will be available shortly, Angela has been collecting memories, and Roy is ensuring that a vast amount of all the varied ministries and teaching that we have been involved with in the past, is been digitalised and made available in stages.
We already have access to a video link by David Young which is not yet in its final stage so it is for your eyes only on ‘The Reshaping of Britain’ which if you have read the book you might appreciate, and a team are progressing bite-sized clips for promotion on other areas of the new website.
Cliff has been recording ‘State of the Nation’ update messages bimonthly for over 20 years - from August they have taken on a greater heritage perspective. They will continue to be offered on subscription through Issachar Ministries. This is a link to the August recording and if you would like to receive these bimonthly do be in touch directly with info@issacharministries.co.uk.
Relevant Anniversaries
Last month Cliff and Monica were involved in celebrating two anniversaries of previous ministries where we were pioneering new projects and outreaches in mission.
Race Relations Years 1950s and 1960s
October is now being celebrated as Black History month in the UK each year and we shared a little of our involvement in the Windrush generation of immigrants from the West Indies in an article in Prophecy Today. We are also co-operating with MJR, (the Movement for Justice and Reconciliation) one of the more recent charitable groups we have been involved in forming as they are commissioning a film ‘Christian Reconciliation’ which will be launched nationally next spring: and Cliff with two trustees of MJR will at the same time be publishing ‘Shades of Black’. ‘Free at Last?’ on the Legacy of Slavery, is available on the shared resource page with IM and other literature which was written in that era of race relations, many of which are now standard textbooks. ‘Shades of Black’ will be printed in the New Year.
Inner City Years 1970s
The Newham Community Renewal Programme, has just celebrated its 50th anniversary of inner-city work and is now one of the largest urban mission programmes in the country, stimulated by a Christian presence working on community-based evangelism in 1971 - these early memories were shown at their gathering on 22nd of October and will eventually appear on theircurrent website. Although no longer overtly Christian in what is now a much more multicultural area, Christians are still at the forefront of meeting needs. This is a link to a significant report from 1972 and we will be adding other resources from that era. Next year Trinity Community Centre in East Ham, the first redundant church building that Monica restored using community-based evangelism principles, will be producing a film which we will be involved in to celebrate its 50th anniversary next year. We give a link to an early paperjust six months into the project which opened doors for her to advise on several similar projects throughout the nation.
National Ministry
Cliff spoke on 17 November to the ‘Together For The Nation’ prayer ministry with leaders, which we also had a vision for in 2008. Listen to it here.
In the 1980s we were drawn into national ministry in a remarkable way - and have been invited to the Evangelists Conference in January for which we would value your prayers.
We will give you more links to the more national part of our past ministry in our next MailChimp and hope to build up a series of relevant mailings every two months.
More Current News
For the last 10 years C and M Ministries has also been known as Issachar Ministries, but from 1 January 2022 Issachar Ministries UK will be covering the ongoing ministry work. The book 'Becoming an Issachar People’ is being offered in the IM winter mailing which if you have not yet received, we can send by email and contains more history of the development of this aspect of our ministry over the years.
We, personally and C and M Ministries, are now concentrating on Heritage and it will be raising its own support for its books and materials but will continue to sell all books through Issachar Ministries while also continuing those links with both Prophecy Today and Issachar Ministries UK in the future days for as long as we are able. We rejoice in this opportunity to reminisce and help the current and future generations benefit from all the experiences we went through in our journey together. So many of the areas of ministry to which we were called in ‘responding to the topical relevant needs of the day’ have underlying principles which can benefit our understanding of mission in the future.
Please come alongside us and help in a variety of ways.
A Request for Memories and Testimonies from Angela
We are asking for testimonies of how Cliff or Monica’s ministries have contributed to people’s Christian growth. We are all shaped by one another, as well as by the Holy Spirit and Scripture and it is helpful to share and record that process. Cliff and Monica want the Heritage Ministry to be a record of what God has achieved.
In the coming days, it may be necessary for us to recall the spiritual journeys we have made and pass those memories on to our children and grandchildren. Our personal journey of faith, with all its ups and downs, doubts and disappointments might speak directly into the life of someone searching for meaning and truth.
With this in mind, those who have been following Cliff and Monica’s ministries over the past 7 decades are being encouraged to send in their testimonies, to encourage others. When we live through turbulent times it is important to remember what God has said and done in the past to help us understand the present and prepare for the future.
If you have some memories to share, which we can put up on the new website, please do write them down and send them either by email to: heritage@candmministries.org.uk or by post to: Angela Isbister, Heritage Memories, Bedford Heights, Brickhill Drive, Bedford MK41 7PH
Can you become involved with us in other ways in preparing the vast heritage of material and teaching that is of value so that others can benefit in future days?
Roy Requests Practical Help
I am working on the exciting task of preparing historical printed, audio and video material for inclusion on the Heritage Project website and need a diverse range of knowledge and skills in order to accomplish this. If you have time available to help with the project, please contact me at roy@candmministries.org.uk and I can explore with you what you are able to do.
There are some specific activities that we can immediately identify as being required:
Although the above are recognised specific tasks there is going to be a need for other IT, administrative, clerical and website skills in due course as change becomes effective. We are also going to need people to listen to audio recordings, watch video recordings and read printed material to review them according to specific guidelines. Although, we already have a small team to proof-read new books and papers to prepare for printing, guidelines are already available and opportunities are growing.
Lastly, but very importantly we would ask for prayer for the Heritage Project: that it will bring glory to our Heavenly Father to whom we all owe so much. If we can draw on you occasionally for specific issues and you are able to respond with prayerful advice, please let me know.
Throughout we will provide support, training and fellowship with regular Zoom meetings and you will be blessed by the material with which you are dealing.
If you would simply like to discuss any opportunities or have skills not mentioned, please drop me an email and I’ll send you a Zoom link or phone you if you leave a number.
We apologise for this long first email, but we intend to set up a private area for supporters of the ministry, while we are working on developing a website which will more clearly make available all that we think is necessary. The format may change in January - but we appreciate and value your commitment to this ministry.
Cliff and Monica, Roy and Angela plus all those sharing to create this changing face of C and M Ministries.