REV CARMEL JONES: The man, his life and his legacy

Keep The Faith editor, Marcia Dixon, pays tribute to Windrush Generation legend, Rev Carmel Jones

One thing I am incredibly proud of during my years working as the gospel columnist at The Voice newspaper is the fact that I interviewed many of the prominent church leaders and Christians from the Windrush Generation. One of those individuals was the late Rev Carmel Jones, founder of the Pentecostal Credit Union (PCU), who died on July 22, 2023.

I first featured him in my column in the 1990s, when the PCU was just over 10 years old. Little did I know that I was talking to a man who, over the years, would be seen as a living legend, and upon his passing, leading evangelical website www.christianitytoday. com described him as the ‘Black Banker for British Pentecostals’.

Wow. I bet Rev Jones never expected to be described as such, but he has been. And it’s true!

It became evident during the nine-night service held at the New Testament Assembly, Tooting, and the homegoing celebration held at Ruach City Church, Brixton, commemorating and celebrating Rev Jones’ life, and how impactful Rev Jones had been.

Leader after leader, person after person, spoke of his drive, passion, faith and desire to be a blessing to his community and an ambassador for his faith.

Rev Jones founded the PCU in 1980, after reading an article about credit unions in the Sun newspaper. His aim was to provide financial services to Britain’s Black community, many of whom had found it difficult to access financial services from established banks and building societies.

Starting an organisation with such big ambitions was not easy. Some felt he shouldn’t do it and that it would fail. Speaking to Keep The Faith in 2018, Rev Jones shared: “A senior prominent minister, on learning about what I was doing, remonstrated with me over the phone for nearly one hour, demanding that I should not pursue calling the organisation the ‘Pentecostal Credit Union’ because “When it fails, as it surely will, it will bring the entire Pentecostal Church organisation into disrepute”, and she was having none of it. My reply was this: “Are you saying that I am going to fail?” “Yes,” she said, “because Black people always fail, especially where money is involved.” I said: “You will be proven wrong.”

And he did prove his critics wrong. The PCU is now the second wealthiest credit union in the country! It provides savings facilities and loans to individuals, business owners and churches. In fact, one of the key things that inspired Rev Jones to set up the PCU was to help provide churches with loans to buy their buildings.

Organisations that have been able to do so with the assistance of a PCU loan include Assemblies Of The First Born Church, AME Zion Church, Ruach City Church, Brixton, New Testament Assembly, New Testament Church Of God, Church Of God Worldwide Mission, Tabernacle Christian Centre, Pentecostal City Mission, Church Of God In Christ, New Life Assembly, Acts Christian Church, Mount Zion Apostolic Church (Nottingham), to name a few. And there are businesses that have been helped by a PCU loan too.

Rev Jones was a community man at heart. Aside from starting the PCU, this ordained COGIC minister founded the New Assembly of

Churches and RESCUE Training organisation that provided vocational and employment training for ex-offenders. He was also one of Britain’s first Black prison chaplains, ministering the Gospel to inmates at several local London prisons and at Heathrow Airport.

Rev Jones, born in 1937 in Black River, St Elizabeth, Jamaica, is one of six siblings. His mother was a homemaker, his father a farmer of a small holding, and faith played a very important role in his childhood.

He arrived in the UK at the age of 17, determined to make his parents proud by making a success of his new life. Like many, he experienced many challenges, including racism. An altar boy in the Anglican church in Jamaica, Rev Jones aimed to maintain his connection to the church and attended a service at St Paul’s, the local Anglican church in Clapham. At the end of the service the vicar thanked him for coming but asked him not to return.

Having been rejected by the local Anglican church, Rev Jones later joined a Pentecostal church, the Church of God in Christ UK – after being invited by a friend – where he was eventually ordained and was a lifelong member.

In 2020, the Anglican church that rejected Rev Jones when he first arrived in the UK in 1955 held a service and publicly apologised to him for the racist treatment he received. Rev Jones graciously accepted the apology stating: “I was a boy of 17, when I encountered here one of the first of many acts of racial prejudice that subsequently occurred in my life.

“It provided the inspiration that led me to founding the Pentecostal Credit Union 25 years later. It led me to the Pentecostal Church, where I still am today and, lastly but certainly not least, it led me to meeting the woman who has been by my side for the last 63 years.”

Rev Jones was married to Iveline for 65 years and says it was “love at first sight”. They had three children together.

He is survived by his wife, two daughters, grandchildren and his extended family.

Rev Jones was a great man of God, and throughout his life led a legacy that many can and will benefit from. God rest his soul.