Interview with the late Rev Dr Joel Edwards CBE, just a few months before his passing.

Joel Edwards CBE (1951 – 30 June 2021) was a Jamaican-born British writer, broadcaster, consultant, international speaker on a range of areas including racial justice, leadership, religious freedom and bible teaching. He made history in 1997 when he became the first Black Pentecostal to become General Director of the Evangelical Alliance from 1997 until 2009.

Prior to taking on this role, he was working as a probation officer alongside service as a church pastor at Mile End New Testament Church of God in London, and general secretary of the African & Caribbean Evangelical Alliance. He was Honorary Canon at St Paul's Cathedral.

Joel’s family confirmed he had passed away due to cancer on the 30th June.

Joel left this letter for his friends and family, as his last words:

"Dear friends, This is to say a final goodbye. First, my incredible thanks for your prayers, love and holding on with me to that fingernail miracle. Words cannot express the depth, breadth and height of my gratitude, but I have gone home. My earnest prayer is that your faith and tenacity on my behalf will not be considered a pointless religious exercise, but that it will have strengthened your faith in a God who is marvellous, mysterious and majestic in all that He does: The Faithful One. I commend my family to you. I know you will watch over them in the months and years ahead. And I commend you to God and to the word of His grace that is able to build us up and give us an inheritance among those that are being saved. I wait to welcome you…”

Timed Interview Summary

0:00 Early life in Kingston, Jamaica. 24:10 Arrival in the United Kingdom 1960s 46:21 Childhood Abuse & Absent Fathers 59:45 Reunion with his Mother 1:17:46 Black Pentecostal resistance to the Swinging 60s 1:36:10 London Bible College and becoming Probation Officer 1:54:35 General Secretary of ACEA (African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance) 1988 2:18:00 General Director of the Evangelical Alliance in 1997 2:30:07 Stakeholders, Grassroots Activism and Hope 2:34:41 Christian Solidarity Worldwide 2015-2017, and a Doctorate 2:51:11 Looking back as a black Christian leader 2:55:30 Summary reflections on the strengths and challenges of Evangelicalism 3:03:32 Dancing in the Darkness - Retirement, and health