Thanksgiving and celebration of ‘national treasure’ Maud Kells

A SPECIAL service of thanksgiving and celebration for the life of former Cookstown missionary, Maud Kells, is set to take place in Cookstown later this month.

The service has been organised by the Worldwide Evangelisation for Christ International (WEC) – the mission for whom Maud worked – and will include contributions from a number of Maud’s mission colleagues, as well as recorded material from friends and fellow workers in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Ms Kells, who was awarded an OBE in recognition of her missionary work, died peacefully in Antrim Area Hospital in October at the age of 84, following a short illness. She trained as a nurse in Belfast before starting her life-long work in DRC, where she trained nurses, provided maternity care and helped build a hospital and nursery.

She later became a missionary with WEC International.

An attack in the village of Mulita in January 2015 saw her barely escape with her life, aged 75 when she was shot.

Ms Kells described how putting her back against the wall of her home managed to stem the flow of blood from her gunshot wound, and give medics time to treat her.

She was later airlifted to hospital and returned to Cookstown to recover before heading back to DRC. In 2019, she published her autobiography ‘An open door – A true story of courage in Congo’ to tell her story in her own words.

In a recent statement, WEC said that Ms Kells was ‘faithful to her calling’.

“Maud Kells OBE sailed to the D R Congo in 1968, compelled by the call of God to replace five WEC missionaries who had lost their lives during the Simba Rebellion. In the course of Maud’s 50-plus years of missionary service, she set up a hospital providing medical care and training for nurses, oversaw the building of a local nursery, primary and secondary school, and established a Bible school where she helped train many pastors and evangelists.

“Faithful to her calling, Maud remained in DRC during times of rebel uprisings and political turmoil, surviving an almost fatal shooting incident at her home in Mulita at the age of 75.

“These experiences served only to shape her life and ministry into retirement, as she continued to travel as a missionary advocate and ambassador for Christ, until she received her greatest reward.”

The service of thanksgiving and celebration will take place on January 20 at 7pm in Molesworth Presbyterian Church in Cookstown.