Missionary Matilda Smith
Missionary Matilda Smith, a Christian for many years, has blazed a trail and left a powerful legacy of faith.
A member of the Windrush Generation that migrated from the Caribbean to the UK between 1948 – 1971, she recently celebrated her landmark 100th birthday on September 27, in 2024.
Jamaican born, Missionary Smith became a Christian in 1963 whilst sitting with her husband Frank V Smith at their kitchen table smoking and drinking. Both felt convicted to surrender their lives to the Lord. Soon after they started a prayer meeting in their living room, which later became New Testament Assembly, Plaistow/Stratford – a fellowship now pastored by her son and daughter-in-law.
Working alongside her husband, they became one of the earliest church leaders to join the New Testament Assembly UK, a Pentecostal denomination founded by Bishops Melvin Powell and Donald Bernard.
In her role sharing the gospel Missionary Smith has travelled to various nations including Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, Ghana and the USA.
She accompanied the late Bishop Bernard, on the NTA’s first missions’ trip to Ghana in 1979, and supported the church by regularly sending barrels of food and clothing. In doing so, she established close ties with the first Bishop and current Bishop Frank Agyapong.
Missionary Smith’s achievements include building a New Testament Church of God in Bensonton, St Anns, Jamaica – the town of her birth. The church pastor Rev Astley Brown, wrote her a letter stating the church would by setting up a Scholarship fund in her name to provide financial support to school pupils experiencing hardship
Upon reaching her 100th birthday, Jamaican Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, sent Missionary Smith a birthday letter. He described her ‘as a proud member of the Windrush Generation’ and wrote that her life has been ‘marked by service, faith and an unwavering commitment to uplifting others.”
Missionary Smith has been blessed by the Lord with a loving family and is a mother, grandmother, a great grandmother and aunt, and continues to serve the Lord in spirit and in tuth. Her life is a testament to God’s grace.
