Carol McFarlane

Carol had been in and out of trouble since she was a teenager, gripped by alcohol and drug addiction, and eventually ended up in Armagh Women’s Prison. There she met a lady who had also struggled with alcohol abuse and had become a Christian. She gave Carol Christian books, which she had plenty of time to read alongside the Bible her aunt had given her.

Carol said, “I was guilty, ashamed, and alienated from everybody by that point, and as I opened the Bible, I expected judgment from God. But what I discovered was mercy. I had been given a new life.”

Carol became an LCM Missionary in 1994, and is now working in Tower Hamlets, ministering alongside local churches to others who had made similar mistakes. Her lived experience means that she empathises with vulnerable and marginalised women, sharing the gospel sensitively and relationally. But what makes the biggest difference is the truth of the hope we have in Christ, which underpins the love and care we can show people at church. We’ve seen God do amazing things as we come alongside churches to make connections in their local area.

“My heart is to see vulnerable and marginalised women receive a genuine warm welcome at churches in Tower Hamlets, and their lives changed and restored as they come to faith in Christ.”

Carol has been reunited with her daughter. She enjoys traveling, reading, art, music, dancing, and cycling. “Jesus freed me and has kept me every step of the way these past 40 years. He reunited me with my daughter and my family and has kept me occupied as a London City Missionary these past 31 years.”