Paul Preston writes:
THE Revd Daniel Cozens, the founder of Through Faith Missions, died suddenly on 6 December.
He grew up in Dorset and was the youngest and shortest of three tall brothers, of whom Bill predeceased him and Ronald has succeeded him. He always spoke of a very happy and adventurous childhood.
Daniel was ordained in 1971 and served in Orpington and Deptford, before accepting the post of Evangelist in Ely diocese, which was offered by the Rees family, after the death of the Revd Dick Rees.
In 1989, Daniel founded Through Faith Missions (TFM), and the Revd Peter Adams was appointed as Minister of Missions to work with him in parish missions around the country.
The Walk of 1000 Men was a vision given to Daniel for lay Christian men to “go beyond the camp”, in the simplicity of Matthew 10. The first walk took place in 1991, along the Pennine Way. Teams of men talked about their faith, in pubs, schools, and workplaces.
The need for women to be involved in the ministry was recognised later, and other walk-style missions followed. Parish missions in many varied nationwide locations remained a core of TFM’s work, and many thousands of people have become involved and inspired in sharing their faith.
Daniel leaves an active legacy in that TFM continues to be in demand today, as teams of women and men work with churches in their outreach to the community.
In 1994, he was licensed as a Six Preacher of Canterbury Cathedral.
Daniel was also a gifted artist, painting in oils: often landscapes and still life. He was a countryman, taking delight in the beauty of nature, colours and design, trees, flowers, birds, and animals. Many remember his talks “A Night of Colour”, in which he would show his canvases and weave in the sharing of his Christian faith.
Daniel was larger than life and a colourful man in every sense. His audience would often find their sides aching from laughter with his many anecdotes. Those who met him soon knew that, besides his Lord, Daniel’s greatest love was for his family. He married Gillie in 1969, and they had four children: Kate, Beth, Ben, and Mary.
He was diagnosed with dementia in 2018 and spent his last three years in a nursing home in Cambridgeshire, where he received considerate and loving care. Even through the cruel cloud of his illness, he regularly, without prompting, declared that “I have had the most beautiful, full life that I would give to anyone.” Daniel’s faith and love for his family were undiminished, and the tenderness of the love of the Cozens family for one another has left an impression on all who visited him there.
Daniel’s ministry was profoundly life-changing, and that continued up until the day he died; even in the care home, his intercession with staff and residents and his visitors him was astonishing and filled with the Holy Spirit.
For most who knew him, the lasting memory will be of his preaching. Lazarus and Dives was a favourite passage. All who listened would suddenly feel a sense of God’s love and increasing certainty of heaven and God’s ultimate justice, reward, and judgement. Daniel’s palm would be resting on his open Bible, his earnest expression engaging all in the room, as he gently helped us to place our hands into the hands of Jesus and look to him, through his love and grace to prepare a place for us.
The Revd Daniel Harry Cozens died on 6 December, aged 81. He leaves behind his wife and children, and his grandchildren: Noah, Gus, Ellen, Jonah, Archie, Arabella, Henrietta, and Gabriel.
