Hopefully, you are all now aware that this year, 2026, is the 175th anniversary of the AFCU. We are delighted that so many of you have signed up to join us on the 6th June for our celebration event.
We are excited to share that, to commemorate our 175th anniversary, a limited-edition book celebrating 175 years of AFCU is being produced and will be available to purchase for the first time on 6th June. After this date, members will be informed where they can purchase the book.
AFCU at 175: A celebration of God’s goodness is a follow-up on the book created in 2001 to mark the 150th anniversary. This is the story of AFCU’s last 25 years – a celebration of God’s faithfulness through history, testimony and service.
In recent months, on the fourth Friday of each month, we have shared a testimony from a current AFCU member. As we look forward to releasing this 175th anniversary book with our members, we thought this would be a good opportunity to give you a taste of the upcoming release. To share a few examples of the many testimonies from AFCU members about God’s goodness and the work of AFCU that are featured in the book.
AFCU means a lot to our family
“I would like to thank AFCU (was OCU when I joined) for all the encouragement it gave me in growing in my Christian faith. It was in the mid-1960s that I joined a Bible Study Group in Germany, where I was a teacher at the British Forces primary school. It was there that I met my late husband, who led the group.
My journey progressed into knowing the love, peace, and joy of Jesus. After we married, we continued to attend the Family Holidays with our children and in various postings, we joined a Bible Study and Prayer group run by the Union.
I feel I needed to thank you for carrying on this mission, set up 175 years ago, so many saints have worked hard to spread the knowledge of Jesus’ saving love to the Armed Forces.
In addition to growing as Christians through learning more and more of God’s goodness, we met so many wonderful friends through the fellowship which you provided over the years at the various events. They remained life-long friends with whom we have been able to share prayer requests over the years, plus giving and receiving hospitality – so AFCU means a lot to our family – thank you.’”
Never walking alone
“The AFCU Men’s Ministry has been a tremendous blessing in my life over the past decade. Through prayer, fellowship, and discipleship, it connected me with Christian men across the Armed Forces, strengthening my faith in Jesus Christ and reminding me that I was never walking alone.
The Prayer Support Teams, in particular, exemplified Christ‑centred community by walking alongside me during my transition after 23.5 years of colour service, helping me move confidently into the next season God had prepared.”
Amazing prayer warrior
“I have nothing but praise and thankfulness for our amazing prayer warrior! She is not only a wonderful woman of God and has so faithfully prayed for our family for almost 12 years now, but she has also become the most wonderful and trusted friend and feels part of our family.”
A Padre’s Story
(From a Padre who served with the 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh in Afghanistan March – October 2012.)
“One story comes to mind…. I would visit a CP, having to go cross-country through mined areas in three warrior vehicles. I would always ask to ride in the back of the last one as they each followed the other in the same tracks, but every time I arrived at the CP, I noticed that when I jumped out of the warrior, my vehicle had overtaken the other two and become the lead vehicle. The soldiers believed that God would always look after the Padre… And He did, and every time we all had a laugh about it, and then I would give thanks to God that we avoided getting blown up!
The AFCU sent me lots of holding crosses to distribute. They travelled in pockets to all sorts of nasty places, and we were very grateful to everyone in the AFCU office who was praying. I could share many, many stories of near misses – the war critiques in years to come, as they study some of the battles and operations in Afghanistan, will surely wonder why we didn’t have more casualties? I thank God for bringing us home in the way he did.”