A CAUSE TO FIGHT FOR - The Jesus Army
A CAUSE TO FIGHT FOR - The Jesus Army
A CAUSE TO FIGHT FOR - The Jesus Army
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esusLife<br />
#82<br />
three/2009<br />
FREE<br />
INSIDE:<br />
A <strong>CAUSE</strong><br />
<strong>TO</strong> <strong>FIGHT</strong> <strong>FOR</strong><br />
Summer of LOVE • mJa Tribes: BELFAST • On the margins: IMMIGRANTS<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
A UK JESUS PEO PLE MAGAZINE from the Multiply Network and Je sus Fel low ship / modern JESUS army (mJa)<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 1
contents<br />
5-7<br />
Fire powered<br />
A tribute to <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship founder<br />
Noel Stanton<br />
12-13<br />
mJa Tribes<br />
Belfast: a safe haven in a city known for<br />
its strife<br />
26-28<br />
Changed lives<br />
Hannah Asprusten left home, family and<br />
country to follow <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life Two/2009 Page <br />
10-11<br />
Summer of love<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship share <strong>Jesus</strong> around<br />
the UK<br />
17-19<br />
On the margins<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life takes a look at the experience of<br />
immigrants in the UK<br />
31<br />
Rant and Rave<br />
Boiling with rage and bubbling with<br />
excitement<br />
also...<br />
Church Alive<br />
Comment from the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
Apostolic Team 3-4<br />
Electronic Postbag<br />
Emails to the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> 8<br />
Passion from the past<br />
Elizabeth Fry: the face on every fiver 9<br />
Double blow, many blessings<br />
Trusting God when tragedy strikes 14-16<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centres<br />
Who might you meet at a<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre? 20-21<br />
Suicide survivors<br />
A look at a support group at<br />
Coventry <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre 22<br />
Multiply Christian Network<br />
Persecution in Orissa, India 23-24<br />
‘Celibacy = Love’<br />
Living single for <strong>Jesus</strong> brings<br />
availability for people 25<br />
Radical Bites<br />
A challenge to radical living 29<br />
Spiritual Search<br />
Simeon Morgan finds something<br />
to live for 30<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church, which is also known<br />
as the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> and includes the New Creation Christian<br />
Community, upholds the historic Christian faith, being<br />
reformed, evangelical and charismatic.<br />
it practises believer’s baptism and the New Testament<br />
reality of Christ’s Church; believing in Almighty God: Father,<br />
Son and Holy Spirit; in the full divinity, atoning death and<br />
bodily resurrection of the Lord <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ; in the Bible as<br />
God’s word, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit.<br />
This Church desires to witness to the Lordship of <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ<br />
over and in His Church; and, by holy character, righteous society<br />
and evangelical testimony to declare that <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ, Son of<br />
God, the only Saviour, is the way, the truth and the life, and<br />
through Him alone can we find and enter the kingdom of God.<br />
This church proclaims free grace, justification by faith in Christ<br />
and the sealing and sanctifying baptism in the Holy Spirit.<br />
© 2009 <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7<br />
3LB, UK. Editor: James Stacey. Reproduction in any form requires<br />
written permission. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship does not necessarily<br />
agree with all the views expressed in articles and interviews<br />
printed in this magazine. Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture<br />
quotations are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL<br />
VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society.<br />
Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton Ltd, a member of the<br />
Hodder headline Plc Group. All rights reserved. Photographs in<br />
this magazine are copyright <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church or royaltyfree<br />
stock photos from www.sxc.hu. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship is part<br />
of Multiply Christian Network. Both the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship and<br />
Multiply Christian Network are members of the Evangelical Alliance<br />
UK. <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Life Trust Registered Charity number 1107952.<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
ALIVE<br />
church ALIVE<br />
Comments from the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
UK/mJa Apostolic Team<br />
Mick Haines<br />
A <strong>CAUSE</strong> <strong>TO</strong><br />
<strong>FIGHT</strong> <strong>FOR</strong><br />
THE YOUNG men on the cover of this<br />
issue of <strong>Jesus</strong> Life have all found new life<br />
in <strong>Jesus</strong>. At one time many were lost in their<br />
independence, slaves of drugs, alcohol and<br />
other destructive forces. Now they love to<br />
belong to <strong>Jesus</strong> brotherhood and identify<br />
with the cause of <strong>Jesus</strong> – just look at their<br />
red crosses, worn with pride.<br />
Every human being has a need to belong.<br />
<strong>The</strong> newborn baby belongs to his or her<br />
mother. Children belong to a family. But<br />
what about adults? Many try to go it alone,<br />
pursuing their own interests. <strong>The</strong>y end up<br />
lonely and empty. Deep in the heart of every<br />
man and woman is a desire to belong to<br />
something at a heart level.<br />
An organ severed from the physical body<br />
will shrivel and die. It can’t exist on its own<br />
– neither can we. Disconnected and cut off<br />
from the life flow of the local body of Christ,<br />
our spiritual life would wither and eventually<br />
cease to exist. This is why the first symptom<br />
of spiritual decline is usually less frequent<br />
attendance at gatherings of believers.<br />
<strong>The</strong> word “together” appears often in the<br />
New Testament. We belong together for<br />
eternity. Let’s give the call to “come and<br />
belong” to His local body, His church.<br />
Steve Calam<br />
CAN THESE<br />
BONES LIVE?<br />
I’D WATCHED a prophetic dance performed<br />
at one of our main events and I felt provoked.<br />
<strong>The</strong> dance was based on Ezekiel 37 – the<br />
“valley of the dry bones”. It<br />
captivated my imagination, spoke to my<br />
spirit – and provoked me to more faith.<br />
Provoked me to believe in the God who can<br />
take what is very, very dead and make it alive.<br />
Ezekiel saw a valley full of bones that are<br />
described as “very dry”. Not just dry, not<br />
just dead: very dry – very dead. <strong>The</strong>re was no<br />
marrow left. And Ezekiel was asked a question:<br />
“Can these bones live?” His reply –<br />
“O Lord – You alone know”.<br />
It is God who raises the dead.<br />
And here we are: not standing in a valley<br />
of bones like Ezekiel, but we are surrounded<br />
by the spiritually dead. And they are very<br />
dead. Caught in deathly habits, in addictions,<br />
in chasing empty dreams.<br />
Can they live? “You alone know, O God”<br />
– we need to look to God who raises the<br />
dead; then we will have faith for those who<br />
seem totally unreachable.<br />
I felt the Holy Spirit tell me to talk to God<br />
and hear what He says, like Ezekiel did. It<br />
has brought a new confidence to us as we<br />
share that good news about <strong>Jesus</strong>.<br />
Since then, we’ve seen many people<br />
finding life, from all sorts of backgrounds<br />
– people from different religions, different<br />
cultures, people whom society has cast out.<br />
Dead people. But they’re coming to life<br />
– more and more of them.<br />
“A vast army” in fact (Ezekiel 37:10). Let’s<br />
be ready to receive them.<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 3
Ian Callard<br />
HUMAN<br />
AGAIN<br />
MY EVANGELICAL credentials are<br />
near-perfect. Bible class as a child;<br />
Billy Graham as a teenager (soundly<br />
converted); Christian Union as a student;<br />
baptised by immersion. I struggled<br />
with receiving the fullness of the<br />
Holy Spirit, but when it progressively<br />
came, I was won over. Joining the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship ticked the last box,<br />
the one marked “commitment”.<br />
Early in my forties, now with leadership<br />
ministry, something strange<br />
happened. I was sitting in the back<br />
row of a celebration event, with<br />
our children strung on either side.<br />
A warm glow came over me. I felt<br />
forgiven. Not just everyday forgiven<br />
– deeply forgiven. For all my past;<br />
for all my future. Profusely forgiven;<br />
comprehensively forgiven; compellingly<br />
forgiven; irrevocably forgiven. I<br />
felt… converted.<br />
I found myself on a brand new track.<br />
I began to address my self-condemnation<br />
– like any addict, by cutting down<br />
first. I could ask the children’s forgiveness<br />
for the times I’d been harsh.<br />
When leadership splits shattered our<br />
church household, the loyal remnant<br />
seemed paralysed. We talked openly<br />
about perfectionisms, abuse, abandonment,<br />
rejection, depressions. It was no<br />
narcissistic therapy-gospel stuff; we’d<br />
joined up for a life of active service. But<br />
unlikely new friends from criminal and<br />
hectic backgrounds began to love being<br />
with us! We were becoming friends<br />
of sinners.<br />
For many, baptism in the Holy<br />
Spirit simply supercharged our selfrighteousness.<br />
For others, previous<br />
non-believers, it was much sizzle and<br />
little sausage. We’ve needed a second<br />
conversion – from being “spiritual”<br />
into being human. How is it with you?<br />
Why does the wider church recruit<br />
record-holding celebrities to promote<br />
its courses and conferences? Because<br />
there’s a deep unease that being simply<br />
human, like you, or me – or <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
– isn’t good enough?<br />
Come on: let’s get a life.<br />
NOEL STAN<strong>TO</strong>N<br />
PASSES <strong>TO</strong> GLORY<br />
ON 20 MAY 2009, Noel Stanton, Apostolic<br />
Team Leader and founder of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship passed into glory.<br />
He spoke earlier this year of “completing”<br />
40 years of ministry since his<br />
baptism in the Holy Spirit in January<br />
1969. A few days before he died Huw<br />
Lewis and I took bread and wine to<br />
him. We anointed him with oil and<br />
commended him to the Lord. Like<br />
the apostle Paul, he was able to say,<br />
“I have fought the good fight, I have<br />
finished the race, I have kept the faith”<br />
(2 Timothy 4:7).<br />
We had an awesome thanksgiving<br />
service at Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre with<br />
some 1,700 attending, thankful for all<br />
that the Lord achieved among us through<br />
Noel’s dynamic, anointed leadership. It<br />
was encouraging to have Roger Forster<br />
give a short tribute to Noel and pray for<br />
the future of the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship.<br />
Our apostolic team are now in the<br />
driving seat. <strong>The</strong> future is exciting. Please<br />
pray for us. We value your support.<br />
Mick Haines<br />
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He lived simply<br />
in community<br />
with his brothers<br />
and sisters.<br />
His was no life<br />
of privilege.<br />
He exemplified<br />
simplicity.<br />
Fire powered<br />
Noel Stanton, founder of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship and the modern<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> army, died on 20 May 2009.<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life offers this tribute to an<br />
extraordinary life.<br />
NOEL STAN<strong>TO</strong>N became the pastor<br />
of Bugbrooke Baptist Church, near<br />
Northampton, in 1957. A dozen years later,<br />
following an overwhelming spiritual experience,<br />
he revolutionised worship at the village<br />
chapel and led the small congregation<br />
into the charismatic movement.<br />
Under his leadership the church, renamed<br />
the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship, grew in size<br />
and expanded across the UK. Noel and the<br />
Fellowship explored large-scale communal<br />
living and, as the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong>, engaged in<br />
effective outreach. In more recent years the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship initiated Multiply Interna-<br />
tional, a network of charismatic churches,<br />
and <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres which offer spiritual and<br />
social help to many on the margins of UK<br />
society.<br />
Born on Christmas Day 1926, Noel grew<br />
up on his parents’ farm in Bedfordshire.<br />
While serving in the Royal Navy, a man<br />
approached him in Sydney, Australia and<br />
asked him a question that was to change<br />
his life: “Where do you expect to spend<br />
eternity?” <strong>The</strong> question struck home and<br />
set Noel on the path to becoming a man<br />
of God.<br />
After leaving the Navy, Noel was baptised<br />
and received a call to Christian leadership.<br />
After training at All Nations Bible College,<br />
Noel was called to pastor Bugbrooke Baptist<br />
Church in March 1957. Noel organised<br />
Bible weeks, evangelistic drives and missionary<br />
weekends, but was left frustrated;<br />
much effort went into achieving little.<br />
But this was all to change. <strong>The</strong> turning<br />
point came in 1969. Members of the church<br />
had been seeking God for the secret of the<br />
early church’s power. Noel had been praying<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
on his own when he was powerfully baptised<br />
in the Holy Spirit, an experience which lit a<br />
fire in him that never dimmed in the years to<br />
come.<br />
Later he wrote of the effects of that moment:<br />
“It was so intoxicating, so exhilarating,<br />
and so intense that I felt I was just<br />
not going to live any more. I became filled<br />
with the intensity of God. This went on for<br />
hours and hours and I moved into speaking<br />
in tongues and praising the Lord. It was a<br />
tremendous experience of life and fullness<br />
from which I didn’t come down for a long<br />
time – and this was the changing point in<br />
my life.”<br />
As others were baptised in the Spirit, the<br />
chapel congregation began to grow apace.<br />
Interest in the church grew so much that in<br />
1974 the church was the subject of a television<br />
documentary, <strong>The</strong> Lord Took Hold of<br />
Bugbrooke.<br />
It was at that time, in the mid-1970s,<br />
that Noel began to speak of the vision of<br />
living together in Christian community.<br />
This vision was the natural overflow of the<br />
love people were experiencing as revival<br />
gripped the chapel congregation – but<br />
it was Noel’s teaching, particularly from<br />
the book of Acts, that crystallised the vision.<br />
Noel himself moved into Christian<br />
community at the newly purchased New<br />
Creation Farm in 1976. It was to remain<br />
his home for the rest of his life – and New<br />
Creation Christian Community as a whole<br />
remained the heart of the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship.<br />
Noel was a visionary. His teaching explored<br />
the Church as God’s new creation<br />
society of justice and committed brotherhood.<br />
He urged total consecration to God<br />
(including, for some, a life of committed<br />
singleness for <strong>Jesus</strong>). He spoke often of<br />
love for the poor and the rejected. <strong>The</strong>mes<br />
such as these propelled the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
along her remarkable path.<br />
Yet perhaps the abiding mark of Noel’s<br />
leadership was his absolute insistence that<br />
vision mustn’t remain only vision: it must<br />
He urged total<br />
consecration<br />
to God... he<br />
spoke often of<br />
love for the poor<br />
and the rejected.<br />
lead to application. It must be put into<br />
practice; it must be done.<br />
One young leader in the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship,<br />
reflecting on Noel’s life after his<br />
passing, wrote, “It is a mark of the integrity<br />
of Noel’s lifestyle that he lived simply in<br />
community with his brothers and sisters.<br />
His was no life of privilege. He exemplified<br />
simplicity. For all Noel’s fire and tenacity,<br />
he never sought to feather his own nest.<br />
Quite the opposite: the second-hand iron<br />
bedstead that was his throughout his years<br />
in community says it all.”<br />
Noel’s heart continued to long for others<br />
to find faith. In 1987, he initiated the<br />
church adopting “<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong>” as a new<br />
identity. It was Noel’s unstinting heart<br />
for the poor and the deprived that spearheaded<br />
the entire new movement. <strong>The</strong><br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> became a visible presence in<br />
many towns and cities.<br />
Along the way Noel encountered a period<br />
of some opposition in the media and<br />
from a number of other churches, which<br />
resulted in the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship leaving<br />
the mainstream Evangelical Alliance and<br />
the Baptist Union. <strong>The</strong> Fellowship rejoined<br />
the Evangelical Alliance in 1999 after Noel<br />
had made strenuous efforts over more than<br />
a decade to allay suspicions and rebuild<br />
bridges with fellow Christian leaders.<br />
As Noel approached his eighties, his<br />
vision hadn’t dimmed in the least. As the<br />
new millennium dawned, Noel initiated<br />
another faith vision: <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres – places<br />
where the love of <strong>Jesus</strong> would be “expressed<br />
daily in worship, friendship and<br />
help for every kind of person”. And Noel<br />
continued to lead the Sunday night seekers<br />
event, called “Heart”, at the Northampton<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre into his 83rd year.<br />
Now, the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship has won<br />
widespread acceptance and commendation<br />
for its work through its <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres.<br />
In particular it has gained awards for<br />
re-housing homeless people, supporting<br />
former prisoners, and helping new arrivals<br />
to speak and read English.<br />
A large part of Noel’s gift was that he was<br />
able, in faith, to take risks – and not just<br />
with large projects like the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres;<br />
he risked placing enormous trust in other<br />
people, too. Noel often showed unwavering<br />
commitment to those that few others<br />
would believe in, particularly damaged<br />
young men. He was determined to see some<br />
of “the worst” becoming the best that they<br />
could be, determined that the “lost generation”<br />
should be believed in and championed.<br />
He took risks to see it happen.<br />
Some of the young men and women Noel<br />
“fathered” are leading movers and shakers<br />
in the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> today. An anonymous<br />
comment in a memorial book to Noel’s<br />
memory says it all: “He told me he had always<br />
believed in me. That meant so much.<br />
He inspired confidence in me each time<br />
we spoke.”<br />
In his last message to the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship,<br />
in a memo written from his hospital<br />
bed, Noel wrote movingly of the call to be<br />
characterised by “more living humanity”,<br />
with “passion of love for every kind of person”.<br />
He wrote, “You will believe in people;<br />
churches will be true families; you will be<br />
relevant to society and will find you have<br />
<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
favour with them. You will be characterised<br />
as those who meet the needs of people.”<br />
And Noel added the exhortation which had<br />
been his keynote for so many years: “You<br />
will love the poor.”<br />
Sir Christopher Wren lies buried in the<br />
cathedral he designed, St Paul’s in London.<br />
His memorial stone says, “If you seek his<br />
monument, look around you”. Noel would<br />
have as his memorial not a building, but<br />
the many, many lives he impacted with<br />
the love and power of <strong>Jesus</strong>. If you seek his<br />
memorial – look at them.<br />
JL<br />
Noel Stanton continued to head the<br />
leadership team of the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
into his eighties, before handing over<br />
to Mick Haines in 2009 due to failing<br />
health.<br />
He died peacefully on 20 May 2009<br />
after an illness of some months.<br />
Noel lived simply in Christian community,<br />
in the same manner as those he sought to<br />
lead. He never married, viewing his life as<br />
dedicated to <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ as a committed<br />
celibate.<br />
Clockwise from top: Noel in the midst of an<br />
mJa demo; a young Noel in his naval uniform;<br />
a keen motorcyclist in his youth; Noel’s<br />
induction at Bugbrooke Baptist Church.<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 7
electronic<br />
POSTBAG<br />
INDIAN PASSION<br />
DEAR BROTHERS and sisters in Christ,<br />
Greetings from India, I have been on your website and I am<br />
really inspired by your work and what the Lord has been doing<br />
through you. We also are serving the Lord like you and have a<br />
passion for the youth and children. If you have any networks in<br />
India please let me know so I can fellowship with them.<br />
Bless you,<br />
Martin Luther<br />
BETHEL, INDIA<br />
For more on Multiply International visit www.multiply.org.uk<br />
STUDENT SEARCH<br />
I AM interested in visiting one of your<br />
community houses as the Christian<br />
community lifestyle is something I am<br />
considering.<br />
I became a Christian in 1984 and I’m<br />
now a graduate from theological college. In<br />
my third year I studied baptism in the Holy<br />
Spirit and spent some time working for Gilead<br />
Foundations through which I heard some<br />
good things about the church.<br />
I look forward to hearing from you,<br />
Ian Faulkner<br />
OKEHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N, DEVON, UK<br />
For more on the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship’s residential<br />
Christian community visit www.newcreation.org.uk<br />
BRIGHT BURST<br />
I JUST thought I’d drop you a line to say how<br />
much I appreciate you all. You are like a fiery<br />
beacon of hope, life and vitality in what could<br />
so easily be a “grey” world. All the doom and<br />
gloom of the world could dampen one’s spirit<br />
if it was not for the burst of truth, joy and<br />
spiritual reality that comes from ministries like<br />
yours.<br />
Long may it continue!<br />
God bless,<br />
Irene Clegg<br />
LEDBURY, HERE<strong>FOR</strong>DSHIRE, UK<br />
To receive New D@wn, a weekly email from<br />
the website featuring the latest prophetic word,<br />
upcoming events and a brief survey of mJa activity<br />
around the UK, visit www.jesus.org.uk/lists<br />
IMMIGRATION<br />
HOPE<br />
DEAR <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship,<br />
I am the senior chaplain in an immigration<br />
removal centre in the UK. <strong>The</strong>re are around<br />
250 detainees here, from all parts of the world.<br />
Around half are Muslim and a third Christian.<br />
We work to give them hope and, if they are<br />
open, share with them the gospel message.<br />
I was wondering if you would be willing<br />
to supply us with a subscription of your<br />
magazine and newspaper so we can make it<br />
available to the people here. Many of them<br />
enjoyed reading your literature in the past,<br />
in particular the stories of lives changed by<br />
God’s power and love.<br />
God bless,<br />
Patrick Wright<br />
HARMONDSWORTH, UK<br />
To receive a free mailing of <strong>Jesus</strong> Life and<br />
Streetpaper fill in the card between pages 24 and<br />
25 and send it freepost to the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship.<br />
R.E. QUEST<br />
I’VE BEEN watching a <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> video at<br />
school in my religious education class and it’s<br />
very interesting. I was wondering what you<br />
actually do and what it involves? Also is there<br />
a <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> church in Bristol where I live?<br />
Emma<br />
BRIS<strong>TO</strong>L, UK<br />
For information on <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> activities in different<br />
areas around the UK visit www.jesus.org.uk/uk<br />
info@jesus.org.uk<br />
IF YOU’D LIKE <strong>TO</strong> SEND YOUR PRAYER REQUESTS, OR LET<br />
US KNOW WHAT GOD HAS BEEN DOING IN YOUR LIFE OR<br />
YOU’D LIKE <strong>TO</strong> FIND OUT MORE ABOUT HIM<br />
EMAIL: info@jesus.org.uk WRITE: JESUS FELLOWSHIP,<br />
NETHER HEY<strong>FOR</strong>D, NORTHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N NN7 3LB<br />
UNCONDITIONAL<br />
LOVE<br />
HI, I recently came to your event in Cocks<br />
Moor Leisure Centre and really enjoyed the<br />
message I heard there. I also experienced<br />
something amazing I haven’t felt in a number<br />
of years despite attending a God-filled church:<br />
unconditional love – the love we received<br />
from everyone was amazing.<br />
Thank you all,<br />
Sharon Das<br />
BIRMINGHAM, UK<br />
For information on forthcoming <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
events visit www.jesus.org.uk/dates<br />
@<br />
Subscribe to the new modern<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> army e-mailing list<br />
and get a monthly mJa<br />
e-Streetpaper, full of inspiration,<br />
challenge and stories of lives<br />
changed by <strong>Jesus</strong>. Visit:<br />
www.jesus.org.uk/epaper<br />
JL<br />
SUBSCRIBE<br />
<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
<strong>The</strong> face of Elizabeth Fry is on every Bank of England £5 note – but who<br />
was Elizabeth Fry to deserve such an honour? Article by Trevor Saxby.<br />
ELIZABETH FRY was born into a banking family in<br />
Norwich, England, in 1780. When she was 18, she<br />
heard a Quaker preacher speaking and she was converted.<br />
She joined a Quaker assembly, where a woman<br />
had a prophecy for her: “You are born to be a light to the<br />
blind, speech to the dumb and feet to the lame.”<br />
She married and moved to London. Motherhood kept<br />
her so busy that after 12 years she lamented: “I fear my<br />
life is slipping away to little purpose.” How wrong she<br />
was! Another Quaker minister told her of the horrifying<br />
conditions in the capital’s prisons. Fry went to the<br />
infamous Newgate jail to see for herself. She found hun-<br />
dreds of women and their children living violent lives in<br />
unsanitary conditions and sleeping on the floor without<br />
bedding.<br />
Fry sprang into action. She enlisted local women<br />
to make clothes for the children. She got permission<br />
to start a school for prison children. She founded an<br />
organisation of women who would visit prisoners, pray<br />
and read scriptures with them, and provide them with<br />
materials to sew and knit goods which could be sold to<br />
give them some income.<br />
<strong>The</strong> atmosphere at Newgate changed so noticeably<br />
that Fry’s model was followed in other towns and even<br />
abroad. She became well known. She was the first<br />
woman ever to give evidence to a parliamentary select<br />
committee, leading to a series of prison reforms in the<br />
1820s. Queen Victoria admired her and made donations.<br />
Fry’s work didn’t stop there. Even while raising 11<br />
children and suffering from what today would be called<br />
post-natal depression, she established a night shelter<br />
for the homeless in London, campaigned for more humane<br />
treatment of orphans, began an outreach ministry<br />
to sailors and founded a school for nurses. It was nurses<br />
trained at Fry’s school who went with Florence Nightingale<br />
to the Crimea.<br />
She was incensed at the transportation of women<br />
prisoners to Australia. <strong>The</strong> night before they left, there<br />
were always riots in the prisons. <strong>The</strong> women would<br />
reach Australia penniless and with dependent children,<br />
leaving prostitution as the only option for many.<br />
She found hundreds of women and<br />
their children living violent lives in<br />
unsanitary conditions and sleeping<br />
on the floor without bedding<br />
Elizabeth lobbied parliament and personally visited all<br />
deportees, giving them materials for making clothes on<br />
the voyage which they could sell on arrival.<br />
Quakers allowed anointed women to preach, and<br />
Elizabeth did so. It is said that her voice carried such<br />
emotion that hard hearts would weep. “Let us cleave<br />
to God in spirit,” she exhorted, “and make it the first<br />
business of our lives to be conformed to His will and<br />
live to His glory, whether prosperity or adversity be our<br />
portion, and though our years pass away like a brief tale.<br />
Through His unbounded love, the blessings of the Most<br />
High will rest upon us.”<br />
Elizabeth proved it. <strong>The</strong> prophecy was fulfilled<br />
absolutely. Called “the Angel of Mercy” in her lifetime,<br />
when she died in 1845 over a thousand people lined the<br />
way to her grave, to honour the passing of a truly great<br />
woman.<br />
JL<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
9
‘Listen’: talking God with all who will listen<br />
<strong>The</strong> modern <strong>Jesus</strong> army takes the good<br />
news of <strong>Jesus</strong> out and about in the UK.<br />
Here are some snapshots of the action.<br />
‘Out and about’: friendship in <strong>Jesus</strong> in a local park<br />
‘You matter’: praying with people<br />
‘I love the<br />
opportunity to get<br />
to know new people<br />
and share what God<br />
has done in my life’<br />
Amy, 18<br />
‘Soulful’: music on the streets<br />
‘Free’: showing what we have<br />
‘Play it again’: part of an mJa event on a green<br />
10<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Summer<br />
of Love<br />
‘Eye eye’: face-painting for free<br />
‘Peace man’: an art display used on the streets<br />
‘BBQ summer’: sharing food<br />
‘It’s not about shoving<br />
anything down<br />
people’s throats, but<br />
making friends and<br />
sharing life. I love it!’<br />
James, 33<br />
‘Up in the blue’: balloons<br />
with www.jesus.org.uk<br />
prayers let loose<br />
‘Street colour’: a mural<br />
‘Love is all you need’: drama at Trafalgar Square<br />
JL<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 11
TRIBES<br />
BELFAST<br />
Belfast boy finds family<br />
One member of <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
Belfast, Brandon Cooper, told<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life his story.<br />
BRANDON’S childhood was full of pain. His<br />
early memories of his parents consist mainly<br />
of arguments. One day his father turned on<br />
his mother and shot her and then turned the<br />
gun on himself. <strong>The</strong>ir deaths left Brandon<br />
with only his brother. He spent the rest of his<br />
childhood in children’s homes.<br />
On top of all that, young Brandon had<br />
heart problems which meant he had to<br />
undergo multiple heart operations.<br />
As a young child, before the deaths of<br />
his parents, Brandon used to attend “Bible<br />
Club”. But, perhaps not surprisingly, given<br />
all the pain and suffering he had known,<br />
Brandon had lost faith in God. But, some<br />
time after his parents died, he did go to a<br />
Christian camp.<br />
“It was just a holiday for me,” Brandon<br />
explains, but during one of the meetings he<br />
heard one of the camp leaders refer to God<br />
as her “Father”.<br />
This struck Brandon. God as “Father”?<br />
Could God father him in a way he’d so<br />
lacked as a small child? Was there a way out<br />
...his father turned on<br />
his mother and<br />
shot her and<br />
then turned the<br />
gun on himself.<br />
Brandon: fathered<br />
in the family<br />
of the desperate aloneness he felt?<br />
By the end of the camp Brandon had<br />
become a Christian.<br />
Brandon met the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> six years<br />
ago, when he was selling <strong>The</strong> Big Issue<br />
in Belfast. During one of the outreach<br />
campaigns in Belfast, two members of the<br />
team talked to him. Brandon told them he<br />
was a Christian and they invited him back to<br />
the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> double-decker bus. He said<br />
he might come by if he sold <strong>The</strong> Big Issues<br />
he was trying to sell in time – which was<br />
unlikely).<br />
But they sold – “in miraculous recordtime”<br />
– and Brandon visited the bus and<br />
recognised an old friend from a church he’d<br />
been to in the past.<br />
That was the beginning. Brandon has stuck<br />
around. “I have truly found<br />
a home and new family,”<br />
he says. Brandon<br />
knows God as his<br />
everlasting loving<br />
Father – and with<br />
his brothers and<br />
sisters at Safe Haven<br />
he’s found the family<br />
of the loving Father all<br />
around him.<br />
12<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Safe Haven in a city of strife<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life tells the story of<br />
how the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship in<br />
Belfast all came about.<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
Founding father<br />
(and mother):<br />
Ray and Ruth<br />
Happy family:<br />
some of the Safe<br />
Haven crew<br />
THE IDEA of the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> evangelising<br />
in Belfast first came about when Terry<br />
Scullion, originally from Belfast, planned an<br />
outreach campaign there “for the craick”<br />
(for the fun of it). He invited a few people to<br />
go with him in 1997 on a campaign which<br />
became the first of many. Terry sadly lost<br />
his life to cancer a few years later – but his<br />
vision and inspiration lived on until the<br />
first <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship community house in<br />
<strong>The</strong>y sat and<br />
wept for them,<br />
praying that<br />
God would heal<br />
their hurts and<br />
divisions.<br />
Ireland was born: “Safe Haven”.<br />
Ray Gunn was a friend of Terry who went<br />
on that first campaign. When he returned,<br />
Ray was commissioned as the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship’s<br />
“man in Belfast”. From then on<br />
the vision in Belfast moved fast. <strong>The</strong> first<br />
campaign was followed by yearly campaigns<br />
in 1998-2001 and in 2002 and 2003 there<br />
were two campaigns each. <strong>The</strong>se campaigns<br />
caused a real vision to grow for Belfast’s<br />
youth. <strong>The</strong> team met a lot of younger people<br />
down near the waterfront and, finding them<br />
open to <strong>Jesus</strong>, often prayed with them. During<br />
one of these prayer sessions the team sat<br />
and wept for them, praying that God would<br />
truly move among them, healing their hurts<br />
and divisions.<br />
With the blessing, however, came battles.<br />
On one of the trips the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> doubledecker<br />
bus drove through a deprived area of<br />
Belfast and a bunch of kids started to throw<br />
stones at it. However, as a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
member put it, “the Lord’s protection<br />
was upon His people” – most of the stones<br />
missed the targets; the bus and all its passengers<br />
remained unscathed.<br />
Despite the battles, the vision to plant<br />
a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship church in Belfast went<br />
from strength to strength. And at the same<br />
time as pushing the vision in Ireland forward,<br />
Ray was also inputting a new <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
movement that had birthed in Japan!<br />
Whoever said “behind every great man is<br />
a great woman” was right when it comes to<br />
Ray: his wife Ruth was with him every step<br />
of the way – she’d never been on a plane<br />
when she jumped in one to fly halfway<br />
round the world to Japan to help with the<br />
work there. And she was at the heart of what<br />
was happening in Ireland, too.<br />
In 2003 Ray and Ruth moved to Belfast.<br />
It was a leap of faith from a well-established<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship congregation in<br />
Birmingham to the small group in Belfast.<br />
Initially growth blossomed and the Belfast<br />
group more than doubled in size. But<br />
disappointment followed: some of the<br />
initial members drifted away, and the little<br />
church passed through a difficult and<br />
testing time.<br />
At this time, Ray and Ruth were trying<br />
to start a Christian community house. But<br />
being based in rented accommodation,<br />
they often had to move house which didn’t<br />
help the new church to have a settled hub.<br />
So, in 2008, the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship purchased<br />
a house. Safe Haven now have a “home”<br />
– and the fig tree is beginning to bud. A<br />
brother, Eddie, has moved in with Ray and<br />
Ruth, with another looking to move in soon.<br />
Christian community – a key facet of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship – is being established<br />
in Belfast.<br />
Belfast is a city with a painful history of<br />
conflict and violence. For a Christian community<br />
– where people live together and<br />
share together, demonstrating reconciliation<br />
in the daily nitty-gritty of their lives – to take<br />
root there is a sign of hope: a safe haven. JL<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
13
double<br />
many<br />
blow..<br />
blessings<br />
When tragedy strikes a Christian couple<br />
– twice – how can they go on believing in<br />
the goodness of God?<br />
GORDON AND JENNY Martin lost both their children<br />
to a rare disease before they were three. Yet, though<br />
neither would say they had special qualities to weather<br />
such storms, their story emerges as a remarkable testimony<br />
to the comforting power of God.<br />
Gordon as a student in the 60s, had found himself asking<br />
what life was all about when his parents separated.<br />
An encounter with some Christians on the streets of<br />
Worthing proved life-changing.<br />
“As I chatted with one of them a voice in my head suddenly<br />
said ‘I want you’.” Gordon found faith and became<br />
part of a group of young Christians. It was here that he<br />
met Jenny and they married in 1976 and moved to<br />
Horsham.<br />
“I’d trained to be an occupational therapist” says Jenny.<br />
“But my sheltered childhood totally unprepared me<br />
for the realities of work in a psychiatric hospital.” Jenny<br />
had had a breakdown which left her prone to depression.<br />
In 1979, an old friend of Gordon’s, Roger, came to visit.<br />
He told Gordon he’d found “this little group of Christians<br />
– the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship – living together in a Christian<br />
community near Coventry”.<br />
“We went to see for ourselves” says Gordon. “I lapped<br />
it up and Jenny loved it from the start, too. But Roger’s<br />
challenge to ‘come and join’ scared me. <strong>The</strong>re was too<br />
much to lose – the home we were just setting up, my job.<br />
I decided we weren’t ready yet.”<br />
By their second visit, their first baby was on the way; in<br />
1980 Stevie was born.<br />
“We thought we had a normal, healthy little boy<br />
– perhaps a bit slow developing but nothing obviously<br />
wrong,” explains Jenny. “In1982, just days before I was<br />
due to give birth to our second child, I woke in the night,<br />
hearing Stevie make a sobbing sound. He was having a<br />
massive, prolonged series of fits. A few hours later, while<br />
Stevie was in hospital with doctors trying to puzzle out<br />
what was the matter, I went into labour and our daughter<br />
Rachel was born.”<br />
Earlier that year, Jenny had read Power in Praise by<br />
Merlin Carothers, a Christian book which recommended<br />
praising God in all circumstances.<br />
“It grabbed me that people were praising God for awful<br />
things and how He transformed the people and those<br />
awful things in the process. We made an agreement to<br />
learn to praise God for every trial.”<br />
That discipline rescued them now. As Gordon sat<br />
in hospital with Stevie, he felt able to give him to God.<br />
Back home, Jenny wrote a prayer: “God – it’s all in Your<br />
hands.” That prayer was their anchor over the next three<br />
months, as Stevie’s condition deteriorated.<br />
“Stevie was a gentle, sensitive, little boy,” says Gordon.<br />
“We hoped the whole while for his healing. When we<br />
prayed for him he’d repeat ‘<strong>Jesus</strong> is Lord’ after us. At<br />
some stage in his illness, I realised Stevie could no longer<br />
see. His condition worsened and in January 1983 he died.<br />
<strong>The</strong> post-mortem revealed Alpers Syndrome. We were<br />
told it was so rare only eight cases were recorded and<br />
it wasn’t likely to affect other children we might have<br />
14 <strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Gordon and Jenny: “their story emerges as a remarkable testimony to the comforting power of God”<br />
“It blew me away that hundreds<br />
in the community were supporting<br />
us with prayer, daily visits, loving<br />
messages – and flapjack!”<br />
– information that, sadly, later research disproved.”<br />
“After Stevie died,” says Jenny, “I felt living in Christian<br />
community was how I’d get healed of chronic depression.<br />
I’d always been desperately shy and lonely deep<br />
inside. I didn’t easily make friends. I felt community<br />
would be my answer. But I wanted to wait till Gordon<br />
was ready.”<br />
Meanwhile, Gordon was sensing God telling him, “Go<br />
and see Roger”. Roger and others from the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
had been coming to Horsham regularly to support<br />
them.<br />
“I was that bit more hungry now,” says Gordon, “so<br />
when Roger suggested ‘Why don’t you come and join<br />
us?’ I was in tears, realising God was still holding His<br />
offer open. We started visiting the community in earnest,<br />
cementing relationships. We were wisely advised not to<br />
rush straight into community, so we planned to move<br />
into our own house nearby.”<br />
On their last visit before moving, the unthinkable happened<br />
– Rachel in the cot beside them started to have fits<br />
and the whole horrific process began a second time.<br />
“It was a huge blow – but we were carried through,”<br />
says Jenny. “It blew me away that hundreds in the community<br />
were supporting us with prayer, daily visits,<br />
loving messages – and flapjack! In the middle of it all,<br />
Gordon had to pack up our Horsham home, finish his job<br />
and move to Coventry. We yo-yo’d between hospital and<br />
home for five months.<br />
“Rachel was a happy, welcoming little person – beaming<br />
at everyone she met. But she knew her need. If we<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 15
Gordon and Jenny relax at Promise House where they live with a large “family” of Christian brothers and sisters<br />
s<br />
s<br />
“We did lots of crying together and came<br />
through to do lots of laughing, determined<br />
not to look inward at ourselves but to look<br />
outward and see a bigger picture.”<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
said ‘prayer’ she’d immediately say ‘Head! Head!’ meaning<br />
we should lay hands on her for healing.”<br />
“One Sunday, as I held up a toy, I realised – just like<br />
Stevie’s last months – she couldn’t see. Her last weeks<br />
she spent more or less asleep. In the early hours of St<br />
Patrick’s Day, 17 March 1985, she died.”<br />
After Rachel’s death, Gordon and Jenny describe the<br />
“mix of things” they went through.<br />
“At first I descended into self-pity,” says Jenny. “A<br />
visitor innocently asked if we had children. I answered<br />
sharply ‘Well, I did have.’ <strong>The</strong>y were terribly upset,<br />
devastated that unwittingly she’d touched such a raw<br />
nerve. Later, after I’d put it right, we struck up quite a<br />
friendship. I learnt the hard way that self-pity is never an<br />
option, however justified it seems.”<br />
“Yes, we grieved terribly for our children,” says Gordon.<br />
“But it was our faith to see God in it all. We’d just<br />
moved to be involved with the community; we were both<br />
starting to realise that God had a much bigger purpose<br />
than we’d first reckoned. We refused to blame God.<br />
Instead, we said to Him: ‘You’ve chosen to take these<br />
little ones to Yourself early. Nothing in Your purposes is<br />
wasted or lost. You’ve given us this pain and grief to carry<br />
but what are You going to do with it?<br />
“Life is often hard and God wants to be alongside us in<br />
it all. Father God knew the pain of deliberately sending<br />
His Son to die for us. Jenny and I, through our own<br />
loss, got to know something of that pain. We did lots of<br />
crying together and came through to do lots of laughing,<br />
determined not to look inward at ourselves but to look<br />
outward and see a bigger picture.”<br />
Gordon and Jenny now began to explore that “bigger<br />
picture”: they moved into community in 1986, later<br />
moving to a larger house in Coventry. <strong>The</strong>re they have<br />
been “mum and dad” for the last 15 years to a household<br />
of around 20 people – and a constant stream<br />
of visitors.<br />
“Life has so much going for us here, “says Jenny.<br />
“We’d otherwise have lived very small, isolated lives together,<br />
especially after the death of our children. I’d have<br />
been rigid and strict, not able to think on my feet and<br />
adjust accordingly. Instead, we’re involved with so many<br />
people! Community has mellowed me and – most of the<br />
time! – I love it. Losing Stevie and Rachel has given us,<br />
not exactly a specific ministry, but vulnerability before<br />
God and sensitivity to reach out to other families when<br />
they’re in trouble.”<br />
“When our children died, finding God was difficult,”<br />
says Gordon. “<strong>The</strong>re was no escaping it, but we were in<br />
it together and the church was in it with us. I’ve learned<br />
how to praise God through hard times and I’ve known<br />
real victory over difficulties that would have crushed<br />
me otherwise.<br />
“I believe God’s shaped our lives through it all.” JL<br />
16 <strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
on the margins<br />
As one<br />
born among you?<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life looks at the situation faced by immigrants in UK<br />
society and asks ‘What should Christians be doing?’<br />
FRANCES IS from Zimbabwe. Her husband<br />
was poisoned by Mugabe’s regime<br />
in the 1990s. Feeling under threat herself,<br />
she fled to the UK, entirely legally, with two<br />
small children. But Frances stayed beyond<br />
the terms of her visa and earlier this year<br />
she was told she would no longer be allowed<br />
to work. She has now claimed asylum and<br />
applied for asylum support – things which<br />
take time to be resolved. In the meantime<br />
she has no money. Bills pile up; she has no<br />
permission to work and two teenage children<br />
to feed.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n there is Merdem, a Kurd from<br />
Iraq. He was refused asylum some years<br />
ago – but as he himself says, “I have been<br />
in the UK for seven years and not once<br />
has anyone tried to murder me”. It is safer<br />
for Merdem to live in the shadows in this<br />
country, scraping by on occasional illegal<br />
jobs and borrowing from friends, than to<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
<br />
<br />
“If a stranger dwells with<br />
you in your land, you shall<br />
not mistreat him. <strong>The</strong><br />
stranger who dwells among<br />
you shall be to you as one<br />
born among you, and you<br />
shall love him as yourself.”<br />
(Leviticus 19:33-34, New King James Version)<br />
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17
Continued from previous page<br />
contemplate going home: his city is one<br />
regularly in the news for its bombings.<br />
Rahim is also from Iraq, but has been<br />
allowed to settle in the UK, and is now a<br />
British citizen. He is married to a wife back<br />
in Iraq, and to bring her to the UK he has to<br />
show he can support her without benefits.<br />
But Rahim has tried and tried to get work,<br />
with little success – just occasional temporary<br />
jobs. <strong>The</strong> lack of work affects his selfimage,<br />
and his mental health.<br />
It has been said that the way in which a<br />
country treats its criminals is an unfailing<br />
test of civilisation. If so, is it not more the<br />
case that how a country treats its immigrants<br />
is a test of its humanity – or lack of<br />
it? Some will be escaping from situations of<br />
appalling danger or privation. <strong>The</strong> attitude<br />
they face in a nation may indeed say more<br />
about that nation than it does about the<br />
immigrants themselves. Is it open, human,<br />
caring – or bound by “fear of the other”<br />
and mistrust?<br />
“If you are not white,<br />
people are often more<br />
suspicious of you.”<br />
How has the UK responded to the arrival<br />
of Frances, and of Merdem, and Rahim<br />
and the many like them? Without denying<br />
the moral, legal and social complexities<br />
surrounding immigration, there is worrying<br />
evidence to suggest that attitudes are<br />
hardening and racism is growing.<br />
On top of recent polling successes for<br />
the extreme right-wing British National<br />
Party and the high-profile rampages of the<br />
English Defence League, there are growing<br />
reports of racism at the grass roots. Abade<br />
Ahmed, an adviser to the Somali community<br />
in the UK, told <strong>Jesus</strong> Life that though<br />
Somalis have been welcomed to become<br />
part of UK society, some still face verbal<br />
abuse on UK streets and in the workplace.<br />
And Belinda Guadagnino, a London-based<br />
immigration lawyer spoke of an increasing<br />
reluctance to employ non-Europeans at all:<br />
“Some employers are too afraid to employ<br />
them,” she said, due to “fears of breaching<br />
the immigration rules and facing penalties<br />
or imprisonment” – fears that were, in fact,<br />
based on ignorance. But Guadagnino is<br />
aware of a more sinister side to this: “If you<br />
are not white, people are often more suspicious<br />
of you.”<br />
Dr. Matthew Feldman of Northampton<br />
University, an expert in fascism and fascist<br />
ideology, spoke to <strong>Jesus</strong> Life about what he<br />
sees as an insidious new form that racism<br />
is taking in 21st century Britain. Comparing<br />
it to the blunt “rivers of blood” speech<br />
by Enoch Powell in a previous generation,<br />
Feldman identifies the current racism as<br />
saying, in effect, “It’s nothing against other<br />
races; we love other races. In fact we want<br />
them to thrive – and they’ll do that best in<br />
their countries of origin.” Such racism targets<br />
multiculturalism and argues that races<br />
do better when they are kept apart.<br />
Feldman himself strenuously opposes<br />
such views, yet warns they are proving troublingly<br />
effective: “It is a clever way of making<br />
yourself not look like a racist when you’re<br />
saying just the kind of racial garbage that’s<br />
been said for hundreds of years. But it’s been<br />
hugely successful – for people who don’t see<br />
themselves as ‘racist’, but don’t like the idea<br />
of a multicultural society.”<br />
Feldman identifies the current economic<br />
downturn as being a factor in the kind of dissatisfaction<br />
that could provoke rising levels<br />
of racism – a point he underlined later on<br />
the same day as his interview with <strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
when he appeared on BBC Radio Four’s PM<br />
programme. “In times of economic crisis and<br />
stress there really are people that are against<br />
the establishment and the liberal system,<br />
that are really going to try to knock it over…<br />
I think that’s something that we have to be<br />
especially vigilant about.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> UK government attempts a somewhat<br />
strained balance in its approach to<br />
such issues. A Home Office spokesperson<br />
told <strong>Jesus</strong> Life , “<strong>The</strong> government abhors<br />
hate crime of any form and we have made<br />
incitement to religious or racial hatred specific<br />
offences,” but added: “the Home Office<br />
aims to ensure that the UK border is one of<br />
the toughest in the world.”<br />
But perhaps it is not just the border that is<br />
tough. Certainly for the Romanians in Belfast<br />
who recently had their homes vandalised,<br />
life in the UK became so tough that many<br />
were compelled to consider the possibility of<br />
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eturning to Romania (as the BNP would presumably<br />
argue would be “good for them”).<br />
More than a hundred Romanians including<br />
a five-day-old baby were forced to take<br />
shelter in the premises of Belfast City Church<br />
after they were hounded out of their homes.<br />
Malcolm Morgan, the church’s pastor commented:<br />
“It’s a sad state of affairs [but] I’m<br />
thrilled the church was asked to help and<br />
that we were able to help. I think that it’s the<br />
responsibility of church to get involved.”<br />
“<strong>The</strong> responsibility of the church...”?<br />
Referring to great examples of the Church’s<br />
impact on society in the past, such as in the<br />
abolition of the slave trade, Dr. Feldman<br />
commented, “Socially speaking, the Church<br />
should be a headlight for people, not a tail<br />
light – it should be leading the way.”<br />
Andy Shefford is a leader in the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
in Leicester where the church has<br />
embraced into its membership a number<br />
of immigrants and asylum seekers. He told<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life, of the fight he and others have<br />
engaged in on their behalf: “Letters to the<br />
Home Office, online petitions, fund-raising,<br />
faxes sent to air lines…” Shefford is<br />
not unaware of the political complexities<br />
of “the bigger picture” when it comes to<br />
immigration and asylum. But he energetically<br />
maintains that Christians are called to<br />
care for individual people in friendship and<br />
heartfelt support, “to love them and not to<br />
‘walk on the other side’”. Shefford insists<br />
that this is the outlook of Christ which the<br />
Church must mirror. He cites the Gospel<br />
story of the woman caught in adultery,<br />
“<strong>The</strong> law of the day was very clear: she must<br />
die – but she lived a free woman. <strong>Jesus</strong> is<br />
interested in the person; He is not interested<br />
in bowing to social pressures or pleasing<br />
the masses.”<br />
James Davies from ECSR (Enabling<br />
Christians in Serving Refugees) agrees:<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Bible is full of commands to welcome<br />
the stranger.” In particular, Davies identifies<br />
those who have been refused asylum<br />
as facing “enormous hardship. Whether<br />
their refusal is right and just or not, few are<br />
deported – but all then lose any right to support,<br />
or to work, so they fall into destitution,<br />
with all rights removed from them except<br />
emergency healthcare. It is telling that so<br />
many would rather live in destitution here<br />
than face the dangers of their home coun-<br />
“<strong>The</strong>y are not ‘asylum seekers’<br />
to me; they are my friends.”<br />
tries – dangers they know are real, though<br />
they could not persuade the asylum system<br />
of that.”<br />
But Davies adds, “Throughout the country<br />
there are Christians helping and serving<br />
people in this position.”<br />
Huw Lewis, a member of the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship’s<br />
Apostolic Team said, “<strong>The</strong> Church<br />
must reflect the justice of God’s kingdom –<br />
especially for those in need, like refugees and<br />
the rejected. We must offer godly compassion<br />
and practical support – everything from<br />
hospitality and providing material needs, to<br />
speaking out for justice, even appearing in<br />
court to speak on the behalf of the voiceless.”<br />
As Andy Shefford put it, “<strong>The</strong>y are not<br />
‘asylum seekers’ to me; they are my friends.” JL<br />
Photos: Romanians in Belfast took<br />
shelter in a church when their homes<br />
were vandalised. Used with permission<br />
from presseye.com<br />
Some names have been changed.<br />
<strong>The</strong> stories of “Frances”, “Merdem”<br />
and “Rahim” were supplied by ECSR<br />
on the margins<br />
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<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
19
JESUS<br />
CENTRES<br />
Who’s at the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centres?<br />
WHAT ARE<br />
JESUS CENTRES?<br />
Places where the love of<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> is expressed daily<br />
in worship, care and<br />
friendship for every type of<br />
person.<br />
WHAT DO THEY<br />
OFFER?<br />
All sorts, including<br />
showers, friendship, a<br />
listening ear, IT classes and<br />
food. <strong>The</strong>y also act as a<br />
‘gateway’ to other services<br />
and agencies.<br />
WHO RUNS THEM?<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> Charitable<br />
Trust (JACT). Staff and<br />
volunteers come from <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship Church.<br />
WHERE ARE THEY?<br />
Coventry, Northampton<br />
and Central London. Plans<br />
are afoot for further <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centres, in Sheffield (2010)<br />
and then Birmingham.<br />
Eventually <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres<br />
will be found in other<br />
places around the UK.<br />
HOW CAN I HELP?<br />
We always need money, old<br />
clothes, food and lots more!<br />
Check out the website for<br />
details.<br />
MORE INFO:<br />
www.jesuscentre.org.uk<br />
Keith volunteer at Coventry <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Keith volunteers to run a workshop on bicycle repair called<br />
“Re-cycle” every other week. <strong>The</strong> idea is to train visitors in basic<br />
bicycle repair, while also making and repairing bicycles that are<br />
donated to the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre. <strong>The</strong> bikes are either sold to raise<br />
money for the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre or in some cases given completely free<br />
to people who cannot afford to buy one.<br />
<strong>The</strong> workshop was initially the idea of a visitor to “<strong>The</strong> Bridge”<br />
(Coventry <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre’s drop-in).<br />
Francis volunteer at London <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Francis graduated from university with many plans for his life, but<br />
as a Christian, he wanted to know what God wanted for his life.<br />
Someone had prayed for him in a Christian meeting and told him<br />
that “he would do the Lord’s work”.<br />
Soon after this he kept seeing a <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> minibus near his work.<br />
Deciding to find out more about who they were, Francis discovered<br />
they were based just next door to where he worked. He popped round<br />
to visit and was inspired – it was exactly what he was looking for.<br />
Francis now volunteers at the Centre, cooking for homeless<br />
people and building friendships with the people he serves.<br />
Vicky admin assistant at Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Vicky first got involved with the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre when it was just a small<br />
pilot project running from a shop. Off work due to sickness, she<br />
started volunteering at the centre in the café and info desk while also<br />
doing some administration work. She did this for almost four years<br />
and became more involved until one day she applied for a part-time<br />
administration job at the Centre – she was almost already completely<br />
trained for this, thanks to her experience of voluntary work.<br />
Vicky says working at the Centre has helped her overcome her<br />
sickness and find more faith as she is working among other Christians<br />
and seeing <strong>Jesus</strong> work through the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre to help people.<br />
“an unmissable opportunity to<br />
show the love of <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ to<br />
people every day in my work life”<br />
20<br />
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www.jesus.org.uk
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life meets some of the people you<br />
might bump into at London, Coventry<br />
and Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres.<br />
Pete visitor who became a volunteer<br />
at Coventry <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Pete first came to the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre in<br />
Coventry over seven years ago with<br />
problems with alcoholism. People at the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre helped him, and in 2008 he<br />
was baptised and became a member of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship.<br />
Pete now volunteers in the kitchen<br />
and the drop-in, helping people with<br />
problems like those he once had. Pete and<br />
his daughter love coming to the church’s<br />
meetings in the week and at weekends.<br />
Didier visitor who became a volunteer<br />
at London <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Didier had been homeless for two months<br />
when a friend introduced him to the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centre. He visited, hoping for a wash and<br />
some food. He found a whole lot more:<br />
friendship and love.<br />
Didier started volunteering “to give<br />
something back”. Although initially he<br />
felt sceptical about Christianity, when he<br />
realised that he didn’t need to be “perfect”<br />
to be Christian, he found a faith of his own<br />
and was baptised. Now he runs ICT and web<br />
design courses at the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre.<br />
Gillian volunteer at Coventry <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Many over-65’s may feel the time has come to put their<br />
feet up and enjoy their retirement. But Gillian spends<br />
her Wednesday mornings volunteering on the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centre reception, welcoming and helping visitors to<br />
“<strong>The</strong> Bridge” drop-in.<br />
And on top of this she is also the volunteer<br />
coordinator for the centre, a vital administrative role.<br />
Curd tea room manager at London <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Curd, a leader in <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship London, decided he wanted to<br />
work at the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre as soon as the property was purchased.<br />
He saw it as “an unmissable opportunity to show the love of <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Christ to people every day in his work life”.<br />
As well as helping<br />
other people the<br />
job has inspired<br />
Tony, filling him<br />
with confidence<br />
and rejuvenating<br />
his life.<br />
Tony support worker at Coventry<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Before Tony started at the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre he was<br />
a coach driver, a job which often meant he<br />
had to work late into the evenings and had to<br />
miss church meetings. This made Tony lonely<br />
– and also meant that he didn’t push himself<br />
forward – in life or as a Christian.<br />
Attracted to the prospect of meeting new<br />
people, which he loves, Tony applied for a<br />
full-time post at the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre as a support<br />
worker. He now helps homeless people find<br />
accommodation, as well as running support<br />
groups on IT skills for beginners, money<br />
management, weight loss, and a social group<br />
giving space to build friendships.<br />
As well as helping other people, the<br />
job has inspired Tony, filling him with<br />
confidence and rejuvenating his life. He<br />
has lost over eight stone since starting the<br />
job – a feat Tony feels he could never have<br />
managed in another job.<br />
JL<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
www.jesuscentre.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
21
Surviving suicide<br />
Piers Young, a senior leader in the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
reports on “Survivors”, a support group at Coventry <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centre for those who have lost a loved one through suicide.<br />
“ SUICIDE... now accounts for 1.5 per<br />
cent of all deaths worldwide. Suicide is<br />
the second leading cause of death among<br />
people aged 15 to 24, after vehicle accidents.<br />
“Most people who commit suicide have a<br />
mental disorder – anorexia, major depressive<br />
disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia<br />
and borderline personality disorder<br />
are the most common...” (New Scientist, 25<br />
February 2009).<br />
My sister ran out of a psychiatric hospital<br />
in 1981 and straight into the path of a van.<br />
She was heard to say that morning “someone<br />
is going to die today”. I have never been<br />
so devastated before or since.<br />
My friend Mike took his life four years<br />
ago. I had known his wife, Jo, since the 70s,<br />
and Mike mainly since they were married.<br />
Mike went through huge amounts of psychiatric<br />
treatment, but remained a friend and<br />
great character throughout.<br />
Jo, of course, went through agonies over<br />
Mike’s death, and invited friends to come<br />
and remember Mike one evening. She<br />
showed us a video called Fierce Goodbye,<br />
which is a real eye-opener on this difficult<br />
subject. Some of us who shared a suicide<br />
bereavement experience decided to keep<br />
meeting. So “Survivors” was born.<br />
It has proved to be a lifeline to a number<br />
of “survivors” who badly needed to be able<br />
to share about their experiences with others<br />
who have been there too, and to process<br />
the issues and emotions. Suicide can affect<br />
deeply many of those who were close to<br />
the person who has died: parents, children,<br />
siblings, partners, close relatives, friends,<br />
colleagues and so on. People need to talk,<br />
and to be understood.<br />
We recognised the need to ensure that<br />
people had a safety net in case they could<br />
not handle their “lid coming off”. I have<br />
recommended counselling to some, and<br />
talked to people who are supporting them,<br />
pastorally or simply as friends. Some keep<br />
in touch between meetings to support each<br />
other – particularly around anniversaries,<br />
inquests and other sensitive dates.<br />
We are mainly Christians so far, and that<br />
means we meet various views on suicide<br />
– from the “suicide takes you straight to<br />
hell” line to “God would never damn someone<br />
who suffered like that”. It has helped<br />
to look this issue straight in the eye as well,<br />
and while there are no easy answers, there<br />
are possible answers – and talking them over<br />
does help.<br />
Nevertheless, looking at the subject in<br />
the Bible we found nothing condemning<br />
– and our church strongly emphasises God’s<br />
compassion in this traumatic experience.<br />
<strong>The</strong> very word suicide is loaded. Being akin<br />
to homicide it immediately makes it sound<br />
like a crime. We believe that God can be<br />
very closely alongside those who reach that<br />
extremity, and we have witnessed it.<br />
Not only do people need to be healed of<br />
the trauma of bereavement of a loved one<br />
by suicide, but they have an elevated risk of<br />
taking their own lives too. So we are truly<br />
helping one another to be survivors. JL<br />
FIND OUT MORE: www.jesuscentre.<br />
org.uk/heartcry/help_advice.shtml<br />
People need to talk,<br />
and to be understood.<br />
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Suffering for their faith is a daily<br />
reality for Colney Lal Rodinga<br />
and his brothers and sisters in<br />
Orissa, north-east India.<br />
WHAT IS<br />
MULTIPLY?<br />
Multiply Christian Network is<br />
a worldwide apostolic stream<br />
of churches, initiated by <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship Church. It is a<br />
member of the Evangelical<br />
Alliance UK. Multiply now<br />
has 18 UK groups and 105<br />
worldwide.<br />
WHO’S IT<br />
<strong>FOR</strong>?<br />
Any fellowship, of any size,<br />
from any culture or race,<br />
as long as it is basically<br />
evangelical. <strong>The</strong> latest partner<br />
to join was Living Water<br />
Church, a Congolese Frenchspeaking<br />
church based in<br />
Gloucester, UK.<br />
WHAT DOES<br />
IT OFFER?<br />
Relationships between leaders<br />
are central and are fostered<br />
through regular conferences,<br />
celebration gatherings and<br />
fellowship. Leadership and<br />
evangelism training plus a<br />
variety of resources, including<br />
free literature, are also<br />
available.<br />
MORE<br />
IN<strong>FOR</strong>MATION<br />
Contact Multiply Director:<br />
Huw Lewis<br />
Tel: +44 1327 344533<br />
Email: huw.lewis@jesus.org.uk<br />
or write to: <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship/<br />
Multiply Central Offices,<br />
Nether Heyford,<br />
Northampton, UK, NN7 3LB<br />
“No matter<br />
what the cost”<br />
<strong>FOR</strong> A “simple evangelist,” Colney Lal Rodinga’s<br />
achievements are impressive.<br />
Since 1988, Restoration India Mission has<br />
planted more than 300 churches where none<br />
existed before in north-east India. On average,<br />
their indigenous missionaries now establish<br />
two churches every week among the unreached<br />
villages. And Colney personally has<br />
been blessed with a big family: more than 100<br />
orphans who have been rescued by evangelists<br />
officially call him their bapa (daddy).<br />
Colney puts the missionaries’ fruitfulness<br />
down to three things: waiting on the Holy<br />
Spirit for power; a willingness to sacrifice; and<br />
a fearlessness in proclaiming the gospel message<br />
no matter what the cost.<br />
<strong>The</strong> price that missionaries in Orissa have<br />
MULTIPLY<br />
APOS<strong>TO</strong>LIC<br />
MAN<br />
NAME: Lal Rodinga Colney<br />
BORN: India, 1963<br />
CHURCH: Restoration India Mission<br />
COORDINA<strong>TO</strong>R <strong>FOR</strong>: North India<br />
CONTACT: Tel: 00 91 671 243 3631<br />
Email: revcolney@yahoo.com<br />
to pay is high. In 1999 Dr Graham Staines and<br />
his two sons, aged eight and 10, were burnt<br />
alive in their car by Hindu fanatics. <strong>The</strong> anticonversion<br />
law makes it a criminal offence<br />
for one person to change their religion on the<br />
basis of anyone else’s words. To be baptised<br />
you need permission from the High Court,<br />
which is impossible to obtain. Colney’s parents’<br />
wedding – the first Christian marriage in<br />
the area – was disrupted by militants throwing<br />
cow-dung at the happy couple.<br />
More recently, on 23 August 2008, a Maoist<br />
guerilla group in Orissa killed a leading Hindu<br />
activist who had directed persecution against<br />
Christians. Despite the Maoists publicly<br />
claiming responsibility, Hindu extremists<br />
falsely accused Christians of the killing,<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
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<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 23
s<br />
s<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
unleashing a wave of violence against Christians<br />
living in the state.<br />
Since then, over 50,000 Christians have<br />
been displaced, more than 4,000 homes destroyed<br />
and about 120 Christians murdered.<br />
Over 300 villages and at least 600 churches<br />
were destroyed.<br />
Colney has himself been beaten and<br />
imprisoned. “Currently, 350 families in our<br />
church have lost all their belongings, houses,<br />
land and properties just because they are<br />
Christians,” he says. “I myself have been jailed<br />
on two separate occasions, faced stoning and<br />
even been dragged along like a dead dog in<br />
the street.”<br />
But he single-mindedly carries on.<br />
“I want to see India saved,” he says, simply.<br />
“Five hundred thousand villages in India have<br />
never heard the gospel. I want nothing for<br />
myself, just the extension of God’s kingdom.”<br />
It was for this reason that he left his home<br />
in 1983. A missionary from Assam had told the<br />
youth meeting of places where new believers<br />
did not have anyone even to teach them one<br />
song. Colney could not sleep, and eventually<br />
he prayed to God: “I don’t have money<br />
to offer you, I don’t have talents, I don’t have<br />
gift for ministry. All I have is this frail body<br />
and weak person. But if You want to use me,<br />
I’ll go anywhere if You are with me.” So some<br />
months later he left, with just five rupees and<br />
two robes.<br />
In 1989 he was given an old UK Christian<br />
Handbook. Out of thousands of entries, one<br />
hit his eye: the <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong>. But he did not<br />
make contact until years later.<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> is also the name given to Restoration<br />
Ministry’s outreach in Mizoram. Sixteen<br />
young people work day and night among<br />
the drug addicts, HIV patients, the homeless<br />
and street girls.<br />
This movement sprung out of a powerful<br />
experience of the Holy Spirit in 1995 which<br />
changed Colney’s view of God forever: “I began<br />
to have a big God whereas I used to have<br />
a small God. I discovered that He is the God<br />
of the whole earth, the never-despising God,<br />
the all-loving God – even drug addicts and<br />
drunkards are welcomed in Him. And the God<br />
Helping each other out of love,<br />
no racial and colour distinction,<br />
no high and low position...<br />
who gave me such a great vision has, I believe,<br />
also ordained Multiply.<br />
“To me, Multiply is the role model in this<br />
sinful, self-centred world. Helping each other<br />
out of love, no racial and colour distinction,<br />
no high and low position, are its most attractive<br />
features.”<br />
Colney is not one ever to be satisfied by<br />
theory. “Christianity depends not on religion<br />
but on the life of <strong>Jesus</strong>,” he says. “Just knowing<br />
is not enough, I have to see.”<br />
What he has seen here in <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> UK is<br />
beyond his expectations: “I have learnt many<br />
things. We have been given 22 bigha* on the<br />
outskirts of Aizawi. I want to have handicraft<br />
training for healed addicts there. I need to<br />
know how to start, so your businesses were a<br />
great inspiration.”<br />
Multiply revolves around relationships, and<br />
Colney has appreciated the love and understanding<br />
he has found here: “In Multiply,<br />
ministers from different countries share<br />
brotherhood and vision. God has given me<br />
good friends now.<br />
“When I suffered persecution, I used to be<br />
in great thirst for my spiritual brothers. But<br />
now, I am happy to know that other Multiply<br />
members are praying for me. My thirst is<br />
quenched.”<br />
JL<br />
*Bigha is a local unit of land area; one bigha equals approximately 0.25 hectares.<br />
Clockwise from top left: Colney with other Multiply leaders; Genesis children’s home; victims of HIV & drugs<br />
addiction working at the cane workshop in Aizawl often found healing; water baptism; prostitutes restored.<br />
DON’T MISS OUT!<br />
MULTIPLY<br />
INTERNATIONAL<br />
LEADERS<br />
CONFERENCE<br />
A rainbow movement making change!<br />
TWO-WEEK CONFERENCE:<br />
Wed 26 May - Wed 9 June 2010<br />
MAIN CONFERENCE DAY:<br />
Saturday 5 June 2010<br />
Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Northampton, UK, NN1 4AE<br />
INFO: www.multiply.org.uk/milc<br />
Email: info@multiply.org.uk<br />
24 <strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.multiply.org.uk<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Victor (who is 70 and a<br />
Senior leader in the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship)<br />
“Lesley is always willing<br />
to learn, willing to try new<br />
things; she’s deep in the<br />
Lord and has her heart in<br />
His kingdom. And she’s a<br />
very good artist: creative,<br />
imaginative.”<br />
When Lesley Cutts made a vow of life-long celibacy<br />
for <strong>Jesus</strong> in 1984, she knew that one of her main<br />
reasons for choosing such a lifestyle was availability.<br />
Lesley<br />
Amanda (who Lesley<br />
has known since her teens)<br />
“I’ve found Lesley an<br />
incredibly loyal friend: she’s<br />
always giving to other people.<br />
I also admire the way she<br />
lives her life so completely for<br />
the church and for God.”<br />
Karen (who has just<br />
got married)<br />
“She is always available<br />
when your head is in a mess.<br />
It’s great to share happy<br />
times with her. Lesley can<br />
make people feel like they<br />
matter.”<br />
“ AS A CELIBATE, I can be available not only to God, but to<br />
people around me,” explains Lesley. “Because I can be<br />
completely committed to people, I am more willing to love<br />
beyond limitations.”<br />
Although celibacy isn’t always “plain sailing”, Lesley sees it<br />
as an adventure – one that she’s exploring not on her own, but<br />
alongside many different people.<br />
Joy (who is 17)<br />
“I’ve known Lesley all my<br />
life and she has encouraged<br />
me so much in my walk with<br />
God. I really admire her!”<br />
Helen (who is married)<br />
“When I was a new<br />
Christian, I went to university<br />
at the same time as Lesley<br />
and she really helped me<br />
through all the pitfalls there.”<br />
Jenny (A younger celibate)<br />
Hilary (who is the same<br />
age as Lesley, but married)<br />
“Lesley is fun. She’s good<br />
to be with. We’ve gone<br />
through things together and<br />
so it’s a deep relationship.”<br />
“Lesley was my boss – and<br />
quickly became my great<br />
buddy. We both love <strong>Jesus</strong>,<br />
nature, art and people so<br />
there’s a lot to talk about.<br />
We enjoy getting inspired<br />
together and having a good<br />
laugh.”<br />
Grace (who is 19)<br />
“Lesley has seen me through<br />
many crazy times in my life<br />
and is always so confident<br />
and reassuring. She also<br />
has amazing amounts of<br />
wisdom.”<br />
Andrew (who is 24)<br />
“Lesley helps me understand<br />
things. She always is a<br />
listening ear.”<br />
JL<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 25
God called Norwegian country girl,<br />
Hannah Asprusten, to the UK’s Big Smoke.<br />
LONDON<br />
calling<br />
“ GOD, PLEASE open the door for me!” prayed fiveyear-old<br />
Hannah, struggling with the locked door.<br />
Click. Open door.<br />
Hannah’s childhood seemed as full of God as some<br />
are full of teddy bears. Hannah was born and grew up in<br />
a Christian community in rural Brandeu, in Norway. It<br />
was a fairly idyllic existence.<br />
“We had a little farm,” says Hannah – “well, a few<br />
pigs, a few hens, a dog and a cat.”<br />
<strong>The</strong>re were 30 other people living with her and her<br />
family in the Christian community at the time. <strong>The</strong><br />
children within the community were home-schooled<br />
together.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re weren’t many of us in the ‘school.’ In fact at<br />
one point I was the only one in my class,” says Han-<br />
nah, “but it must have been good for us: we got the best<br />
marks in the county.”<br />
Nestled in this secure environment, Hannah grew in<br />
her simple faith. As a 10-year-old she was powerfully<br />
filled with the Holy Spirit, an experience which gave her<br />
an overwhelming desire to be baptised in water.<br />
“My parents felt I was too young, so I nagged them for<br />
a whole year,” she laughs. “<strong>The</strong>y finally agreed, so when<br />
I was 11, I was baptised. It was an amazing moment; I<br />
remember feeling so happy afterwards.”<br />
Over the next few years Hannah “waxed strong in<br />
spirit”, throwing out secular CDs, and telling her whole<br />
family that they needed to be more holy. <strong>The</strong> original<br />
angel child.<br />
But all that was to change.<br />
26<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
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s<br />
s<br />
From Norway to UK:<br />
Hannah feels called<br />
by God<br />
“When I became a teenager, it all went downhill,”<br />
says Hannah. “I started drinking with a few of my<br />
friends and got more into boys.”<br />
This may sound normal enough for a teenage girl, but<br />
it led to Hannah’s faith sliding away. A year or so later<br />
Hannah’s family moved away from their community<br />
and Hannah had to start from scratch in a new place.<br />
She struggled to adapt, especially starting a new school.<br />
Her unusual upbringing meant she was dismissed by<br />
her new peers as “weird”.<br />
“I began to hate my life, and hate myself,” says Hannah.<br />
“I actually wanted to die – I couldn’t see the point<br />
anymore.”<br />
Hannah never actually attempted suicide, but as she<br />
puts it, she “gave up on life”. She couldn’t see a way out,<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
“I had felt so far away<br />
from God, and now my<br />
eyes were opened to<br />
how I could live if<br />
I wanted to live totally<br />
sold out for God.”<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
27
Hannah decided to leave<br />
her home, her country<br />
and her family...<br />
s<br />
s<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
a point beyond her hopelessness. So when one of her few<br />
friends started smoking and drinking, she joined in too.<br />
But Hannah knew it wasn’t who she truly was. She<br />
would think to herself “Is this going to be the rest of<br />
my life?” She knew that deep down, it wasn’t what she<br />
wanted, or what she’d dreamt of in her childhood.<br />
“I knew there must have been a purpose for my life,”<br />
recalls Hannah. “I wanted to find out that purpose.”<br />
Her breakthrough happened in 2005 when her older<br />
sister, also a Christian, had completed a “Training Year”<br />
at a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Christian community house in<br />
the UK. She invited Hannah over for a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
festival weekend.<br />
“Wow. I was blown away!” enthuses Hannah. “I<br />
had felt so far away from God, and now my eyes were<br />
opened to how I could live if I wanted to live totally sold<br />
out for God.”<br />
Hannah was impressed by the easy friendliness of<br />
other people at that weekend. She had become used<br />
to people shunning her or staying in their own friendship<br />
circles. But now she was greeted and made to feel<br />
welcome.<br />
<strong>The</strong> warmth touched Hannah, and she decided to<br />
stay in a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship community house in London<br />
for her summer holiday. At the time she was 17.<br />
Why London? “Initially, because it was the capital,”<br />
says Hannah. “It’s the centre of England: there are over<br />
seven million people living there; that’s a lot of people<br />
to reach!”<br />
She wanted to meet a variety of people from different<br />
backgrounds, races and cultures. <strong>The</strong> diversity of people<br />
attracted her immediately.<br />
In the short month that Hannah stayed in London,<br />
she formed close relationships with the people living<br />
there and started to really grow spiritually. But her<br />
month in England was soon up and Hannah returned to<br />
Norway to start her college course.<br />
After only a few months, she grew restless. “I was<br />
fed up of college,” recalls Hannah. “I didn’t fit in. I just<br />
wanted to chuck it all in and go back to England.”<br />
So, in January 2006, in a leap of faith, Hannah decided<br />
to leave her home, her country and her family and<br />
embark upon a <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> Training Year at “Spreading<br />
Flame”, a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship community house in London.<br />
“My view of church was quite selfish really,” admits<br />
Hannah, “in that I saw it as basically just for me. Now I<br />
can see how wrong that is! Being here has opened my<br />
eyes to the power of love – for each other and for those<br />
we meet – wherever they’re from.”<br />
As her Training Year drew to its end, Hannah began<br />
to pray urgently about the decision that she needed to<br />
make: what now?<br />
<strong>The</strong> answer came when she was reading her Bible – a<br />
verse leapt out at her:<br />
“In the same way, any of you who does not give up<br />
everything he has cannot be My disciple... Salt is good,<br />
but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty<br />
again?” (Luke 14:33-34)<br />
Hannah saw this as an answer to her prayers and<br />
made the brave step of giving up everything she knew in<br />
Norway to move into Christian community in London.<br />
She has since started co-leading a group for teenage<br />
girls and longs for it to increase.<br />
“I think it’s important to make sacrifices to show God<br />
that you’re serious,” says Hannah: “something this good<br />
is worth paying a high price for.”<br />
JL<br />
“<strong>The</strong> diversity of<br />
people” attracted<br />
Hannah to London<br />
28 <strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
RADICAL<br />
#11 BITES<br />
Vow do you do?<br />
Are you a<br />
commitment-phobe<br />
or are you gonna<br />
get real?<br />
WHEN DID you last attend a wedding?<br />
People say some scary things at<br />
weddings. Take “till death do us part,” for<br />
instance. (Phew – I mean, for good? What if<br />
I change my mind?)<br />
Perhaps that’s why marriage, like<br />
any commitment, is increasingly off the<br />
contemporary agenda. Just move in<br />
together. And when the feeling fades, move<br />
on apart.<br />
People even speak of “commitmentphobia”.<br />
One pained blogger wrote: “I suffer<br />
from commitment phobia. I have been<br />
with my girlfriend for nearly six months,<br />
yet this condition is doing its best to ruin<br />
everything. As a commitment-phobe, I feel<br />
that I must run away. But commitment-<br />
phobia means that I cannot commit to<br />
running away either.”<br />
Somewhere in our marrow we know that<br />
this is ridiculous. “Commitment-phobia”<br />
is just selfishness in disguise. (“It’s my life<br />
– mine! Hands off!”)<br />
But do we – as followers of the God who<br />
was committed enough to give us His Son<br />
– do we model something different enough<br />
for anyone to notice?<br />
Put bluntly – are we commitmentaddicts?<br />
We should be. Marriage is sealed by<br />
vows, and some still do take the plunge<br />
even in a commitment-phobic society. How<br />
much more ought followers of <strong>Jesus</strong> to<br />
embody costly dedication in the church of<br />
Commitment-phobia is just<br />
selfishness in disguise.<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong>? Dedication to Him – and to each<br />
other?<br />
<strong>The</strong> Holy Spirit makes us one, unites<br />
us. Not many Christians would deny that<br />
this is meant to be the theory. But what<br />
is often missed is this: we have to follow<br />
through from this Holy-Spirit-oneness; we<br />
have to back up its reality through real<br />
commitments and kept promises and – let’s<br />
use the “v word” – vows.<br />
“Make every effort to keep the unity of<br />
the Spirit,” writes Paul. He’s made you<br />
one – keep it that way! How? “Through the<br />
bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). <strong>The</strong> bond:<br />
the promise, the pledge, the vow.<br />
We live total loyalty to each other.<br />
Covenant to stay together always. Lay down<br />
our lives for each other. It’ll stand out – as<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> said it would: “By this all men will<br />
know that you are My disciples, if you love<br />
one another.”<br />
JL<br />
HAVE YOUR SAY: email: info@jesus.org.uk<br />
Read the ebook at:<br />
www.jesus.org.uk/kingdommanifesto.pdf<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life 29
£10<br />
10<br />
to live and die for<br />
Simeon finds a cause<br />
THERE ARE two remarkable things about<br />
Simeon Alexander Michael Dexter Clive<br />
Derrick Logan Morgan. One is that he has<br />
a very long name. (He’s just Simeon to his<br />
friends).<br />
<strong>The</strong> other is that he’s risen out of what<br />
some may see as an unpromising background<br />
(wrong end of town, never knew his<br />
dad, poor results at school) to live sold out<br />
for a positive cause.<br />
Simeon, along with about 30 others,<br />
lives at New Creation Farm, one of the<br />
Christian Community houses that are<br />
part of the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship. Money and<br />
possessions are shared and members of<br />
the community live a life of committed<br />
Christian brotherhood, loving and serving<br />
others – including many who are in need.<br />
Simeon is no directionless drifter.<br />
But how did this 18-year-old lad come to<br />
be so given to such a constructive lifestyle?<br />
Simeon first met the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship one<br />
day in his summer holidays when he’d been<br />
drinking with his friends in town. Two young<br />
people from the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship approached<br />
him and invited him to RAW, a Christian<br />
youth event the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship were running<br />
that weekend. <strong>The</strong> next day he turned up<br />
and chatted with a few people.<br />
This wasn’t Simeon’s first encounter with<br />
God. Simeon was brought up by just his<br />
mum, but his grandma, a Christian, was<br />
also a big influence on his life. “My grandma<br />
instilled a belief in me,” he explains. When<br />
Simeon was just 13, he tore the work from<br />
an old school exercise book, wrote “Dear<br />
God” on the front and filled the book with<br />
letters and prayers to God.<br />
Despite this spiritual side, God was very<br />
much a “background figure” in Simeon’s life<br />
– which revolved around computer games<br />
more than anything else. Simeon got his<br />
first games console at just four years old and<br />
gaming became his major preoccupation.<br />
he found himself<br />
sleeping on his<br />
school steps<br />
When Simeon turned 17 he decided to<br />
move out of home “to find some freedom”<br />
– but with nowhere to go he found himself<br />
sleeping on his school steps. It didn’t take<br />
long for the staff at the school to find out<br />
about this. <strong>The</strong>y were concerned and helped<br />
Simeon to get into a hostel. It was around<br />
about this time that he popped into RAW.<br />
But it was some time later that Simeon<br />
went to a “parkour” (free running) night at<br />
Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre. Here he met a<br />
youth leader from the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship, who<br />
listened to Simeon’s story. At the end of the<br />
night they exchanged numbers. Simeon<br />
thought little of it and didn’t expect to hear<br />
from him again.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next week Simeon received a call<br />
from the youth leader inviting him to a “cell<br />
group”: a little gathering of some of his<br />
Christian friends. Simeon went along and<br />
enjoyed it – so decided to keep going.<br />
<strong>The</strong> next week the dam burst. During the<br />
cell group Simeon burst into tears. It was<br />
completely unexpected as far as he was<br />
concerned. But years of uncertainty were<br />
bursting out.<br />
“I saw a real friendship there,” explains<br />
Simeon: “friendship that asked for nothing<br />
in return.” This was something Simeon had<br />
longed for, for years.<br />
After that night Simeon couldn’t keep<br />
away, he started coming to more and more<br />
that the church was doing. “I fell in love<br />
with it,” he enthuses.<br />
Simeon says: “I realised I didn’t want to<br />
be a part of today’s society with its alcoholism<br />
and its love of money. I realised ‘<strong>The</strong>re<br />
has to be more’.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> more Simeon came to things around<br />
the church, the more he felt the “buzz”, the<br />
life of it all. “I knew it was God,” he says.<br />
A few months later, when Simeon had to<br />
move out of his hostel, it was obvious to him<br />
what he should do: he dived in, moving into<br />
New Creation Farm.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> rest is history,” says Simeon, and it is<br />
indeed his story.<br />
“It can be hard work, giving up all the<br />
negative things from my past,” he concludes,<br />
“but I know it’s worth it because I’ve found<br />
a friendship not just with the people in the<br />
church – but with God.”<br />
JL<br />
30<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Rant<br />
&<br />
Rave<br />
Boiling with rage and bubbling with excitement -<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life hears from mJa members,<br />
Ian Hunt and Lizbeth Johnson.<br />
DON’T JUST BE<br />
A STUPID SHEEP!<br />
LIVE YOUNG, FREE<br />
AND SINGLE<br />
SO WHAT do sheep do? <strong>The</strong>y<br />
follow. <strong>The</strong>y see what others do<br />
– and do it as well. And face<br />
it, some people are more like<br />
sheep than sheep – and that is<br />
what this is about.<br />
One of the most amazing<br />
things about Christian faith is<br />
the fact that you can have a<br />
personal relationship with God.<br />
Yep, that’s right: 1-to-1 with the<br />
Maker. Amazing, huh?<br />
But some people completely<br />
miss this and live their lives<br />
trying to be someone else.<br />
Why? <strong>The</strong>y see someone else,<br />
and what that person has with<br />
God seems better than what<br />
they have – so they try to have<br />
someone else’s relationship with<br />
God. <strong>The</strong>y live the Christian<br />
life “second hand”. <strong>The</strong>y try to<br />
become that other person.<br />
Don’t get me wrong: it’s<br />
important to have good<br />
Christian role models. Let’s<br />
have those who we can imitate<br />
and who can disciple us. Let’s<br />
Ian Hunt<br />
want to be like them; but we<br />
don’t want to actually be them.<br />
However hard you try, you’re<br />
never going to be someone else;<br />
you can never have someone<br />
else’s relationship with God.<br />
What’s more, sometimes a<br />
role model might lose the plot.<br />
I’ve seen it happen and it’s<br />
always difficult, always painful.<br />
But for people who are trying to<br />
be that person it usually marks<br />
the end of the road for them,<br />
too. <strong>The</strong>y fall, all too often, with<br />
the one they idolised.<br />
<strong>The</strong> people who were simply<br />
learning from the role model<br />
may find it painful – but, more<br />
often than not, they learn<br />
another lesson through the<br />
whole thing, making them<br />
stronger in God!<br />
Listen up - God loves you<br />
for who you are and wants a<br />
relationship with you!<br />
Imitate others, sure. But don’t<br />
try and be someone else. Just<br />
be you – and love God.<br />
Lizbeth Johnson<br />
<strong>FOR</strong> THE past 12 years – since<br />
the break-up of a relationship<br />
– I have been single.<br />
Has being single meant I’ve<br />
been “sitting on the shelf” for<br />
the past 12 years? Not at all<br />
– more like extreme bungeejumping<br />
into God’s heart,<br />
I’d say!<br />
Through being single, God<br />
has caused me to go on a<br />
journey with Him; to dig<br />
deep, face fears and get to the<br />
bottom of who Liz really is,<br />
without running and hiding in<br />
a relationship to give me an<br />
identity or to verify who I am.<br />
It has been scary, sometimes<br />
painful – but it’s causing me to<br />
find a wholeness, stability and<br />
freedom to love and serve God<br />
and people more easily.<br />
This freedom is something<br />
that I long for others to find,<br />
instead of falling into the<br />
trap of worrying about why<br />
they haven’t found Mr/Mrs<br />
Right yet.<br />
I hate to see people<br />
intimidated and pressurised<br />
by fear of what others may<br />
deem to be success or failure,<br />
being forced to follow a certain<br />
pattern of behaviour. It’s good<br />
to have the freedom and guts to<br />
listen to God and let Him lead.<br />
Some of us – in that freedom<br />
to listen – may be to receive<br />
the gift of celibacy, to make a<br />
commitment to stay single as<br />
a lifelong choice. For others,<br />
marriage may be the way. But<br />
ultimately God will be leading<br />
us to know who we are in Him<br />
(whatever way He may lead<br />
us) – and to know His love for<br />
us. Singleness – not marriage<br />
though that may come, not<br />
lifelong celibacy though that<br />
may come – singleness can<br />
provide the space we need to<br />
hear God and allow Him to<br />
shape our lives.<br />
I’ve learnt to live for today, in<br />
its fullness – not for the cares<br />
and maybes of the future.<br />
HAVE YOUR OWN<br />
RANT OR RAVE:<br />
www.jesus.org.uk/forum<br />
JL<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />
31
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UK CHURCHES<br />
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EVENTS<br />
SATURDAY 24 OCT 09<br />
UK JESUS<br />
PRAISE DAY<br />
2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />
Ponds Forge Sports Centre,<br />
Sheaf Street,<br />
SHEFFIELD S1 2BG<br />
SATURDAY 21 NOV 09<br />
MEN ALIVE<br />
<strong>FOR</strong> GOD<br />
From 11.15am<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre,<br />
Abington Square,<br />
NORTHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N<br />
NN1 4AE<br />
INFO<br />
MAGAZINE<br />
JESUS ARMY<br />
JESUS CENTRES<br />
MULTIPLY NETWORK<br />
CHRISTIAN COMMUNIT<br />
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ALL FREE ALL WELCOME NO PREJUDICE<br />
SATURDAY 2 JAN 2010<br />
NEW YEAR<br />
UK JESUS<br />
CELEBRATION<br />
2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre, Abington Square,<br />
NORTHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N NN1 4AE<br />
SATURDAY 30 JAN 2010<br />
CHURCH<br />
GROWTH<br />
CONFERENCE<br />
From 11.30am <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre,<br />
Abington Square,<br />
NORTHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N NN1 4AE<br />
SATURDAY 20 FEB 2010<br />
UK JESUS<br />
CELEBRATION<br />
2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />
<strong>The</strong> New Bingley Hall,<br />
1 Hockley Circus,<br />
BIRMINGHAM<br />
B18 5BE<br />
MORE INFO?<br />
www.jesus.org.uk/dates<br />
Tel: 0845 123 5550<br />
Email: info@jesus.org.uk<br />
Write: <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship,<br />
FREEPOST, Nether Heyford,<br />
Northampton NN7 3BR<br />
keep in touch!<br />
BELFAST <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ............................................. 0845 123 5552<br />
BIRMINGHAM <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .................................... 0845 166 8153<br />
BLACKBURN Hyndburn Christian Fellowship.............................0170 622 2401<br />
BLACKBURN Rishton Christian Fellowship ............................... 0125 488 7790<br />
BRIDGEND <strong>The</strong> Bridge Community Church ...............................0165 665 5635<br />
BRIGH<strong>TO</strong>N <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ...........................................0845 166 8151<br />
BRIS<strong>TO</strong>L <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ............................................ 0845 123 5339<br />
CHATHAM House Of Prayer For All Nations ...............................0163 466 9933<br />
CHATHAM King’s Church Medway ............................................... 0163 484 7477<br />
CHESTER/NORTH WALES <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church................ 0845 123 5561<br />
CORNWALL <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .........................................0845 166 8191<br />
COVENTRY <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church.......................................... 0845 166 8154<br />
GLOUCESTER Living Word Fellowship ........................................0145 253 2138<br />
HASTINGS <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .......................................... 0845 123 5551<br />
HIGH WYCOMBE Church of Shalom ........................................... 0149 444 9408<br />
IPSWICH <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ............................................. 0845 166 8156<br />
KETTERING <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .........................................0845 166 8157<br />
LEEDS <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ..................................................0845 166 8167<br />
LEICESTER <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ......................................... 0845 644 9705<br />
LIVERPOOL <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .........................................0845 166 8168<br />
LONDON 32 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Life Fellowship Church ............................................. 0845 166 8152<br />
MULTIPLY CHURCHES AND GROUPS MEET<br />
ALL OVER THE UK. RING UP AND FIND OUT<br />
WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR AREA!<br />
LONDON N Glad Tidings Evangelical Church ............................ 0208 245 9002<br />
LONDON S Bible Life Family Ministries ..................................... 0208 689 2244<br />
LONDON SE Ephratah Int’l Gospel Praise Centre .....................0208 469 0047<br />
LONDON SE Flaming Evangelical Ministries .............................0163 420 1170<br />
LONDON SE Glorious Revival Eagle Ministries ......................... 0208 855 3087<br />
LONDON SE Life For <strong>The</strong> World Christian Centre ......................0163 431 1507<br />
LONDON SE Mission Together for Christ ....................................0207 401 2687<br />
MANCHESTER <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ....................................0845 166 8169<br />
MIL<strong>TO</strong>N KEYNES <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ................................ 0845 166 8159<br />
NORTHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ................................0845 166 8161<br />
NORWICH <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ............................................0845 166 8162<br />
NOTTINGHAM <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .....................................0845 166 8163<br />
OX<strong>FOR</strong>D <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church...............................................0845 166 8164<br />
PRES<strong>TO</strong>N <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ........................................... 0845 123 5554<br />
RAMSEY HOLLOW (HUNTS) Christians United ...........................0148 781 5528<br />
SHEFFIELD <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ......................................... 0845 166 8183<br />
S<strong>TO</strong>KE-ON-TRENT <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .............................. 0845 123 5334<br />
SWANSEA <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .......................................... 0845 123 5556<br />
WOLVERHAMP<strong>TO</strong>N <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ........................... 0845 123 5564<br />
WORCESTER <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church ...................................... 0845 www.jesus.org.uk<br />
833 5601