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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 />

<br />

<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />

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 />

18<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />

www.jesus.org.uk


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 />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

<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 />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />

www.jesuscentre.org.uk<br />

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 />

22<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Life<br />

www.jesus.org.uk


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 />

www.multiply.org.uk<br />

<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 />

www.jesus.org.uk


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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COMING EVENTS<br />

UK CHURCHES<br />

J GENERATION<br />

<strong>FOR</strong>UM<br />

modern <strong>Jesus</strong> army<br />

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 />

JESUS PEOPLE SHOP<br />

DOWNLOAD VAULT<br />

COMING EVENTS<br />

UK CHURCHES<br />

J GENERATION<br />

<strong>FOR</strong>UM<br />

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

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