A CAUSE TO FIGHT FOR - The Jesus Army

s
s
Continued from previous page
on his own when he was powerfully baptised
in the Holy Spirit, an experience which lit a
fire in him that never dimmed in the years to
come.
Later he wrote of the effects of that moment:
“It was so intoxicating, so exhilarating,
and so intense that I felt I was just
not going to live any more. I became filled
with the intensity of God. This went on for
hours and hours and I moved into speaking
in tongues and praising the Lord. It was a
tremendous experience of life and fullness
from which I didn’t come down for a long
time – and this was the changing point in
my life.”
As others were baptised in the Spirit, the
chapel congregation began to grow apace.
Interest in the church grew so much that in
1974 the church was the subject of a television
documentary, The Lord Took Hold of
Bugbrooke.
It was at that time, in the mid-1970s,
that Noel began to speak of the vision of
living together in Christian community.
This vision was the natural overflow of the
love people were experiencing as revival
gripped the chapel congregation – but
it was Noel’s teaching, particularly from
the book of Acts, that crystallised the vision.
Noel himself moved into Christian
community at the newly purchased New
Creation Farm in 1976. It was to remain
his home for the rest of his life – and New
Creation Christian Community as a whole
remained the heart of the Jesus Fellowship.
Noel was a visionary. His teaching explored
the Church as God’s new creation
society of justice and committed brotherhood.
He urged total consecration to God
(including, for some, a life of committed
singleness for Jesus). He spoke often of
love for the poor and the rejected. Themes
such as these propelled the Jesus Fellowship
along her remarkable path.
Yet perhaps the abiding mark of Noel’s
leadership was his absolute insistence that
vision mustn’t remain only vision: it must
He urged total
consecration
to God... he
spoke often of
love for the poor
and the rejected.
lead to application. It must be put into
practice; it must be done.
One young leader in the Jesus Fellowship,
reflecting on Noel’s life after his
passing, wrote, “It is a mark of the integrity
of Noel’s lifestyle that he lived simply in
community with his brothers and sisters.
His was no life of privilege. He exemplified
simplicity. For all Noel’s fire and tenacity,
he never sought to feather his own nest.
Quite the opposite: the second-hand iron
bedstead that was his throughout his years
in community says it all.”
Noel’s heart continued to long for others
to find faith. In 1987, he initiated the
church adopting “Jesus Army” as a new
identity. It was Noel’s unstinting heart
for the poor and the deprived that spearheaded
the entire new movement. The
Jesus Army became a visible presence in
many towns and cities.
Along the way Noel encountered a period
of some opposition in the media and
from a number of other churches, which
resulted in the Jesus Fellowship leaving
the mainstream Evangelical Alliance and
the Baptist Union. The Fellowship rejoined
the Evangelical Alliance in 1999 after Noel
had made strenuous efforts over more than
a decade to allay suspicions and rebuild
bridges with fellow Christian leaders.
As Noel approached his eighties, his
vision hadn’t dimmed in the least. As the
new millennium dawned, Noel initiated
another faith vision: Jesus Centres – places
where the love of Jesus would be “expressed
daily in worship, friendship and
help for every kind of person”. And Noel
continued to lead the Sunday night seekers
event, called “Heart”, at the Northampton
Jesus Centre into his 83rd year.
Now, the Jesus Fellowship has won
widespread acceptance and commendation
for its work through its Jesus Centres.
In particular it has gained awards for
re-housing homeless people, supporting
former prisoners, and helping new arrivals
to speak and read English.
A large part of Noel’s gift was that he was
able, in faith, to take risks – and not just
with large projects like the Jesus Centres;
he risked placing enormous trust in other
people, too. Noel often showed unwavering
commitment to those that few others
would believe in, particularly damaged
young men. He was determined to see some
of “the worst” becoming the best that they
could be, determined that the “lost generation”
should be believed in and championed.
He took risks to see it happen.
Some of the young men and women Noel
“fathered” are leading movers and shakers
in the Jesus Army today. An anonymous
comment in a memorial book to Noel’s
memory says it all: “He told me he had always
believed in me. That meant so much.
He inspired confidence in me each time
we spoke.”
In his last message to the Jesus Fellowship,
in a memo written from his hospital
bed, Noel wrote movingly of the call to be
characterised by “more living humanity”,
with “passion of love for every kind of person”.
He wrote, “You will believe in people;
churches will be true families; you will be
relevant to society and will find you have
Jesus Life
www.jesus.org.uk