Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
AWAKE O ZION!
Community living took ‘The Spirit of the Cross’ out of the
pages of a book and made it a necessity for survival. If we
had any illusions about community being a quiet haven away
from the storms of life, we soon lost them. We discovered it
was in these ‘courts of the Lord’, not in the world, that the
old nature faced up to its crucifixion!
In fact, some left us and the original families at the Hall
eventually moved out. But most of us wouldn’t have missed
that era for anything. It was immensely fruitful and strong
characters were chiselled out of community life.
By 1975 three things in particular occupied the attention of
charismatic Christians around the world — shepherding, community
and the kingdom of God. Shepherding had hit a crisis
in the States and there was controversy over ‘heavy shepherding’.
Christians began to view the concept of authority
and submission in the church with distrust.
As for community living, the idea was popular but most
churches regarded it as a risky business and few committed
themselves wholly to it. But at Bugbrooke, we resolved to
keep our hands on the plough and move steadily forward.
Vision was strong amongst us and God was sending us people
fast. We pressed on along the ‘narrow road’ of discipleship,
aiming to follow Jesus and ‘seek first his kingdom’ (Matt
6:33).
Many other churches, too, were gaining a deeper understanding
of the kingdom of God. The prophets of Israel had
foretold that the coming of Messiah, Christ, would establish
the rule of God. But when? Christ had come, but what of his
kingdom?
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