Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
AWAKE O ZION!
and leadership of the church could only be entrusted to those
who had renounced all. Many, desiring freedom from personal
ownership, put their homes in pledge to our Jesus Fellowship
Community Trust. Heart purity, we felt, was easily
marred by possessions.
Much of the fellowship now expected to move into community.
Many of the estate households had clustered together to
share in common purses, practise discipleship, and foster the
community vision. Victor and Sheila had already moved to
the Hall and, whilst retaining their family identity, thrived on
the closer fellowship. It was quite something for the four children,
too: lots of others to play with, thirteen acres, and all
those big brothers and sisters! Extended families were good,
but large houses provided more opportunities for growth, ministry
— and death to self!
We intended to increase the number of large houses and to
expand the businesses, allowing more to live and work in community.
Some of us chuckled as we imagined hundreds of us
working together on a community production line, and there
were also howls of laughter when Noel outlined the possibility
of a holiday school at New Creation Hall. It was difficult to
tell who looked more horrified, the poor teachers, the hardworked
Hall sisters, or the kids themselves! It happened too,
and continued for some years. The Fellowship kids had the
Hutterites to blame for this one!
Our understanding of covenant deepened as we saw that in
biblical revelation God dealt with a ‘gathered people’. The
Reformation had emphasised personal faith but was inclined
to open the floodgates to individualism and even anarchy.
God’s covenant was with Christ and a people. Just as the Passo-
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