Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
ON THE MARCH
it up in disgust. Then he pieced it together and passed it on
to us!
A group was formed to ‘pray’ against us, and they motivated
a smear campaign. The ‘Jesus Cult’ pamphlet was distributed
to ministers, relatives, new converts and the press.
The Jesus Fellowship was discussed in churches, on radio,
and even in Woman magazine! Letters flew around, and the
media were fed with titbits.
The effect was poisonous, and suspicion spread like cancer.
A Christian church had been reviled, and the name of
Jesus dishonoured. New friends and converts stumbled as
critics sought to turn away those whom we had led to Christ.
We expected opposition, but this was shameful.
On December 24th the Daily Star accused us of denying
our children the innocent joys of Christmas. Innocent joys! In
fact, we had already scheduled December 26th as a special
Children’s Day. (The Hall kids enjoyed an outing to a wildlife
park.) Many laughed at the press, and relatives and friends
were often supportive of the Fellowship. In the school where
I worked they respected us. (They said I had a ‘calming influence’
on the staff room!) However, many Christians seemed
gullible.
Dave ‘Resolute’, our PR man, had a busy time. In 1986 we
were embarking on a two year programme of ‘explosive pioneering’
all over England, evangelising and planting ‘church
households’. Noel had his hands full and Dave had the unenviable
task of heading up a PR battle, answering the press
and shuttling between leaders. Eventually we asked the Evangelical
Alliance to stand with us publicly.
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