Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
COMMUNICATE!
We determined to forgive one another and to forgive all
who’d written or spoken against us. We also took what steps
we could to be reunited in heart with the Baptist Union and
the Evangelical Alliance. We prepared a Declaration for Wembley
in which we resolved ‘to love, forgive and encourage
one another and enthusiastically believe that fires of revival
are breaking out in church and nation.’
At Wembley, Lynn Green from YWAM challenged us to catch
some of the fire now blazing in much of the third world and to
plant churches throughout Britain. We had already set targets
for church-planting but resources were low and some
problems still unresolved. We opened a new house in Oxford
but it was our only purchase. 1990 was a year for mending
nets.
The tearing and repairing went on. Church membership
was growing but more were moving out of community than
in. These included a handful of committed celibates who now
wanted to marry. Such breakdowns in celibacy showed the
need for pure motives, caution and wisdom in dealing with a
gift as vulnerable as it was precious. We urged a trial year
before making a celibate vow.
Happily many who struggled with temptations found a
deeper reality, not in repressing their emotions, but in rekindling
their passion for Jesus. First love was really what all
this upheaval was about.
At the Easter Festival the theme was full surrender. Many
came forward for ‘sanctification’ but I found it hard to believe
that all who shot their hand up afterwards had really
entered the sunlit regions of perfect love. Especially those
who then lit up outside!
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