Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
COMMUNICATE!
With our continued expansion I noticed many new faces at
the leaders meeting. The southern brothers I knew pretty well,
so I assumed these hailed from up north; from Manchester,
Burnley, Newcastle or Preston (not to mention Scotland).
Ian ‘Greatheart’ was an old worthy now operating up north.
Twenty years ago Ian and his wife had moved to a quiet village
called Bugbrooke. Discovering a little chapel down the
road the stalwart evangelicals had walked straight into a
bunch of charismatic, communitarian fanatics. Normal life
soon came to an end as the young family began the journey of
a lifetime. Now Ian was a Senior Leader, manager of Skaino
Services, and church planter in Sheffield.
Though we were famous for reaching ‘street-people’, this
was hardly the whole picture. Up in Sheffield a notorious
criminal soon joined hands with a university boff. A young
Polish doctor, Andrzej and his wife Sharron (who’d once
planned to be a nun) also provided the strength for a second
household there. Likewise in Manchester; it was a university
lecturer and his wife who opened their large house to provide
a good base in the city.
The shape of things was changing. The previous year had
seen record growth among those who did not, as yet, live in
community. This type of membership we called Style 1. Style
2 embraced a greater degree of accountability and financial
giving whilst Style 3 was our classic all-things-in-common
community membership. Growth in this style was disappointing.
However there were encouraging signs. In areas where new
groups had no community house, people just wanted to be
together. Church households were springing up in places like
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