Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
COMMUNICATE!
I was writing about church as a counterculture and asked
some of the Palm Tree crew why they’d joined us. One sister
with a degree in philosophy explained: ‘The churches I knew
catered for middle class couples and were a bit boring. I was
looking for something more unworldly. The group at Oxford
attracted me. There were so many different types; skinheads,
hippies, a doctor, a zany housewife, an ex-actress. They were
getting to grips with the need.’
The ex-actress, Mary, and her friend from theatre were both
single mums who enjoyed the everyday drama at Palm Tree
Cottage. Mary was finding some deep healing in community:
When I arrived five years ago with my two-year-old boy, my
husband had just left me. I’d known a lot of heartbreak. At 17 I
was assaulted and had numbed the pain in a succession of fantasies:
Teddy boys, Gothics, New Age and theatre. Marriage
gave me some happiness till that was shattered. But then I found
Jesus. The day I walked into this little haven in Northamptonshire
I felt God’s presence and a real peace. There are some
right characters here, but among them, and with prayer, I’ve
begun to find the real me.
A gracious addition to this eccentric bunch was a family
who had fled from war-torn Uganda. Ketty was a tall young
woman whose father was an African pastor. She’d lost her
home and her husband but had found refuge with her two
children in this English oakbeamed cottage.
Ketty was a prayer-warrior (we needed her!), loved holiness
and often praised God. We must have tried her patience,
but as Ketty remarked, with a very wide smile: ‘I feel I’ve
350