Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
COMMUNICATE!
in the spiritual climate now developing. All around were confused,
longing people sick of material values and hungry for
love, warmth and reality. Our task was to identify, show a
brotherly alternative and gently guide them to Jesus.
In the light of this, any aggressive overtones in the army
image were played down. We Fight For You! and Love, Power
and Sacrifice were mellowed to Jesus People—Loving People.
We were a JESUS army with the emphasis on Jesus. Recently
God had changed the face of our church. We now needed
a new image, a new approach. So at the 1993 Easter Festival
we launched the ‘modern JESUS army’ in all its rainbow colours:
its commission — to flow with the people.
The following months found us at raves, in pubs and nightclubs,
at parties, on the beaches and at festivals. We baptised
people in rivers, the sea, even the fountains at Trafalgar
Square. A fast-moving video, We’re Jesus Revolutionaries,
captured some of the excitement. But the heart of this revolution
was Jesus, friend of sinners. Loving people was the
key.
The creation sketch from Narnia was repeated in Manchester
and Sheffield and the marked anointing on it suggested
that God could use technology as a servant of the Spirit.
At clubs and festivals we noted the tremendous influence
of music. If music communicated so powerfully, then maybe
God was calling us to speak in its language. Everywhere we
saw the instinct to worship. Whether dancing before a totem
pole or raving the night away on ecstasy, people wanted to
abandon themselves in a group experience akin to worship.
The present culture was also highly visual. Pictures speak
more than words and even books were becoming outdated in
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