Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
NEW GENERATION
Noel was much impressed with a South American, Ed Silvoso,
and his passion for city people. Ed Silvoso believed that
‘If you want to reach your city for Christ, you must catch God’s
heartbeat. Listen carefully and you will hear two sounds:
none... all. None to perish. All to come to repentance.’ 135
His book, That None Should Perish, described a strategy of
‘prayer evangelism’ that had impacted whole cities in Argentina.
‘Prayer evangelism’ was systematic spiritual warfare
which engaged the enemy in aggressive prayer whilst mobilising
cell groups to penetrate into the neighbourhood.
In comparison, our own activity was fairly laid back and
unorganised. Wednesday night cell groups were flexible. This
had its plus points, but there was wasted effort and laziness.
Maybe these cell groups needed motivation and management.
Mobilising our ‘troops’ into Northampton would also challenge
any complacency in the central church.
We were talking war here. It was useless trying to capture
enemy territory if our own ground was vulnerable and insecure.
As Ed Silvoso pointed out, Hezekiah first cleansed the
temple before he was able to convert the city. Our community
households needed cleansing and reviving.
The spirit of radical pioneering had been our genius over
the years. This had to be recaptured. If residential community
was to be a minority portion in the church, it must be the
white hot centre, unadulterated and undiluted. Retaking the
central ground was first priority.
We took a special pledge of sacrifice, inspired by the example
of a dynamic Christian biker club. This was ours:
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