Fire in our hearts - Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS
tion against the ‘jungle’ of Christianity where people have no
definite commitment to a church.
Roger: What happens when committed members ‘break
covenant’? Are there really no bad vibes?
Noel: Of course people are always free to leave us and many
who do so remain on good terms. We have many in our congregations
who truly belong to us but have not made covenant.
Those that do, accept a covenant of membership with
pledges concerning faith and lifestyle. Covenant does bring a
spiritual obligation. But we never say, Roger, as we’ve been
accused of saying, that covenant members who leave us are
damned. We do warn them of the dangers of backsliding. But
those who leave us are loved and prayed for.
Roger: Some people think that once you get into a community
house it’s very hard to get out again and that there’s
some kind of sinister hold over people.
Noel: That’s rather silly! Up to two years is a trial period in
which people can assess their call to community. There’s no
problem in their withdrawing during that stage. The trustees
will not accept capital or goods until after at least a year has
passed and then they have the authority to return any wealth
that’s been handed in, or to make payments in certain circumstances.
If established people want to leave community there will
naturally be pastoral activity to understand the problem. In
many cases a move to non-community membership proves
helpful. Others do leave us altogether and, of course, that’s
painful.
Roger: Now I’ve a few questions about money, and it always
raises people’s hackles once we start to touch on the
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