Jesus Life 91 - The Jesus Army
Jesus Life 91 - The Jesus Army
Jesus Life 91 - The Jesus Army
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
JESUS<br />
Issue <strong>91</strong> FREE<br />
three / 2012<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
LIFE<br />
<strong>The</strong> magazine of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> & Multiply<br />
Christian Network<br />
ON LONDON’s<br />
STREETs<br />
INSIDE: TALKING TO “DIGITAL NUN” ALCOHOLISM MULTIPLY RWANDA
CONTENTS<br />
New<br />
Generation 4-7<br />
Rich Wilson of<br />
Fusion on raising<br />
up future leaders<br />
Called out of<br />
chaos 8-9<br />
Carrie-Ann Edwards<br />
tells <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> how<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> rescued her<br />
On the<br />
margins 11-14<br />
A look at the ‘hidden<br />
problem’ of middleclass<br />
alcoholism<br />
Talking<br />
to... 18-22<br />
An interview with<br />
“Digital Nun”, Sister<br />
Catherine Wybourne<br />
Multiply<br />
Rwanda 23-26<br />
A moving story of<br />
a community of<br />
reconciliation<br />
To forgive is<br />
divine 30-32<br />
A young man’s<br />
testimony of difficult<br />
forgiveness<br />
2 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
and...<br />
History Makers 15-17<br />
‘Beguines’: radical women of God<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centres 27-29<br />
<strong>The</strong> journey toward Birmingham <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
Astounding news 33<br />
An excited blog post from Stuart Patnell<br />
Just four questions 34<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> asks a <strong>Jesus</strong> radical just four questions<br />
Keep in touch 35<br />
Phone numbers for UK Multiply churches<br />
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church, which is also known as the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
<strong>Army</strong> and includes the New Creation Christian Community, upholds the<br />
historic Christian faith, being reformed, evangelical and charismatic.<br />
It practises believer’s baptism and the New Testament reality of<br />
Christ’s Church; believing in Almighty God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit;<br />
in the full divinity, atoning death and bodily resurrection of the Lord<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Christ; in the Bible as God’s word, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit.<br />
This church desires to witness to the Lordship of <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ<br />
over and in His Church; and, by holy character, righteous society<br />
and evangelical testimony to declare that <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ, Son<br />
of God, the only Saviour, is the way, the truth and the life, and<br />
through Him alone can we find and enter the kingdom of God.<br />
This church proclaims free grace, justification by faith in Christ<br />
and the sealing and sanctifying baptism in the Holy Spirit.<br />
© 2012 <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3LB,<br />
UK. Editor: James Stacey. Reproduction in any form requires written<br />
permission. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship does not necessarily agree with all<br />
the views expressed in articles and interviews printed in this magazine.<br />
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the<br />
HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973,<br />
1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder &<br />
Stoughton Ltd, a member of the Hodder headline Plc Group. All rights<br />
reserved. Photographs in this magazine are copyright <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
Church or royalty-free stock photos from www.sxc.hu. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
is part of Multiply Christian Network. Both the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship and<br />
Multiply Christian Network are members of the Evangelical Alliance<br />
UK. <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship <strong>Life</strong> Trust Registered Charity number 1107952.<br />
JESUS<br />
ARMY<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
ON LONDON’S<br />
STREETS<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
A word from Mick Haines,<br />
apostolic team leader of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
LONDON WAS very busy this summer with<br />
the Olympics. We were very pleased to be<br />
able to march for <strong>Jesus</strong> in the West End of<br />
the capital in June. <strong>The</strong>re was rain before and<br />
after, but as we marched along the streets and<br />
gathered for a <strong>Jesus</strong> demonstration in Trafalgar<br />
Square the sun shone!<br />
We were very blessed to have around<br />
65 delegates from Africa, the Indian subcontinent,<br />
South America and several other<br />
places join us for the march. <strong>The</strong>y came for our<br />
Multiply International Leaders’ conference. Our<br />
eight apostolic men helped to enrich the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship “Power Festival” at Pentecost, with<br />
songs from their countries and inspirational<br />
testimonies. Rukundo (pictured right) is our<br />
apostolic man for Rwanda. You can read more<br />
about him on pages 23-26.<br />
We recently held our “Winning Festival”<br />
in our Golden Marquee. Our focus was “the<br />
overcoming church”. <strong>The</strong>re is a real sense<br />
of God moving us forward as we face many<br />
challenges including succession and the<br />
strengthening of our distant plants. We ever<br />
want to be an army spreading and enforcing<br />
the victory of <strong>Jesus</strong>.<br />
We do value the friendship and support of<br />
many in the UK and other nations. Please<br />
continue to pray for us. <strong>The</strong> spiritual battle is<br />
intense.<br />
Finally: this issue of <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> magazine<br />
is the last! In keeping with this internet age,<br />
we are moving our focus more fully onto our<br />
website, jesus.org.uk. A new updated version<br />
of this website will be coming out before the<br />
end of 2012. In future we will release, just<br />
once a year, a magazine named jesus.org.uk<br />
with highlights from the website. This will be<br />
distributed by <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship members and<br />
friends; we will no longer be maintaining a<br />
mailing list. However, if you wish to receive the<br />
first jesus.org.uk magazine in January 2013,<br />
fill in the card between pages 10 and 11 and<br />
we will send it to you free of charge.<br />
May God bless you as read this last <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
<strong>Life</strong> magazine.<br />
JL<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 3
THE PROPHETIC<br />
WORD<br />
RELEASING A<br />
NEW GENERATION<br />
OF LEADERS<br />
4<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Rich Wilson is the National<br />
Team Leader for student network,<br />
Fusion. He spoke at the Multiply<br />
International Leaders Conference<br />
this year about releasing a younger<br />
generation of students.<br />
I<br />
’M PASSIONATE about connecting students<br />
to church and church to students. Courageous<br />
steps need to be taken to create space and<br />
expectation for young adults to come and pioneer<br />
the church.<br />
Risk-taking is the only way<br />
At Fusion we took a risk with a young woman<br />
called Anna. We’ve been seeking to engage with<br />
Loughborough University and to bless it for<br />
nearly twenty years now. A few years ago we<br />
asked the university how we could bless them<br />
and they said, “Well, you can serve us. You can<br />
help us clear up some litter after a festival and do<br />
some car park attending”. Around the same time,<br />
a girl called Anna had real compassion for the<br />
female students who were getting very drunk in<br />
the student union night club. <strong>The</strong> student union<br />
night club in Loughborough holds around 3000<br />
people and it’s a mad place to be, a challenging<br />
place to be. It’s a place where we need a whole<br />
load of Christians to stand out and do things.<br />
So Anna started hanging around the female<br />
toilets, looking after the really drunk female<br />
students because they were vulnerable. She’d<br />
hold their hair while they were being sick and<br />
make sure they got home safely. <strong>The</strong>n another<br />
group of Christians started working with her and<br />
ministering to the girls and guys.<br />
<strong>The</strong> student union noticed what was going on<br />
and they said, “You’re doing what we should be<br />
doing, but you’re better at it, so why don’t you<br />
take responsibility for the pastoral and practical<br />
needs of the students on these nights?”<br />
It’s a bit like having Street Pastors inside the<br />
nightclub. It has grown and grown, and now<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
Are we able to see<br />
through people’s<br />
ordinariness? To<br />
see what God has<br />
put in them?<br />
they’ve named the club event after us!<br />
Desperation makes taking risks easier! How<br />
desperate are you to see a new generation<br />
released into effectiveness? <strong>The</strong> woman in the<br />
bible who was bleeding for twelve years took a<br />
big risk to touch the rabbi’s clothing, but in taking<br />
a risk, power is released and she is rewarded.<br />
Desperation drove her to take the risk.<br />
Anna was released in a risky venture in<br />
reaching people. It’s a great story which can be<br />
multiplied and replicated right around the UK<br />
and Europe. We estimate on “Club Mission”<br />
nights there are 40 Christians out in t-shirts<br />
doing all kinds of things, like looking after the<br />
drunk students, giving out water, handing out<br />
cups of tea, and flip flops to girls with high<br />
heels they can’t walk in when they’re drunk.<br />
We reckon we minister to around 15 per cent<br />
of the university in one night.<br />
Sometimes a time in the wilderness prepares<br />
us for taking risks. <strong>The</strong>re are clear parallels<br />
between Elijah’s and <strong>Jesus</strong>’ “wilderness<br />
experiences” in 1 Kings 19 and Matthew 4.<br />
Both Elijah and <strong>Jesus</strong> travelled through the<br />
wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and were<br />
ministered to by angels. Both of them called<br />
people to follow them – Elijah called Elisha<br />
to leave his lifestyle behind and follow him,<br />
and <strong>Jesus</strong> called the disciples to follow Him,<br />
promising to make them “fishers of men.”<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 5
She’d hold their<br />
hair while they<br />
were being sick<br />
and make sure they<br />
got home safely<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
Desperate measures are needed<br />
We all enter into ‘the wilderness’ for some<br />
seasons in our life. Most of the time it’s not our<br />
choice, or something that we want to do, but<br />
we find ourselves there. Elijah was intimidated<br />
and depressed, but he was sustained by the<br />
Spirit. He was encouraged and ministered to<br />
by angels for 40 days and nights. He ventured<br />
through the wilderness before he met with<br />
God.<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong>, affirmed by the Father, led by the<br />
Spirit, enters the desert to “face his demon”<br />
and he’s ministered to by angels. <strong>The</strong>re’s<br />
something about the wilderness that makes<br />
us aware of our weakness and it’s out of that<br />
weakness that we gain clarity.<br />
We will struggle to truly release younger<br />
leaders from a place of strength and<br />
sufficiency. <strong>The</strong>re’s a cost to truly releasing<br />
people; it’s not just about recruiting volunteers<br />
to do our bidding, it’s about multiplying<br />
leaders. That’s a whole other level of risk and<br />
I think it’s difficult to do that from a place<br />
of strength – we need it to happen out of<br />
desperation.<br />
<strong>The</strong> art of seeing needs to be embraced<br />
This is what happens to Elijah: God very<br />
clearly speaks to him about his successor. We<br />
don’t get that from <strong>Jesus</strong>, but my guess is, it’s<br />
a very formative time; He’s got an idea about<br />
what’s going to happen next, even who He’s<br />
going to choose to be His disciples. <strong>The</strong>se were<br />
common people – Elisha was just a farmer,<br />
one of twelve teams ploughing the fields, Peter<br />
and Andrew were fishermen.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y were ordinary people and the challenge<br />
for us is: are we able to see through people’s<br />
ordinariness? To see what God has put in them?<br />
Do we embrace this art of seeing what God sees?<br />
It’s going to be the key to getting the right people<br />
and the right leaders beyond their self doubt.<br />
Beyond the enormous ego that is sometimes<br />
there in young men, lies potential.<br />
s<br />
s<br />
6<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
A high challenge is mandatory<br />
Philip Petit is a tightrope walker. In the early<br />
1970s, when the twin towers had been built,<br />
he read about them in a magazine in a dentist<br />
surgery. He saw the plans for the towers and<br />
thought, “I know what I want to do: I want to<br />
rig up a wire from one tower the other and walk<br />
across.” He got so excited about the vision of it.<br />
He said, “It’s impossible – so let’s start working”.<br />
“It’s impossible – so let’s start working”.<br />
That could be our mandate. And that’s what<br />
Philip Petit did on 7 August, 1974 – he illegally<br />
rigged a wire from one tower to the other and<br />
walked across.<br />
We must call a generation to respond to a<br />
high challenge. Young people don’t need a<br />
low bar; they need a high bar, something to<br />
reach for. <strong>The</strong>y need something that will be a<br />
challenge and will cost them.<br />
With Elisha, there was a gap, a time for<br />
consideration. Once Elisha’s made up his mind<br />
there’s no going back; there’s a high challenge.<br />
Celebrate the competency gap<br />
This isn’t always very easy to do. I remember<br />
a student just turned up Loughborough<br />
University a few years ago now. In the first<br />
week he was very keen: he said to me, “I’m<br />
not sure which team to join! <strong>The</strong> student<br />
leadership team or the church leadership<br />
team?” I thought, “Well, let’s just see how you<br />
get on, shall we?!” But there was certainly a<br />
desire in him to achieve.<br />
How do we release young men and women<br />
who’ve still got issues and character failings?<br />
Release young<br />
leaders: they<br />
are going to do it<br />
differently<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
For a start, I mustn’t be unrealistic about how<br />
I was like when someone released me. Some<br />
of the students I meet now are way further on<br />
than where I was when I was their age.<br />
It was the same with Elisha: he had his<br />
issues (he couldn’t take ridicule, for instance)<br />
even after ten years of training with Elijah.<br />
Or <strong>Jesus</strong>’ disciples: they wanted to be first;<br />
they wanted to call down fire; they didn’t<br />
understand most of what <strong>Jesus</strong> told them.<br />
We often think young people “aren’t quite<br />
ready yet” – but we’ve got to release them<br />
anyway. <strong>The</strong>re are some things that God<br />
will deal with in individuals – they’re not for<br />
us to deal with. We have to release them.<br />
Don’t fear what you see as the competency<br />
gap – recognise God works with the new<br />
generation “as they are” – and celebrate it.<br />
Can we release without agenda?<br />
This is perhaps the hardest thing for leaders.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y’ve worked hard to get to where they are,<br />
to steward what God’s given them – but there<br />
is an imperative to release younger leaders, not<br />
just create volunteers. <strong>The</strong>y are not just there to<br />
do our bidding or to enhance our position, our<br />
reputation, our credit, or our work.<br />
Release young leaders: they are going to<br />
do it differently. <strong>The</strong>y are not there to be our<br />
shadow; they are there to lead and take the<br />
church forward. That’s something we need<br />
to work out. May we all have the courage and<br />
the wisdom to multiply out younger leaders. JL<br />
Rich Wilson is team leader for<br />
Fusion. He works across the four<br />
purposes of Fusion to ensure<br />
joined up thinking and action for<br />
the delivery and expansion of the network.<br />
He is responsible for strategy that builds<br />
partnerships with students, churches and<br />
other organisations. Rich is married to<br />
Ness and has been based in Loughborough<br />
since 1992.<br />
VISIT THE FUSION WEBSITE: fusion.uk.com<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 7
CALLED OUT<br />
OF CHAOS<br />
8<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Carrie-Ann Edwards tells <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
the moving story of how God healed<br />
her from her chaotic past.<br />
WAS starving hungry, had no money, three of<br />
I my family members were in prison, mum had<br />
died and I had lost my daughter. I felt like my<br />
life had been a lie, so far, and I felt so alone.<br />
I’d just been released from hospital (from<br />
an overdose) and now I wanted to end my life<br />
again. I phoned a helpline: “Try the Coventry<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre,” they suggested, “they give out<br />
food parcels.”<br />
I went down to the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre and sat at<br />
the back; they were talking about God and I was<br />
angry: “<strong>The</strong>re is no God. You’re taking the Mick.<br />
I hate God – He’s hurt me.”<br />
When the meeting was over I was invited<br />
back to Promise House, a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
community house, for lunch. People were sitting<br />
round tables and I was shocked to notice<br />
glasses of water. I had never sat at a table to eat,<br />
or to drink water – we only had beer!<br />
<strong>The</strong>n someone prayed: “Thank You, Lord, for<br />
the food we’re about to eat.” In that moment I<br />
found God; something inside me changed and<br />
for some unknown reason I fell in love with<br />
God. Hope had come back into my life.<br />
I was brought up in Coventry and my parents<br />
It was like I was<br />
at the cross and<br />
everything in me<br />
was nailed to it<br />
– my habit, my<br />
hurt, my pain<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
were alcoholics. I was an alcoholic at the age of<br />
twelve and at fourteen I began taking drugs. At<br />
sixteen I moved in with my boyfriend; we later<br />
got married and had a baby. We began arguing;<br />
I was drinking anything I could get my hands<br />
on and my husband began turning violent.<br />
When my child was five, I went to a safe<br />
house. Mum became very ill. I had a bad nervous<br />
breakdown; I couldn’t cope anymore and<br />
I asked social services for help. <strong>The</strong>n Mum<br />
died and my child was taken into care. I was<br />
traumatised and tried to commit suicide. I also<br />
self-harmed.<br />
After two years I left the safe haven and<br />
got a flat. I fought to get my child back but I<br />
still drank and took drugs. <strong>The</strong> social services<br />
thought I was an unfit mum because of my<br />
habit and because I kept breaking down.<br />
It was at this point that I walked into<br />
the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre. <strong>Life</strong> wasn’t plain sailing<br />
afterwards. I lost my child after finding God and<br />
at one point I felt like I was losing God too.<br />
On New Year’s Eve 2010 I got really wasted<br />
with drugs and drinks and the next day I phoned<br />
up someone at the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre for help. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
invited me to a meeting in Northampton.<br />
That day I got really free from drugs and<br />
drink. I fell on my knees and I called out to God:<br />
“I can’t take any more.” Everything I had, all of<br />
me, I gave to Him.<br />
God brought me, for the first time, to the<br />
cross. It was like I was actually at the cross where<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> died and everything in me was nailed to it<br />
– my habit, my hurt, my pain. I experienced God<br />
embracing me. It was really peaceful. God lifted<br />
everything off me. I was lost in Him.<br />
God has been faithful; it’s Him that keeps<br />
me afloat.<br />
He’s helped me get clean and eased the pain<br />
of losing my daughter. I’ve got a new family<br />
I can trust now and I have been shown what<br />
love is again. I live in Christian community and<br />
have a full time job. It’s not always been an easy<br />
journey but it has been exciting and fulfilling. JL<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 9
WHO’D WANT TO LIVE<br />
TOGETHER & SHARE<br />
ALL THEIR STUFF?<br />
...these people would!<br />
A <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship DVD production<br />
ONE<br />
heart & soul<br />
Seven short videos on life in an intentional<br />
Christian community on one DVD...<br />
NEW<br />
and only<br />
£5.99<br />
To order your DVD, flick to the card<br />
between pages 26 and 27 and fill out the<br />
order form, or go to www.jesuspeople.biz<br />
10 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
OFF THE<br />
BOTTLE<br />
I had a young<br />
family and a<br />
mortgage and<br />
started drinking<br />
incessantly to cope<br />
with the stress<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
Dominic Finch-Noyes leads an alcohol<br />
support group ‘Stay Dry, Be Free’<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> takes a look at the<br />
widespread but often hidden<br />
problem of alcoholism amongst<br />
middle-class professionals in the UK<br />
THINK Britain has a huge drink problem,”<br />
I Alistair Campbell, former Director of<br />
Communications and Strategy for Tony Blair,<br />
recently told <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong>. “I think there’s a real<br />
danger that all the focus is on binge drinking<br />
and people causing trouble in city centres. I’m<br />
not saying that isn’t a problem, but I think the<br />
bigger problem is the middle class professionals<br />
who are addicted to alcohol.<br />
“As a country I don’t think we have accepted<br />
that so many people, particularly middle-class<br />
people, are addicted to drink. <strong>The</strong>y’re not so visible<br />
– they are often at home – they don’t come<br />
out drunk.”<br />
Dominic Finch-Noyes, 58, a member of the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship, runs a group at Northampton<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre for people who with serious<br />
alcohol issues called “Stay Dry, Be Free”.<br />
Dominic has experienced firsthand the painful<br />
slide into alcoholism.<br />
“My father was a wine merchant,” explains<br />
Dominic; “I grew up in a drinking environment.<br />
I went into the wine trade, too, and had<br />
my own business. Until my late 30s I was a<br />
borderline alcoholic.<br />
“In the late 80s and early 90s I had been very<br />
successful businesswise. But the early 90s financial<br />
crisis caused interest rates to rise quickly. Being<br />
a small business man, my company overdraft<br />
suddenly cost me much more; customers stopped<br />
paying; cash-flow dried up. I had a young family<br />
and a mortgage and started drinking incessantly<br />
to cope with the stress.<br />
“My wife, Susan, was a Christian (I wasn’t).<br />
She had the courage to believe that things<br />
would eventually get sorted. She coped until she<br />
couldn’t cope anymore, but eventually told me I<br />
had to live somewhere else.<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 11
I know from<br />
experience that the<br />
first step you have<br />
to take is to admit<br />
your problem<br />
Alistair Campbell, speaking at Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />
12 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
WHAT IS AN ALCOHOLIC?<br />
Someone who is dependent on or addicted to<br />
alcohol.<br />
WHAT ARE ALCOHOL’S WITHDRAWAL<br />
SYMPTOMS?<br />
When alcoholics abstain from drink their<br />
experiences include: sweating, nausea, shaking,<br />
diarrhoea, rapid heartbeat and seizures (which<br />
can be life threatening). Psychological symptoms<br />
include stress, anxiety and depression.<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
“I tried as hard as I could, for four years, to<br />
give up drinking – unsuccessfully. I wanted more<br />
than anything to stop. I managed to get into<br />
residential rehab, but was chucked out for drinking<br />
(worse than ever) and hitched to near our<br />
house in Huntingdon, where I lived rough. One<br />
morning, I waited till the kids were at school,<br />
knocked on the door and asked my wife for a cup<br />
of tea. I went into the downstairs toilet and saw<br />
myself in the shaving mirror and the enormity<br />
of my helplessness hit me; I looked like a twitchy<br />
scarecrow. I realised I just couldn’t fix this. At<br />
that point, for the first time in my life, I started<br />
crying out to God.”<br />
Dominic’s wife had heard about the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship and rang asking for help. Two weeks<br />
later, Dominic went to stay at Honeycomb, a <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship house in Northamptonshire.<br />
Dominic continues: “I was ill with alcohol,<br />
underweight and weak. I spent June and July<br />
1994 working on the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship’s farm. I got<br />
physically well and at the same time I found new<br />
life; I was born again. Later I was filled with the<br />
Holy Spirit. I did drink a couple more times, but<br />
six months later I had my last drink. That was in<br />
January 1995.”<br />
“My wife visited me and made friends, too. I<br />
lived at Honeycomb for six months and Susan<br />
was so happy with what she found that she<br />
had the confidence to agree to sell our house<br />
in Huntingdon. In 1995, my family all moved<br />
into Honeycomb with me and we stayed for<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
six or seven months before moving to our own<br />
new home.<br />
“My family was back together again. <strong>The</strong>y’ve<br />
forgiven me for the pain I caused them and I have<br />
a new church family too. <strong>Jesus</strong> continues to give<br />
me the strength to stay dry and to help others to<br />
do the same.”<br />
Alistair Campbell describes his “big crash”,<br />
back in the 1980s – the day he ended up in<br />
hospital when drinking and depression triggered<br />
a breakdown – as “the best day of my life and<br />
the worst day of my life; it was the best because I<br />
survived and sorted myself out”.<br />
He added, “I think part of the problem with all<br />
mental illness, and I include alcoholism in that<br />
category, is that there’s still so much stigma and<br />
taboo attached to it that people are generally<br />
reluctant to open up. <strong>The</strong> most important thing,<br />
I think, is to bring it more out into the open. If<br />
you’re reluctant to open up, you don’t find the<br />
services that might be able to help you.<br />
“I know from experience that the first step you<br />
have to take is to admit your problem. My worry<br />
is that for some people there is no rock bottom,<br />
before death.<br />
“It’s only because of what I gained through the<br />
experience that I have been able to do what I have<br />
done since. It’s helped me prioritise and accept<br />
things that are important which before I had<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
WHAT ARE THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL<br />
DEPENDENCY?<br />
• Physical problems include: insomnia, infertility,<br />
memory loss, liver disease, high blood pressure,<br />
stroke, coronary heart disease and obesity.<br />
• Psychological problems include: anxiety,<br />
depression and suicidal feelings.<br />
• Personal problems include: loss or<br />
disruption of relationships, loss of<br />
employment, financial difficulties.<br />
• Social problems can include crime such as<br />
violence or theft.<br />
• Safety problems include accidents at work,<br />
at home, and on the road.<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 13
WHAT CAUSES ALCOHOL ADDICTION?<br />
Sometimes drinking is an integral part of<br />
people’s social life and dependence gradually<br />
creeps up on them; sometimes it runs in the<br />
family; sometimes stress at work or in the family<br />
such as the death of a family member causes<br />
people to find temporary relief in alcohol.<br />
HOW WIDESPREAD IS ALCOHOLISM?<br />
More than one in 25 adults in the UK are<br />
dependent on alcohol and the UK has one of<br />
the highest rates of binge drinking in Europe.<br />
According to <strong>The</strong> Office for National Statistics,<br />
the professional classes are the most frequent<br />
drinkers in the country.<br />
People need to<br />
not just know<br />
about forgiveness;<br />
they need to<br />
experience it<br />
14 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
Stay Dry, Be Free group members<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
pushed away.”<br />
Dominic identified relationships as key to<br />
his recovery: “I had never met Christian men I<br />
could relate to before. Now I met guys of my age,<br />
people I could connect with. I realised there was a<br />
masculine, virile, radical faith available. I’d never<br />
appreciated this – and it was for me.”<br />
“Stay Dry, Be Free”, the alcohol support group<br />
Dominic and others run, aims to be a secure,<br />
trusting environment for people to share honestly<br />
how they have coped with their addiction during<br />
the last week.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> group has to be a safe place,” Dominic explains.<br />
“People can look at us and say, ‘If they can<br />
do it – people who have hit rock bottom – I can.<br />
<strong>The</strong> group is inclusive – people of any faith or none<br />
are welcome. However, we do say, ‘This is the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre; sometimes we may pray – but we will<br />
not shove it down your throat. We may also discuss<br />
our experience from a spiritual dimension.’ <strong>The</strong>re<br />
is no programme, no professionals and sometimes<br />
we just sit around and have a discussion.”<br />
Paul, a member of the group, put it like this:<br />
“A car that has had a head on smash can take<br />
months, even years, to repair and that is the same<br />
with us. We have to learn to cope with the guilt,<br />
the regrets. People need to not just know about<br />
forgiveness; they need to experience it.” JL<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
BREAKING<br />
THE BOUNDS<br />
Trevor Saxby tells the remarkable<br />
story of the Beguines, a radical<br />
Christian women’s movement in the<br />
Middle Ages.<br />
WE LIVE IN days of great social upheaval.<br />
<strong>The</strong> late 1100s were much the same.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re was a great migration away from rural life<br />
and into the towns, where a new “middle class”<br />
of merchants and craftsmen evolved. Also, the<br />
Crusades had led thousands of men to their<br />
death, leaving an imbalance of women.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Church was not well placed to cope<br />
with this new climate. For centuries, the<br />
beating heart of the faith had been the<br />
monasteries, but these were usually in the<br />
country, their ancient traditions out of touch<br />
with new social developments. Many had<br />
grown rich and cared little for service and<br />
evangelism. Women who wanted to live<br />
radically for God had few openings. <strong>The</strong> time<br />
was ripe for a new expression of the kingdom of<br />
God, and the Beguines rose to the challenge.<br />
This was a grassroots movement that began<br />
with a group of praying women in Liège,<br />
Belgium, in the 1190s. <strong>The</strong>ir name derives<br />
from Lambert le Bègue, a parish priest who<br />
preached against abuses in the established<br />
church and urged a new movement of godly<br />
women to rise up to serve their generation.<br />
Adult women during the Middle Ages were<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 15<br />
Photo: Grégoire Lannoy, Flickr.com
16 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
expected to be either a wife and mother, or<br />
nun. <strong>The</strong> Beguines questioned this concept<br />
and lived outside the boundaries. <strong>The</strong>y also<br />
saw how society was changing and chose<br />
to stay in the towns, especially the poor<br />
suburbs, where they could serve the people<br />
with <strong>Jesus</strong>’ love.<br />
Women who entered Beguinages (Beguine<br />
houses) were not bound by permanent vows, in<br />
contrast to women who entered convents. <strong>The</strong>y<br />
could leave the Beguinage to marry. Some were<br />
widows with children; others came to escape<br />
arranged marriages. <strong>The</strong>re were celibates<br />
like Yvette de Huy, who had a prophetic gift.<br />
Together, these radical women pioneered a<br />
new form of community.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y pledged themselves to prayer,<br />
poverty and service. <strong>The</strong>y aimed to recover<br />
the simplicity, love and outreach of the early<br />
Church. <strong>The</strong>y preached (which was not<br />
allowed), and in the language of the people,<br />
not Latin. <strong>The</strong>ir communal settlements had<br />
a hospital, a chapel, and craft workshops to<br />
generate an income. <strong>The</strong>y held literacy classes<br />
for poor children, supported widows, and took<br />
in orphans. And at every turn, they proclaimed<br />
God’s love for the poor.<br />
Beguines had no mother-house or<br />
appointed head. Every community was<br />
complete in itself and fixed its own rule of life.<br />
Some only admitted ladies of high degree,<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
Others came<br />
to escape<br />
arranged<br />
marriages<br />
<strong>The</strong>y preached<br />
(which was not<br />
allowed), and in<br />
the language of<br />
the people<br />
others only the poor, but most welcomed<br />
any women, and these were the most densely<br />
peopled. Several, like the great Beguinage of<br />
Ghent, numbered around a thousand.<br />
In the beginning, the clergy’s attitude<br />
towards Beguines was ambivalent. <strong>The</strong><br />
groups were religious and dedicated to<br />
charity, which was acceptable; but they<br />
existed without men (except for priests and<br />
confessors), which was dubious. <strong>The</strong> Church<br />
did not approve of their lack of permanent<br />
vows. Women were not supposed to have<br />
that much freedom. In time, this led to the<br />
Beguines being opposed as heretics.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Beguines made their mark for God.<br />
<strong>The</strong>y had heard the pulse of the society God<br />
had placed them in, and met its need. <strong>The</strong><br />
movement multiplied, and by 1270 there<br />
were Beguine communities in most towns in<br />
Belgium, Holland and North Germany. JL<br />
Trevor is a senior leader in the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship. He says, “I<br />
love learning from God’s movers<br />
and shakers in history because I<br />
want to be a history-maker now!<br />
READ HIS BLOG:<br />
radical-church-history.blogspot.com<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 17<br />
Photo: Kat Cole, Flickr.com
TALKING TO<br />
“DIGITAL NUN”<br />
Online Nun<br />
On Twitter, Sister Catherine describes herself<br />
as a “Benedictine nun, keen on God, books<br />
and technology” who “likes people, too”.<br />
She is the Prioress of Holy Trinity Monastery,<br />
formerly at East Hendred, now at Howton<br />
Grove Priory in Herefordshire.<br />
18 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Sister Catherine Wybourne is<br />
better known online by her Twitter<br />
name: “Digitalnun”. She talks<br />
to <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship writer Amy<br />
Williams about community, vows,<br />
sharing and technology.<br />
It’s great to talk with you, Sister Catherine.<br />
Could you tell us a bit of your own story to start<br />
with, about your vocation?<br />
I was born of poor but honest parents and<br />
I had a Catholic education, which was a bit<br />
unusual as neither of my parents were practising<br />
Catholics. I was very influenced by the sisters<br />
who taught at the Catholic school. <strong>The</strong>y were<br />
lively, intellectual people who would talk about<br />
faith in a very open way that made me do a lot of<br />
thinking about my own life.<br />
I decided to do a PhD in Spanish medieval<br />
history. I was studying the Cistercians, so I<br />
had to read the collected works of St Benedict.<br />
While I was reading it, the monastic life began<br />
to speak to me – not in an academic way, but as<br />
something that I should pursue.<br />
I sat down and thought about where I’d be<br />
when I was 50, and realised I didn’t want to be<br />
living in isolation from other people. I took myself<br />
off to Stanbrook Abbey in Worcester in 1981,<br />
where I lived until 2003.<br />
What is the process that somebody goes through<br />
to become a nun?<br />
Well, the first stage is postulancy, which lasts<br />
at least six months and can be extended to a<br />
year. <strong>The</strong>y wear their own clothes and essentially<br />
live with the community and pray with the<br />
community, but they don’t have any particular<br />
commitment. <strong>The</strong>y can leave at any time – they<br />
can also be asked to leave at any time.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n you’d get the monastic habit with a<br />
white veil, which lasts about two years, but can<br />
be extended. That’s a period of more serious<br />
formation, with more study in scripture, theology<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
I’m sure there<br />
must be a way<br />
of opening up<br />
the internet as<br />
a sacred space<br />
where people can<br />
encounter God<br />
and rules of St Benedict. <strong>The</strong>n you have first<br />
vows for three years – although they can be<br />
repeated – vows of stability, conversion of life<br />
and obedience. <strong>The</strong>n, finally, solemn confession,<br />
which means you make your vows for life and<br />
wear a black veil. It takes at least five and a half<br />
years to get to that stage – and they are vows for<br />
life. You become a full member of the community.<br />
That’s the point where you have to give up<br />
everything, all your worldly possessions.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re must be times when somebody who has<br />
made life vows does in fact break those vows. Or<br />
is that extremely rare?<br />
It’s extremely rare, particularly for women.<br />
I have known only two cases where a nun has<br />
asked to be laid aside from her vows: one was<br />
ill and the other person wanted to live as a<br />
hermit. <strong>The</strong>y’re the only ones I personally have<br />
known in my life.<br />
Do you think that is because of the process<br />
before making those vows?<br />
Oh yes, it’s a real “weeder-outer”! We find a<br />
lot of people can’t cope with small community,<br />
doing pretty much the same thing day after day<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 19
I see the vows<br />
like this: one<br />
roots us, one<br />
opens us up,<br />
and one lifts us<br />
up to the Father<br />
20 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
Sister Catherine in her Priory Garden<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
and not having very much in the way of material<br />
possessions. Some people just don’t grow. But<br />
usually you find that people who stay perhaps<br />
two or three years still feel that they have gained<br />
something from that monastic experience,<br />
though they may not spend their whole lives in<br />
the community.<br />
Vows of ‘conversion, stability and obedience’<br />
– can you unpack them a little more? What do<br />
they mean?<br />
Stability is a vow which binds you to a<br />
specific community or group of people and<br />
a specific way of living a monastic life. All<br />
Benedictine Monasteries are independent,<br />
so each of them will have their own take on<br />
how the rules of Benedict should be lived and<br />
stability is a commitment to live in that way<br />
and to carry it forward.<br />
Conversion is really a promise, a vow to live<br />
the monastic life as it should be lived and to be<br />
open to the process of conversion every day of<br />
our life.<br />
Obedience is having an attitude of listening<br />
to God.<br />
I see the vows like this: one roots us, one<br />
opens us up, and one lifts us up to the Father.<br />
That’s how I see it anyway.<br />
Give us a flavour of your community life.<br />
Well, we have what’s called a “chapter of<br />
faults”. That’s an occasion when we specifically<br />
meet together to apologise to one another for<br />
ways of which we may have hurt each other<br />
or brought down the community. <strong>The</strong> other<br />
person may know nothing about it: for example<br />
if I’ve been a bit short tempered with some<br />
of the people I deal with on e-mails, I will<br />
acknowledge that and ask for their prayers<br />
because I have weakened the public perception<br />
of the community. Equally, we have an important<br />
rule – again it’s from St Benedict – which is that<br />
if we have any dispute or disagreement during<br />
the course of the day, it must be settled before<br />
nightfall. I have noticed that very often it’s the<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
person who hasn’t given offence that goes to the<br />
other and asks forgiveness. It’s a great liberation.<br />
You have everything in common. How do<br />
you work that out in practice? Do you have a<br />
common bank account as a community?<br />
Yes, we own nothing personally; St Benedict<br />
is very clear about private ownership. A monk<br />
would have absolutely nothing of his own. Yes,<br />
we’ll use our own toothbrushes and so on,<br />
but anything that we need is asked for from<br />
the community. So if my shoes were worn<br />
out I would ask the community if I may have<br />
another pair of shoes. We try to make sure<br />
that our own private life as a community is as<br />
simple as possible.<br />
So you don’t have a television?<br />
No, but we read a lot.<br />
Your work means that you’re online quite a lot –<br />
so there is media exposure in your life!<br />
Yes, we made a conscious decision as a<br />
community back in 2003 to use social media as<br />
a way of reaching out to other people. Because<br />
my work is typesetting and web development I’m<br />
on the computer most of the day so it isn’t really<br />
too much of an interruption in my life. Everything<br />
I do is either with the encouragement or the<br />
sanction of the community.<br />
We decided as a community that it would be<br />
a good thing for me to have a Twitter account. I<br />
didn’t decide that for myself.<br />
So – “Digitalnun”! I don’t know of many digital<br />
nuns! Why did you make the decision to actively<br />
use the internet and social media?<br />
<strong>The</strong> “Digitalnun” bit actually came from<br />
my email address in the 1990s – I wanted<br />
something memorable. We were reading the rules<br />
of St Benedict on welcoming and hospitality, and<br />
I said “How do we put this into practice, in a<br />
house with very limited space for guests?” So we<br />
thought, “We haven’t got any space, why don’t<br />
we do our hospitality online? It’s something that<br />
we could teach ourselves.”<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Amy Williams<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
21
Why would<br />
people be looking<br />
for us online,<br />
what would they<br />
be seeking?<br />
22<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
I’d had a bit of experience with building<br />
websites so we sat down and said “How do we<br />
want to present ourselves online?” But then we<br />
realised that most monasteries were doing just<br />
that – talking about themselves and what they do<br />
– and so we asked ourselves a different question:<br />
“Why would people be looking for us online,<br />
what would they be seeking?” Trying to answer<br />
that question has decided how we’ve used the<br />
internet and social media.<br />
So what are people seeking?<br />
A lot of people are seeking some sort of<br />
community online; I am appalled by the<br />
loneliness that we seem to touch. A lot of people<br />
are seeking anonymous information about<br />
Christianity or the monastic life – it’s a lot easier<br />
than knocking on the door and asking.<br />
People also want an experience of God and<br />
that’s why I’m very keen that we move from<br />
what I call the ‘declarative’ – proclaiming<br />
things online – to the ‘immersive’ – an<br />
experience. I’m sure there must be a way of<br />
opening up the internet as a sacred space<br />
where people can encounter God. I have a<br />
feeling that if we pray hard enough and work<br />
hard enough, we might find a way of doing it.<br />
Is there anything that you’d like to say to the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong>?<br />
I think that what I would most want to say<br />
is, be encouraged, because in the life of any<br />
community there is a ‘middle-aged sag’ and if<br />
you’re getting on for 40 years old now you may<br />
be experiencing a bit of that. <strong>The</strong>re comes a point<br />
where the initial enthusiasm has waned a little<br />
bit, maybe some of the initial dynamism has<br />
gone. I think that’s when it’s really important to<br />
remember why you started, to remember what it<br />
is that you were called to be. So be encouraged<br />
and don’t give up.<br />
JL<br />
www.jesus.org.uk
FROM BLOODBATH<br />
TO BROTHERHOOD<br />
Rukundo,<br />
himself a Tutsi,<br />
lost 78 relatives<br />
before the war<br />
was over<br />
Rukundo (top left) with his wife and children<br />
www.multiply.org.uk<br />
Rukundo Bartholomew is building<br />
a remarkable church community<br />
against a background of tribal<br />
warfare and genocide in Rwanda.<br />
He tells <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> his story.<br />
WOUNDED RWANDA” are the words<br />
Rukundo Bartholomew uses to<br />
describes his homeland.<br />
He experienced firsthand the genocide<br />
that shook the world in 1994 when extremist<br />
Hutus rose against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.<br />
Rukundo, himself a Tutsi, lost 78 relatives<br />
before the war was over.<br />
While fleeing the bloodbath in Uganda,<br />
Rukundo heard God’s voice, audibly, bringing<br />
him words of reality, vision and hope: “You<br />
were part of the problem; now you are part of<br />
the solution.”<br />
Rukundo said, “God revealed to me how bad<br />
I was! I felt I was worse than anyone! Now I<br />
understood people because I understood myself!<br />
I began forgiving everyone! This changed<br />
everything. I had been full of hatred toward<br />
the Hutus. Now I could look at every Hutu and<br />
say, ‘they are my problem!’ I realised that we<br />
all need <strong>Jesus</strong> and we all need changing. I knew<br />
everyone needed to come to that same place<br />
and forgive. Now I knew – I could be part of the<br />
solution!”<br />
Rukundo’s life had been turned around. A<br />
few months later Rukundo again heard God<br />
speak audibly to him again: “<strong>The</strong> solution is in<br />
the church.”<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 23
oth Tutsis and Hutus (and a smaller<br />
tribe, the Twas) are called to live in<br />
harmony as members of one “body of<br />
Christ” – as a fourth “<strong>Jesus</strong> tribe”<br />
“<strong>Jesus</strong> tribe”: Rukundo with his brothers and sisters<br />
24 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.multiply.org.uk
s<br />
s<br />
Continued from previous page<br />
Having returned to Rwanda, in 1997<br />
Rukundo established the first Christian community<br />
house of what was to be called the<br />
New Humanity Mission. <strong>The</strong>se are houses of<br />
Christians from different tribal backgrounds,<br />
living together as a family, sharing possessions<br />
and lives.<br />
In 2006, Rukundo started the Disciples of<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Christ church, which now has about 70<br />
members. In 2009, some members of Disciples<br />
of <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ chose to make up a second Christian<br />
community house. Last March, another<br />
family of five joined it.<br />
<strong>The</strong> survival of this prophetic venture has<br />
been a financial struggle at times, due to high<br />
unemployment in Rwanda. Recently members<br />
of the community began a small business selling<br />
second hand clothes. Enough money has<br />
been generated to provide enough for everyone<br />
to eat.<br />
In 2007, Rukundo founded a group called,<br />
One Heart One Mind, with the aim of bringing<br />
people together from different churches<br />
with a united message: forgiveness and<br />
reconciliation must begin in the church where<br />
both Tutsis and Hutus (and the smaller tribe,<br />
the Twas, considered primitive and inferior by<br />
many Rwandans) are called to live in harmony<br />
as members of one “body of Christ” – as a<br />
fourth “<strong>Jesus</strong> tribe”.<br />
Rukundo says, “Being a New Testament<br />
Christian is simple: living for <strong>Jesus</strong> equals living<br />
for our brother. To love <strong>Jesus</strong> is to do His will<br />
and love our brothers and sisters.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> new tribe needs to be seen by everyone<br />
in Rwanda,” he adds.<br />
Today there are small One Heart One Mind<br />
groups, made up of the different tribes and<br />
coming from different denominations, all over<br />
Rwanda, as well as in Burundi, Tanzania and<br />
the Congo. <strong>The</strong>se meet often locally and altogether<br />
once every three months for two days,<br />
www.multiply.org.uk<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Being a New<br />
Testament<br />
Christian is<br />
simple: living<br />
for <strong>Jesus</strong> equals<br />
living for our<br />
brother<br />
Rukundo (right) at the Multiply<br />
International Leaders Conference<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
25
Continued from previous page<br />
praying, “Your will and kingdom come” and,<br />
“Teach us to love each other”.<br />
Rukundo and his team make use of radio<br />
broadcasting skills. Rukundo compares this to<br />
“shelling” the land before the “infantry” move<br />
in – preparing the people “over the air” not only<br />
for the message of God’s forgiveness, but also<br />
that “<strong>Jesus</strong> must be Lord as well as Saviour”.<br />
<strong>The</strong>n small ‘One Heart One Mind groups are<br />
formed to put the message into practice.<br />
Rukundo said, “In Rwanda, the Church is a<br />
people chosen from the three ever-warring tribes<br />
and the many conflicting denominations to shine<br />
for wounded Rwanda with the love of <strong>Jesus</strong>.<br />
Rukundo spoke at the recent Multiply International<br />
Leaders Conference in the UK with<br />
this message: “When we first become Christians<br />
we often pray ‘My Father in heaven.’ We must<br />
step beyond that, into calling God ‘Our Father’<br />
and living not only for God, but for our brothers<br />
and sisters, too.”<br />
JL<br />
s<br />
s<br />
Rukara Barthelemy, from<br />
Rwanda, is married to Ericka and<br />
has four sons and two daughters.<br />
He is better known by the name<br />
Rukundo (Kinyarwanda for “love”).<br />
WHAT IS MULTIPLY?<br />
Multiply Christian Network is a worldwide<br />
apostolic stream of churches, initiated by<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church.<br />
CONTACT MULTIPLY:<br />
www.multiply.org.uk<br />
Contact Multiply Director, Huw Lewis,<br />
Tel: +44 1327 344533<br />
Email: huw.lewis@jesus.org.uk<br />
Write to:<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship/Multiply,<br />
Nether Heyford, Northampton,<br />
NN7 3LB, UK<br />
26<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.multiply.org.uk
cool oasis in<br />
the city sprawl<br />
<strong>The</strong> fifth <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre is to be in<br />
central Birmingham. Laurence<br />
Cooper tells its story so far.<br />
THE NEW York Times rated Birmingham<br />
in the top twenty places to visit in 2012,<br />
consolidating the city’s reputation as a major<br />
tourist destination, replete with world class<br />
cultural, entertainment and gastronomic attractions.<br />
But beyond the vibrant night life and überchic<br />
shopping destinations like the Mailbox,<br />
there’s a darker side to the city.<br />
Gangs deal drugs, homeless asylum seekers<br />
surf sofas and impoverished families struggle.<br />
Loneliness haunts both bedsits and penthouse<br />
apartments. In this city, both champagne and<br />
tears flow, and an angry restlessness, erupting<br />
vividly in the rioting of 2011, is stoked up by<br />
the glaring inequalities illustrated by all the<br />
conspicuous consumption.<br />
At <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres, every kind of person is<br />
welcomed. <strong>The</strong> Birmingham <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre will<br />
attract both the kind of people who’ve been<br />
shopping in Selfridges, and those who have<br />
been shoplifting in Aldi (or, for that matter,<br />
in Selfridges). It’s the kind of place where<br />
the haves, and the have-nots mingle, and<br />
where you’re not judged for your past or the<br />
label you are now wearing. It’s a cool oasis of<br />
kingdom life, a peaceful space in the bustling<br />
heart of the city where you can catch your<br />
breath, find yourself, and get a bit of help<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 27
Continued from previous page<br />
when you need it.<br />
After looking for a suitable property for a<br />
couple of years, we thought we had found a<br />
good place in the Jewellery Quarter. It wasn’t<br />
to be. A few local businessmen didn’t fancy a<br />
drop-in on their doorstep: they conspired to<br />
thwart us. We won the support of the council<br />
for our plans but, in a desperate move, a<br />
property speculator gazumped the property<br />
from under our noses.<br />
Disappointment! We were back to square<br />
one, or so it seemed. From the jaws of defeat,<br />
however, we snatched a victory. We were<br />
led by the Spirit to identify the ideal area we<br />
wanted for our building. Eventually, we found<br />
a vacant property.<br />
<strong>The</strong> value of a place is all “location, location,<br />
location”, and it seemed God wanted<br />
us to have a far more central location than<br />
the Jewellery Quarter. Now we’re going to be<br />
a stone’s throw from the Bullring and New<br />
Street, right smack in the heart of the city.<br />
It’s no time for resting on our laurels.<br />
<strong>The</strong>re’s work to do – to inform and motivate<br />
the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship congregation in Birmingham,<br />
apart from anything else. A <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centre is effective if it has a crew of volunteers<br />
who are engaged and willing, and we’ll<br />
struggle if the congregation doesn’t “buy in”.<br />
So far, our people in Brum have showed<br />
they are up for it. Financial giving is up significantly.<br />
A “<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre fair” will take place<br />
soon, when we will hear about what <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
s<br />
s<br />
Centres are like from people who are doing<br />
it already. A broader spectrum of people are<br />
being brought into planning talks, and young<br />
people especially are being invited to key<br />
management and operations meetings. <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centres need to be hubs of youthful energy<br />
and enthusiasm for <strong>Jesus</strong> and his cause.<br />
It’s time to dream and to work our imaginations:<br />
what shall we do at our centre? After<br />
school clubs? Lunches for office workers in<br />
the building above? Most importantly – what<br />
is the Spirit saying about the role of the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Centre in this sprawling city?<br />
Many challenges loom. How might we meet<br />
some of the gaps in homelessness provision<br />
created by budget cuts – without simply<br />
allowing the government to use us as a convenient<br />
means of outsourcing their responsibilities?<br />
We will encounter many practical<br />
challenges along the way as well as spiritual<br />
challenges. This is to be expected as we seek<br />
to demonstrate the kingly rule of <strong>Jesus</strong> in a<br />
modern city.<br />
Yet the same <strong>Jesus</strong> who is the source of our<br />
inspiration will also provide what we need for<br />
the tasks ahead.<br />
JL<br />
Laurence is a writer, fundraiser,<br />
and leader in the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship. He lives in a Christian<br />
Community house in Birmingham<br />
and supports <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres around the UK.<br />
READ HIS BLOG:<br />
laurencecooper.wordpress.com<br />
JESUS<br />
CENTRES<br />
worship • friendship • help for all<br />
WHAT ARE JESUS CENTRES?<br />
Places where the love of <strong>Jesus</strong> is expressed<br />
daily in worship, care and friendship for every<br />
type of person.<br />
WHERE ARE JESUS CENTRES?<br />
<strong>The</strong>re are <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres in Coventry, London<br />
Northampton and Sheffield with one planned<br />
for Birmingham in the near future, with vision<br />
for further locations.<br />
MORE INFO:<br />
jesuscentre.org.uk<br />
facebook.com/jesus.centre<br />
28<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
We seek to<br />
demonstrate the<br />
kingly rule of <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
in a modern city<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 29
TO FORGIVE<br />
IS DIVINE<br />
30 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
Forgiving those “who sin against you”<br />
is one thing. How about when they<br />
beat up your mother? A young <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship member speaks out.<br />
WAS woken up at 6am, one Wednesday<br />
I morning, by a distress call from my mother.<br />
I could tell by her voice on the phone that<br />
she was distraught. She told me that she had<br />
just been released from the hospital. A few<br />
weeks earlier she had been beaten up by four<br />
women in a local park.<br />
Some background: my mum has spent<br />
the past seven years homeless, or as near as,<br />
and involved with the harsher aspects of that<br />
scene. She got caught up with a guy who went<br />
on to commit some very nasty acts against<br />
her. This was the reason she’d been assaulted<br />
so badly in the park that day: the women had<br />
asked her, “Are you ****’s missus?” to which<br />
she’d replied, “No I’m his ex.”<br />
She told me she didn’t see the first punch.<br />
And she didn’t feel the last, because when<br />
they’d finished she was unconscious.<br />
She told me in that phone call that she<br />
has some brain damage that the doctors will<br />
never mend.<br />
She was slurring and had trouble<br />
remembering what she had just told me<br />
because her short term memory was affected.<br />
After planning to meet with her in the next<br />
few days, we said goodbye and I put the<br />
phone down.<br />
Needless to say, I couldn’t get back to<br />
sleep. I sat there in my bed numb. How was I<br />
to feel about this?<br />
I started to ask God “Why?” It was all<br />
I could say. I felt led to look up the word<br />
“abuse” in the concordance in my bible. It<br />
took me to the verse in Luke’s Gospel, where<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> talks about turning the other cheek and<br />
says “Pray for those who abuse you”.<br />
What was I supposed to do with that? I said<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
She didn’t see<br />
the first punch.<br />
And she didn’t<br />
feel the last,<br />
because when<br />
they’d finished<br />
she was<br />
unconscious<br />
to God, “I could do that – just about – if it was<br />
me! But this is my mum! I should protect her;<br />
I’m her son!”<br />
I read further on and was shocked at what I<br />
saw at the bottom of the page: “God is kind to<br />
the evil and ungrateful.”<br />
How impossible! How can He be?! And how<br />
can He expect me to be that?<br />
What I did next may not be what you’d<br />
have done, but people have different ways<br />
of handling strong emotions: I grabbed my<br />
guitar and started making up a song. I was<br />
singing what I felt. And I started to cry.<br />
As the tears ran down my face, a song took<br />
shape: “Lord, my heart is small and black. I<br />
want to hurt them, Lord, I want to hurt them<br />
bad. But You said we don’t fight against flesh<br />
and blood, so I won’t. Instead I’ll give them<br />
Continued overleaf<br />
s<br />
s<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 31
Continued from previous page<br />
Your love. Pour Your blessing out on them, O<br />
Lord. Pour Your favour out on them, O God.”<br />
Not exactly lyrical genius, but I felt a peace<br />
begin to settle on me as I sung those words.<br />
I started to pray for the women who had<br />
assaulted my mother and the man who had<br />
abused her so badly.<br />
Fast forward a week or two and I was at a<br />
big church event. During a time of worship<br />
and singing, I imagined myself visiting the<br />
man in jail (there is to be a court case against<br />
him for what he’s done), talking to him about<br />
God’s love.<br />
“How impossible! How can I do that?” I<br />
asked God, tearfully. And the reply I sensed<br />
was: “You can’t. But I can, through you.”<br />
It’s impossible. But I must trust God.<br />
If I am to lead a life of love, I have to trust<br />
God. I can do that.<br />
JL<br />
s<br />
s<br />
I imagined<br />
myself visiting<br />
the man in jail,<br />
talking to him<br />
about God’s love<br />
This article was written by<br />
a young man in the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
Fellowship. His name has been<br />
left out in order to protect his and<br />
his family’s safety and confidentiality.<br />
32<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
SOME ASTOUNDING<br />
NEWS<br />
From the blog of <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />
pastor, Stuart Patnell.<br />
Stuart Patnell is a leader in the<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship and lives in<br />
a Christian community house<br />
in Coventry. He made a vow of<br />
celibacy 13 years ago. He says, “I’m single<br />
and I love it. Living undivided.” READ HIS<br />
BLOG: single4jesus.blogspot.co.uk<br />
ACK living for the old, normal, natural things.<br />
S<strong>The</strong> comfortable things. <strong>The</strong> predictable.<br />
Sack living a this-is-how-it’s-always-been<br />
kind of life.<br />
An everyone-else-does-it-so-it-must-be-theway-to-go<br />
kind of life.<br />
A norms-of-society-don’t-rock-the-boat-live-adecent-life-get-a-job-have-a-family-buy-a-housewith-a-nice-little-dog-two-cars-and-a-beautifullypaved-drive-all-nicely-placed-in-the-middle-ofthe-road<br />
kind of life.<br />
Sack that!<br />
Living for <strong>Jesus</strong> is about the never-seen-before,<br />
not the always-been-there; it’s a journey of<br />
discovery into what’s on its way, what’s coming<br />
in, what is destined to be.<br />
It’s about the new, not the old.<br />
And the good news of the New Testament is<br />
exactly that – news! <strong>The</strong> news, or new things, as<br />
spoken by and lived out by <strong>Jesus</strong>. <strong>The</strong> news, or<br />
new things, as freshly passed on to His disciples.<br />
<strong>The</strong> news, or new things, as startlingly endowed<br />
with power by the Holy Spirit.<br />
<strong>The</strong> strong, exciting, life-changing, brand<br />
spanking new things, fresh out of God’s<br />
exceptional, inimitable, omnifangled heart.<br />
And, in Christ, it’s available to anyone and<br />
everyone.<br />
Here’s a short burst of the kind of news I’m<br />
talking about:<br />
New birth (John 3:1-8); new wine (Matthew<br />
9:16-17); new covenant (Luke 22:17-20);<br />
new creation (2 Corinthians 5:14-17); new<br />
humanity (Ephesians 2:14-16); new earth (2<br />
Peter 3:11-13).<br />
Yes, as if heaven wasn’t enough, there’s a new<br />
earth on its way!<br />
And, of course, we mustn’t forget the new<br />
commandment either (John 13:34).<br />
Ah, it’s good to be in the news.<br />
JL<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 33
JUST FOUR<br />
QUESTIONS<br />
When I love<br />
God, I love<br />
those He loves<br />
Olivia, 29, is married to Stevo and has two<br />
children, Liberty, 4, and Eben, 2. She lives<br />
with twelve other people at Living Light, a<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship community house on a<br />
council estate in Northampton.<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> asks Olivia Scott<br />
just four questions.<br />
Why do you live on this estate when you<br />
could live in a nice country house?<br />
Don’t rub it in! Sometimes the constant smell<br />
of weed and the barrage of bad language can<br />
get too much. On days like that I would love<br />
to live in a nice country house with a proper<br />
garden! But there’s need here, people to love.<br />
Why live with so many people?<br />
With so many other people who love God!<br />
That’s the key; it would be a painful disaster if<br />
it wasn’t for our joint love for God. When I love<br />
God, I love those He loves (well, at least I give it<br />
a shot) and I want to be with them. And when<br />
people see that, hopefully they will see God.<br />
What’s it like being a mother in community?<br />
When I was single, living in community<br />
meant “living with my friends”. Getting married<br />
was a whole different ball game. It got harder<br />
– and even harder when we had a family! We<br />
had to work out how to be a family inside<br />
another family.<br />
Our parenting skills (or lack of) are played<br />
out on a very public stage. Saying that, though,<br />
community is a great way of life for the children;<br />
their lives are jam-packed full of love and they<br />
get to learn pretty early on to think of others<br />
(still a way to go on that one though).<br />
You’re 29. What do you want to be doing in<br />
50 years time?<br />
To still be in God’s will. I want to be able to<br />
look back and smile, not hold onto bitterness<br />
and disappointments.<br />
I want my life to be like a snowball going<br />
downhill; not slowing down with age, but<br />
speeding up and gathering more momentum<br />
the closer I get to heaven.<br />
JL<br />
34<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
www.jesus.org.uk
BELFAST<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 123 5552<br />
Birmingham<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8153<br />
BLACKBURN<br />
Hyndburn Christian Fellowship.............01706 222 401<br />
BLACKBUrn<br />
Rishton Christian Fellowship................01254 887 790<br />
Bridgend<br />
<strong>The</strong> Bridge Community Church............01656 655 635<br />
BrightoN<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8151<br />
chATham<br />
King’s Church Medway........................... 01634 847 477<br />
Coventry<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8154<br />
gloUCESTEr<br />
Living Word Fellowship.......................... 01452 506 474<br />
High Wycombe<br />
Church of Shalom...................................01494 449 408<br />
KETTEring<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8157<br />
LeiCESTEr<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 644 9705<br />
Liverpool<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8168<br />
London CENTRAL<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8152<br />
www.jesus.org.uk<br />
London N<br />
Glad Tidings Evangelical Church..........0208 245 9002<br />
London S<br />
Bible <strong>Life</strong> Family Ministries...................07932 938 <strong>91</strong>1<br />
London SE<br />
Ephratah Int’l Gospel Praise Centre....0208 469 0047<br />
London SE<br />
Flaming Evangelical Ministries ...........01634 201 170<br />
London SE<br />
Glorious Revival Eagle Ministries.........0208 855 3087<br />
London SE<br />
<strong>Life</strong> For <strong>The</strong> World Christian Centre....07956 840 002<br />
London SE<br />
Mission Together for Christ................... 07737 475 731<br />
MiLTon KeynES<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8159<br />
Northampton<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .......................0845 166 8161<br />
Norwich<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 Sevilla Orange Panel 166 8162 Shoulder Top<br />
Oxford<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8164<br />
RAMSEY HOLLOW (HunTS)<br />
Christians United.....................................01487 815 528<br />
ShEFFiELd<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8183<br />
SWANSEA<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 123 5556<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
35
lots more at...<br />
jesus.org.uk<br />
Get instant twitter updates at:<br />
twitter.com/jesus_army<br />
and get connected through our<br />
facebook page at:<br />
facebook.com/jesusarmy<br />
B<br />
Keep up to date with the latest news,<br />
tunes, videos and more at the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />
<strong>Army</strong> blog: jesus.org.uk/blog<br />
Look at videos and see<br />
what's been happening at:<br />
youtube.com/jesusarmy<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> Events<br />
Upcoming events you don't want to miss...<br />
UK JESUS<br />
CELEBRATION<br />
SATURDAY 13 OCT 2012<br />
2.00pm & 6.00pm Ponds Forge<br />
Sheaf Street, SHEFFIELD S1 2BP<br />
ALL FREE<br />
ALL WELCOME<br />
MORE INFO AT<br />
jesus.org.uk/dates<br />
0845 123 5550<br />
info@jesus.org.uk<br />
UK JESUS<br />
CELEBRATION<br />
SATURDAY 16 FEB 2013<br />
2.00pm & 6.00pm THE NEW BINGLEY HALL<br />
1 HOCKLEY CIRCUS, BIRMINGHAM B18 5BE<br />
NEW YEAR<br />
CELEBRATION<br />
SAT 29 DEC. 2012 2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre, Abington Square<br />
NORTHAMPTON NN1 4AE<br />
36 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />
EQUIPPING DAY<br />
SATURDAY 26 JAN 2013<br />
11.30am, 2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />
<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre, Abington Square<br />
NORTHAMPTON NN1 4AE<br />
www.jesus.org.uk