Streetpaper 83 - The Jesus Army

modern JESUS army Streetpaper No. 83 Page 4
TRUE FRIENDSHIP
THIS IS MY
OUTLOOK
CHURCH IS centred on
Jesus. Not the sad-faced
“stained-glass window
Jesus” nor the nice, inoffensive,
Christmas-only,
“Babyjesus”. But Jesus
who came and lived a life
of pure love and who died
in our place so we can be
forgiven. This Jesus rose
from the dead and lives
forever now – right now!
This is no fairy tale. He
proves it. He still heals today,
still delivers from sin
and mess today. Still gives
people new life today.
Real friendship
In today’s world many people’s
identity is wrapped
up in what they own,
how they look, what they
achieve based on false celebrity
images everyone is
meant to aspire to.
How many real friends
do we have? How many
people really know the
real me? Do we know who
we’re meant to be?
Jesus wants to deal with
the selfishness that is in
us all and give us His new
quality of life. It’s a shared
life, a relational life of
openness and love.
Live to the max
The first Christians lived
this life to the max. They
allowed God’s Spirit to
create among them an
entirely new and different
way of living. They shared
their possessions and had
everything in common. No
one had need among them;
By Scott Liston
STREETPAPER CORRESPONDANT
all were equal. They were
the brotherhood of Jesus,
the family of God.
They were loved by the
poor, rejected and marginalised
of society, but hated
by those who lived for the
security of wealth, the establishment,
the system.
Joining the church
meant leaving an old life
behind, it meant “coming
out” of all the old
ways. In fact the original
word for “church”
(“ekklesia” in New Testament
Greek) means
“called out people”.
So how about it: do you
want to check out what it
means to really “come out”
and belong to this “called
out people” – church?
Sisterhood: a threeway
hug at an modern
Jesus army demo
Ian Oakey, 26, says he just
wouldn’t live any other way
WHEN THEY first struck
up their unlikely friendship,
Ian was a trendy
arts student, Dave an
alcoholic.
“It was a Friday night”
remembers Ian “just after
my church, the Jesus Army,
had opened a Jesus Centre
in Northampton to meet all
kinds of people. A few of us
young guys from the church
Ian in his
“arty” youth
had got to know some guys
from the streets. That’s when
I met Dave. He’s a very friendly
bloke with a really likeable
personality”.
Dave was baptised and
joined the church in 2005.
His struggle with drink has
gone on, but his friendship
with his new brothers, like
Ian, has grown stronger and
deepened over time.
Ian says that his ability to
get on easily with different
kinds of people comes from
being part of a loving church.
“If it wasn’t for the church, I
would never have learnt to
love people who are different
from me” he admits.
“In the church we become
real, true friends” he adds.
“Church is relationships.
God is real – I can’t deny it.
And He joins people together
in real love.”
“CHURCH IS WHERE I
CAN BE TOTALLY ME”
Jessica Thomas, 26, felt like two
people. Now she can be herself.
>>
Choices, choices: can they all be right?
“I believe...” #2
I BELIEVE IN TRUTH
WE LIVE in a choice-mad world. At any superstore
(once you’ve chosen between Sainsbury’s,
Asda, the Co-Op and the rest), you can
choose your brand, colour, whiff and weight of
shampoo, your favourite vegan, low-sulphur
dog food, your preferred teabag style (oldfashioned
square? trendy circular? or, for the
truly avant-garde, pyramid-shaped?) and so
on and on and on.
In our, “supermarket society”, truth is
just another product on the endless shelf of
alternatives. Bob chooses Evolution (with
a capital E as a theory of Everything),
Belinda chooses Buddhism with a dash of C of
E. “Fine” we all say. “What’s true for you is true
for you and what’s true for me is true for me”.
But it isn’t, is it? Because if Belinda
decides she can fl y and jumps from a cliff,
she’s going to have a rather down to earth experience.
It’s called the law of gravity and this
case it will kill her.
We just don’t live in a “choose your own
truth” universe. We may as well face it. We live
in a universe with laws. Black is not white however
much I may believe it is. Some things are
true and others – aren’t.
So when Jesus says that it is only through
Him that anyone can fi nd God – I want to know
if it’s true. Because if it isn’t I want to fi nd what
is. And if it is true – I need to believe it and do
something about it.
Just a minute – God? Is God real? Is it true
that God is there? Better look into this...
(see page 6)
Jessica found herself through church
FOR HER first fourteen years,
Jessica lived with her dad in London.
“Dad was my hero but I felt
trapped living with him. He insisted
I went to a strict girls’ school. My
sister was allowed to go to a mixed
school where they didn’t wear uniform.
Me and my sister never got on.
Other families seemed so close – why
couldn’t we be? At school I got bullied
for being skinny
and quiet. By
the age of twelve I
felt I belonged nowhere
and life was
pointless.”
Jessica moved
out to live with her
mum. “Shy, serious
Jessica” disappeared
to be replaced
by “Jess the
Rebel”.
“I liked fun and
spontaneous adventure:
I was
tired of being good.
Eventually Mum
called the police to
say I was uncontrollable.
I ended
up in a succession
of hostels.”
Things went from bad to worse.
The partner she “thought was all
right” turned out to be violent. She
left him only to discover she was
pregnant. Then, eight weeks early,
she went into labour.
“All I remember was severe pain
and the nurses saying they were
sorry but they couldn’t hear my
baby’s heartbeat. Mya Shanay was
born on 27 November 1999 – but
she had died during labour. I felt so
empty.
“The following May, on my
18th birthday, I went clubbing
– something I’d loved before. Now it
seemed pointless. Mya’s death had
matured me. I longed to get away
from my past life and start again.
Soon after, I had
an unexpected
phone-call from a
friend who lived in
Christian community
near Northampton.
‘Come for
a visit!’ ”
“I found a gathering
of ordinary
people but something
was different.
I became fascinated
by Jesus
and couldn’t get
enough of the Bible
– it became
my manual for life.
Jesus became my
best friend, someone
who knew
all about me, but
never rejected me.
“Church, for me, is the place
where I can be totally myself. I still
love to sit quiet and listen but I still
love adventure, too – only now I go
out and befriend the homeless and
the teenagers that hang around and
tell them about Jesus. ‘Serious Jessica’
and ‘Jess the Rebel’ both have
a place in my life!”
Jessica: bullied at school