Streetpaper 83 - The Jesus Army

modern JESUS army Streetpaper No. 83 Page 6
STREETPAPER CHALLENGE
The UK is taking a new approach to
dealing with youth “gang” culture
SOMEONE’S come up with a screamer
of an idea to solve teenage anti-social behaviour:
a device which emits a painful
high-pitched noise (inaudible to ears aged
more than 25 years). The “yobs” just can’t
stand it – so they clear off. According to
the BBC, “there are estimated to be 3,500
of the devices, known as ‘the Mosquito’, in
use across the country”.
Wonderful. Let’s not encourage young
people to find self-worth. Let’s not give
them something positive to live for. Let’s
forget about encouraging parents in their
parenting. Never mind family cohesion
and positive role-modelling.
Young people are the enemy. Scream at
them till they go away. Pesky kids. Come to
think of it – why stop at mere sonic warfare?
Tear gas! That’s what they need. That’d be
what I call a real creative solution.
Worryingly enough, you just may be
reading this and nodding your head in
agreement. So it’s worth being clear: what
a load of bilge. Young people are looking
for something worth their energy, something
worth living for. They need nurturing,
believing in.
The Jesus Army has a vision to engage
young people in something very, very positive
– the mission of Jesus. Spreading real
love; reconciling people to the God they’ve
lost touch with.
This cause is especially for the gangs in
subways and on street corners. God is not
screaming till they go away. He’s calling
them to belong. And the Jesus Army want
to be part of that call. How about you?
Please send to:
Jesus Fellowship,
FREEPOST,
Nether Heyford,
Northampton
NN7 3BR, UK
(No stamp needed in UK
or Channel Islands)
0845 166 8172
f: 0845 166 8178
www.jesus.org.uk
e: info@jesus.org.uk
streetpaper@jesus.org.uk
Scream
until they
go away
>>
I BELIEVE IN GOD
“I’LL BELIEVE it when I see it”. So runs
the common remark and some people
use this, or something like it, as a reason
why they don’t believe in God.
It must be a depressing life for such
people because presumably they don’t
believe in love. After all, no-one has ever
seen that either.
In fact, a good deal of the things we
value most about life aren’t things we
can actually see. Like the buzz you get
when you hear an amazing song, the
Life in clover: is a loving God too good to be true?
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“I believe...” #3
shiver that runs up your spine when you
see a glorious sunset, or the spreading
feeling of content when you wake up and
remember you’re on holiday.
Or – to change tack – think of oxygen.
No-one can see it. But the thought of
living without it? That’s enough to take
anyone’s breath away.
“God is Spirit” it says in the New Testament.
You can’t see Him. But He’s always
there. In fact, He’s the source of all
being. He made everything. God is totally
real – everything else gets its reality
from God! (Viewed this way, a person
saying they don’t believe in God is like a
fish saying it doesn’t believe in water.)
So how can we actually experience
Him, if we can’t see Him?
This is where we have to sit up and
listen to the Man who said “If you have
seen Me, you have seen the Father.” His
name is Jesus – what was He talking
about?
(see page 8)
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Power of
prayer on
show in
Preston
ONE FRIDAY night in Preston
two Jesus Army members
walked the streets and talked to
the many prostitutes in the area.
They sensed God’s presence
as they for prayed for two girls in
particular – one was in tears.
That weekend they prayed for
a young girl with a kidney infection.
Her mother reported that
when she was prayed for she
felt some heat. The consultant
later confi rmed that the infection
had gone.
A Jesus Army leader in Preston
commented “It seems like
the heavens have opened”.
Midlands
mJa
“love their
neighbours”
AT A JESUS Army house in Leicester
last week, a man knocked on
the door to ask for prayer for his
wife who was in a coma.
Menawhile, in Coventry, a
Refugee Centre rang up and
asked if the local Jesus Army
house could help accommodate
a woman with no family, no
passport and bad health.
A Jesus Army leader from
Coventry commented: “We
were happy to help as much
as we could in both cases. We
want our houses to be available
for the great work of loving our
neighbour.”
“Yobs” doing a good job
Street gang
foil Milton
Keynes
robbery
A GANG of street lads and girls
foiled a robbery in Milton Keynes
recently. They pursued a thief as
he fl ed from a shop, caught him
and returned 24 bottles of beer.
The shop assistant was still on
the phone to the police and had
to explain that they were no longer
needed: a gang had retrieved
and returned the stolen beer!
The Jesus Army had been
befriending the gang. One of
them commented: “We hope the
Christian infl uence is rubbing off
on them. They really are a sound
crew and we’re praying for them
to truly fi nd Jesus.”
Christianpowered
poetry in
Oxford
“HEAR THE Word” is a popular
poetry night put on by the
Jesus Army in Oxford. It’s been
described by one poet as “a
Christian-powered, unplugged,
spoken word club” and a “mixture
of story-telling, folk music
and poetry of many forms.”
The poet in question, “Oliver”,
particularly enjoyed “its Christian
community quality with a
large dollop of tolerance and a
hectoring Marxist thrown in for
good measure!”
The event continues in 2008
on the fi rst Monday of each
month.