modern Jesus army: bringing spiritual and social help to all people No. 74 FREE

TEXT US 07969 679 501info@jesus.org.ukwww.jesus.org.uk

P3: JESUS IN PRISON

P5: ON THE INSIDE OF FAITH

P7: A NEW LIFE

P8: NEW JESUS CENTRE ON ITS WAY

LET’S TALKWE ALL NEED TO FIND GOOD, LOYAL FRIENDS.

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Let’s talk: Laurence and an onlooker during the Jesus Army’s annual event on Trafalgar Square, London (the wig was part of a stage drama!)

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SO MANY hurts, so many fears. We can’t forget the rejections, and disap-pointments we’ve had. Feeling so badly let down. So let’s talk and help one another through these emotional wounds. And that guilt? “Can’t get away from feeling guilty about some of the things I’ve done,” you say. O.K, we all have guilty feelings and we’ve mostly done bad things. So let’s talk and help one anoth-er to find God’s forgiveness and to forgive ourselves. We believe that Jesus Christ out of love for us all took the judgment for our wrong-doing in His sufferings and death. So He is judged and we are forgiven! Let’s talk about it. And those doubts? About God, about Jesus Christ, about the Christian faith. Best to forget about it? No way!

We’re not going to find God’s love, God’s friendship and God’s support by forgetting. Let’s search together. Let’s talk, and help one another sort our doubts. Let’s see if we can find God’s presence to be so real that our doubts disap-pear. And our need of love, ac-ceptance, friendship? So many of us are lonely. Even when we seem to be having a good time, those pangs of loneliness are still there. We just can’t laugh them away. We long for friends who truly love and care for us. We long to feel trusted and to find those who we can trust. We want to feel fully accepted, to truly belong. So, let’s talk! You never know, it could be the begin-ning of a close friendship. And it certainly means we can help one another, pray for one another and share together on finding love and friendship. Let’s talk!

Don’t clam up! Don’t hide! Let’s see if talking helps

Let’s talk: Rob takes Jesus to the streets

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HE GOSPEL of John is art of the Bible and tells he story of the Life of Christ. Packed into 70 pages you can fi nd how one man bridged the gap between man and

God. Find out what living water is. Hear how the dead were

raised. Test for yourself the claims of Jesus. The Bible in its entirety has now been translated into 414 languages, and a part is now available in over 2,000 languages. If listed in the bestsellers, it would regularly top the list in all its versions. For your FREE copy of John’s Gospel contact us (see address below). Or text on 07969 679 501 or phone on 0845 123 5550 to reserve your copy.

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JESUS FELLOWSHIP CHURCH is an evangelical Christian Church with a charismatic emphasis. It upholds the full historical, Christian faith, in particular it upholds the doctrine of the Trinity and the full divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Fellowship Church is a part of the Multiply Christian Network and a member of the Evangelical Alliance. To receive Jesus Fellowship literature regularly, free, send the response form on page 6 to Jesus Fellowship Central Offices, FREEPOST, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3BR. Tel. 0845 123 5550. modern JESUS army Streetpaper No.74 © 2005, published three times a year by Jesus Fellowship Church, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3LB. Editor Peter Taylor. All photographs supplied and copyright by Jesus Army Photo Library unless stated otherwise. Printed by BGP Ltd., Bicester, Oxon. Reproduction of any part of this newspaper in any form requires written permission. All articles are contributed by members of the Jesus Fellowship Church, also known as the Jesus People. Many members live as part of the New Creation Christian Community. Readers wishing to contact authors may do so by writing to the Jesus Fellowship Central Office.

ALL GOOD armies have an HQ, and we are no exception. We will answer your queries, provide you with free literature or a John’s Gospel, even pray with you over the telephone if you are in special need.

You can call us: our National Helpline is 0845 123 5550 (local call rate), and generally there are real people to talk to, not machines.

But in these days of hi-tech, we still have an address and lots of people write in.Jesus Fellowship, FREEPOST, Nether Heyford,Northampton, NN7 3BR

Bit more hi-tech? Email us at info@jesus.org.ukWant to have a look at what the mJa is all about? With a PC, you can do this free from anywhere in the world using our website: www.jesus.org.uk

JESUS ARMY HQ.JESUS ARMY HQ.

Across the UK, though, you are welcome to call one of our local churches if they are near you. There are Jesus Army congregations and groups around the UK. They are not all the same size, they meet in different sorts of premises, but they are all made up of people who love Jesus and are ready to help you on in your faith too.

Belfast .......................................................0845 123 5552Birmingham...............................................0845 166 8153Bournemouth............................................0845 123 5558Brighton.....................................................0845 166 8151Bristol .......................................................0845 123 5339Coventry ....................................................0845 166 8154Croydon.....................................................0845 226 1972Chester/ North Wales ...............................0845 123 5561Hastings ....................................................0845 123 5551Huntingdon ...............................................0845 166 2697Ipswich ......................................................0845 166 8156Kettering....................................................0845 166 8157Leeds .......................................................0845 166 8167Leicester....................................................0845 166 8158Liverpool ...................................................0845 166 8168London Central .........................................0845 166 8152London West .............................................0845 833 1319London South ...........................................0845 226 1972Manchester................................................0845 166 8169Milton Keynes ...........................................0845 166 8159Newcastle-upon-Tyne...............................0845 166 8187Northampton.............................................0845 166 8161Norwich .....................................................0845 166 8162Nottingham................................................0845 166 8163Oxford .......................................................0845 166 8164Preston ......................................................0845 123 5554Sheffi eld ....................................................0845 166 8183Stoke-on-Trent ..........................................0845 123 5334Swansea ....................................................0845 123 5556Wolverhampton.........................................0845 123 5564

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Fire in our Hearts | The story of the Jesus Fel low ship £5.99When the Spirit comes | Accounts of spir it u al awakening £3.99Seven Silver Rings | Seven cel i bates from the Jesus Fellowship tell their stories £3.99The Bestseller | An informative introduction to the books of the Bible £3.99 Revival Fires | Stirring ac counts of Chris tian re viv al around the world £2.50Your Baptism | A clear, in depth teach ing book let on believer’s baptism £1.50

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SOME PEOPLE find faith in Jesus ‘out of the blue’, when He shows them His love, forgiveness and a new way of living. Others, like Ruth, are brought up in a godly family and have faith deeply rooted in them. But, as Ruth’s story shows, they still have to find their own particular way to live out their faith.

“My Mum and Dad,” says Ruth, “were radical Christians whose home was always open, especially to those in need. “My brother, Sam, and I were never shut away and told ‘this is adults’ time now.’ We grew up with all kinds of friends from missionaries to homeless alcoholics or people with serious mental illness. We gained flexibility and caring hearts.” When Ruth was seven, the whole family went to visit friends who had just joined the New Creation Christian Community in Northamptonshire. And that was where Ruth began to find Jesus’ particular path for her life. “My first impressions of this Christian Commu-nity? Long walks in the country, a sense of family,

Ruth findsChildren of Christian parents still need to find their own path of faith

Ruth talks about her deep faith in Jesus

sitting together round a log fire; the before-meals worship that went on and on – when you’re a hungry child you think it’s never going to stop! But I loved it and visited as often as I could.” When the London community house opened, Ruth told her parents “This is my church now” - and she has been an active member of it ever since. There was more, though, to God’s call on Ruth’s life - two years later, she heard God’s call to become a celibate. “It was like an electric shock. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I can only describe it as a burning inside. I didn’t tell anyone for a year and during that year I felt very tested – especially knowing the call meant never having children.” At the end of the year, a leader in one of the church meetings talked of people in the younger generations who would be the pioneers of a new, committed following of Jesus. This was Ruth’s cue to reveal her secret. She went to the front of the meeting to tell everyone God had already given her the gift! “To my amazement, my mother then told me that, just before my birth, God had pointed her to a verse from the Bible for the new baby, from Isaiah 54:5: “For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of Hosts is His name!” And she had kept this secret until I had been able to make my own decision. “Life in Christian community has had many painful storms. People have come and gone and we have had to persevere to build up the community membership. “I have had my own struggles, too - I had an ac-cident to my neck and then was out of action for two and a half years with chronic fatigue syndrome. “But through it all I was sure of my calling to celi-bacy and my calling to Christian Community. That held me.” Gradually, Ruth began to develop her spiritual ministries. She is a great advocate of prayer and has had a great influence among the younger generation within the church. “Our young generation needs to take more re-sponsibility for the Church and community in the future. “We are together because we’ve all come to faith in Jesus and want to practise what He taught about laying down our lives for one another. We dig into one another’s hearts, challenging and enabling other young people to live out the fullness of their calling in God.”

Discs repaired (super)naturally

ONE OF Alison’s young children insisted that he and his mum went to see their friend Maggie in Seaford, near Brighton. Alison was doubtful that Maggie would be at her house, as she lived in Kathmandu for 90 per cent of the year. However, when they arrived Maggie was not only at home but in great pain and distress, having slipped two discs in her back. She was due to see her consultant the following day to plan an operation and needed to be able to fl y back out at the weekend. Alison prayed for her to be healed. A few days later Maggie sent an e-mail to say she had been able to bend and move more freely and the consultant had simply given her some exercises to do. She had fl own back to Nepal with no pain!

Matters of the heart

“WILL YOU pray for my friend to be healed - he’s been taken into hospital with heart problems!” The young Iranian brought this request to his friends in the Jesus Army house near his home. He had recently become a Christian and had experienced such a real encounter with God that his faith in the heal-ing power of Jesus knew no limits. Two days after they had prayed together, they heard that the patient had been discharged. When they visited him at his home to pray with him again, he wept and gave his heart to Jesus. His mother was visiting at that time and was very affected by her son’s new joy, peace and sense of purpose. She received prayer, too, and some weeks later, they discovered she, too, had become a Christian.

I thought you

were a reporter!

WALKING ROUND the streets of Stoke on Trent, taking food and hot drinks for the homeless, Steve had come across a young man called Mick. Living rough and addicted to heroin, Mick had de-veloped bad stomach ulcers. Over the next two weeks, the two men kept bumping into each other but Mick always seemed wary of Steve. On the third week he told Steve why: “The fi rst time I met you I thought you were a newspaper reporter! The second time I thought you were a detective! This week I’ve been watching you and I realise that you’re a Christian. Steve arranged for Mick to stay at a Jesus Army house far away from his home town. There, Mick received prayer to break the power of addiction and he accepted Jesus as his Saviour and friend. Mick is back in Stoke now, but Steve meets him occasionally and he is still clear of drugs.

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BEN GOT a nine-month sentence for street rob-bery, but had a life-chang-ing experience of Jesus while he was inside. “I WAS banged up in a cell by myself in Feltham prison, in London, doing nine months for street rob-bery as a result of financ-ing my drug addiction. “One day I ran my hand along one of the shelves in the prison library and pushed out a book and it turned out to be a Living Bible.”

WANT SOMEONE TO PRAY FOR YOU? Want to get contact with the mJa near where you live?Try the mJa Text Helpline: 07969 679 501The textline can channel your prayer requests to prayer teams; it can put you in touch with friends in the mJa; it can help you fi nd your nearest mJa congregation – you name it, we’ll try to do it!

• i just came frm a chrch svice and i decided to visit bullring in birm_city where i movd recently and i entered dixon electric shop, as i was wlking rnd i fnd ur paper in dixns basket and i picked it up and found a lot of blessing• pls pray 4 visa 4 my wife to come to uk• pls pray 4 me to get a job• pls can u put me on yr mailing list

MEETING GOD ON THE INSIDE

Ben: with the smile of a man who knows Jesus loves him

Ben found Psalm 150 and liked it so much he kept singing bits of it all the time. He got laughed at by the other prisoners but God had touched him and he couldn’t stop sing-ing! “To this day, I can’t explain what happened – but my life changed. When I came out of pris-on I was so in love with God that I couldn’t stop telling everyone I met all about Him and how He died for them.”

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what a mess!WHAT IS the real, underlying qual-ity of your life? Recent research shows that three quarters of all family breakdown af-fecting young children now takes place where the parents are un-married. Other media reports talk of the new group-sex phenomenon of ‘daisy chaining’, again affecting the young. What a mess are we making of our lives and the lives of our chil-dren, the future generations? Even our prosperity is suspect – an in-depth interview in a national daily described well-off young peo-ple who don’t need to go through ‘teenage rebellion’ because their family way of life already gives them all the material benefi t they could ever want – the height of self-satisfaction? And yet we still try to blame the government, the system, life – any-one who’s handy at the time! Re-ally, we can only blame ourselves. We set the course of our life every day. We are the ones who make our choices and ‘go with the fl ow’ of the trends we see in society around us. Why not go against the fl ow? Why not start a new trend, a Jesus trend? Why not buck the system and live for purity, holiness, faith – it IS possible. In fact, it’s happening all around you if you just stop and take a look!

ANDY WAS working four days on and three days off as a nursing auxiliary in a mental hospital in Lanca-shire. One night, the hurt and pain of his life was too much and he set fire to the hostel where he lived. Andy got back late to the hostel, walked into the living room and lit a cigarette. A newspaper was on the table and he lit that. The fire spread rapidly through the one-floor hostel. Fortunately the fire brigade were able to bring it under control and no one was hurt. “Subconsciously I wanted to make other peoples’ lives a mess,” says Andy. “I was angry at the hospital and angry at myself. I was adopted at two. My adoptive Dad died of a brain haemorrhage when I was 15. I was bullied at school.” Loneliness, anger and bitter-ness had been the underlying causes for Andy getting into van-dalism in his early teens. Then he began to drink 10 pints a day, to smoke and to gamble. Arson became his way of deal-ing with his problems. Over the next 20 years he habitually lit fires in waste bins, skips and garages, and spent time inside. This cycle came to an end when he managed to set fire to a two-storey block of flats on his third attempt. Andy had already been committed three times for the same offence, so the judge activated a discretionary life sen-tence. “This was my wake-up call,” Andy says. One year in, a guy called Gary knocked on Andy’s cell door and introduced himself as a Christian. “It was so unusual inside for someone to greet you like that,” recalls Andy. “It spoke to me. I could see he was a genuine per-son.” Also the members of a church he had briefly attended sent him a photo album, stuffed with pic-tures and letters. “That blew me away,” says

Andy. “People who hadn’t met me were saying they’d pray for me. “I got down on my knees in my cell and prayed.” Over the next two-and-a-half years everything opened up. Andy be-gan to trust people for the first time, to go to chapel and to attend the Jesus Fellowship meetings which were held in the prison. As he neared the end of his sentence, and was won-dering what to do next, a letter arrived from a couple called Phil and Polly, from the Jesus Fellow-ship in Northamptonshire, asking if he’d like them to visit. Andy was released on 14 May 2004, and Polly and a friend picked him up. Six weeks later he joined the church. The transition has not been without its teething problems – Andy’s had a few drinks and suf-fered pressure with work. “You’ve got to put up such an image in prison,” he explains. “You can’t be seen to be weak. Prison is a structured life – people telling you when to get up, go to bed, what to eat. If I didn’t see community as family, it could be exactly the same. But Jesus pre-pared me to be open with people, and to understand what I was feeling and why. That’s helped me to feel much more knitted in.” Andy now helps with writing letters to prisoners who contact the church. “People need someone who’s going to be loyal,” says Andy. “I’ll write as long as they’re still inside. “The reason I went into nursing was because I wanted to make a

d i f f e r -ence. Now I just want to bring people into the Kingdom of God and nourish them. I want to be involved in helping at the Northampton Jesus Centre, and with the ‘Open Doors’ group for ex-prisoners. “Jesus sorted my life out – He can help others too”.

WAKE UP CALLShock of life-sentence started Andy on road to faith in Jesus

Ex-Lifer Andy really has found a new way of living

Andy is part of the Jesus Army’s ‘Prisoner Release Scheme’. For details contact Jesus Fellowship (see opposite, page 2).

Jesus Life magazine has a regular column on work with prisoners and ex-prisoners. For a free subscription, see page 6

20/06/2005, 19:10:42

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JOIN IN!

LONDON JESUS DAYSaturday 23 July

11:00am March from Marble Arch to Trafalgar Square12:00 noon Jesus Festival on Trafalgar Square

LONDON

UK JESUS CELEBRATIONSaturday 30 July

2:00pm & 6:00pm

Jesus Centre, Abington Square

NORTHAMPTON

WINNING FESTIVAL WEEKENDFriday 26 - Monday 29 August

Giant Marquee, Cornhill Manor, Pattishall

NORTHAMPTON

NORTH CELEBRATIONSaturday 10 September

6:30pm

Victoria Leisure Centre, Sneinton

NOTTINGHAM

SOUTH CELEBRATIONSaturday 10 September

6:30pm

Selhurst High School for Boys, The Crescent

CROYDON

UK PRAISE DAYSaturday 1 October

1:00pm, 2:00pm, 4:30pm & 6:00pm

Ponds Forge Leisure Centre, Sheaf Street

SHEFFIELD

Info: Jesus Fellowship, FREEPOST, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3BRt: 0845 123 5550 e: info@jesus.org.uk www.jesus.org.uk

al l free... all welcome... no prejudice

CHRISTIANITY is rich with symbols. The bread and wine, the cross and baptism are all symbols that carry deep spiritual meaning. A good definition of a symbol is a visible sign of an invisible reality. We are used to dealing with things we can see and touch. What we sometimes don’t realise is that a lot of the things that influence us are un-seen things. Take for example a friendship. Friendship can be very real, it is something that can be relied on, it can affect the way you feel and what you do, but you can’t see it! Between us and God there is a flow of life and power. On the surface, “bread and wine” is just that - bread and wine. But the scarifice of Jesus, His life, symbolised in bread and wine has changed the lives of billions of people. The visible signs, symbols, point us to the realities of the Christian faith.

SYMBOLS POINT TO TRUTH

left: nails are handed round at a Jesus Army event: they remind us of the cross of Jesus.lower left: bread and wine, symbols of Jesus death for us.above: at an open-air Jesus Army event. Oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit

ONCE THE UK was thought of as a ‘Christian’ country. It kind of “went without saying” that we based our ethics, morals and so-cial values of some kind of Chris-tian principles. But just in the space of a gen-eration, we seem to have let all

You look and wonder what it’s all about. Crazy Christians, doing their stuff. What does it all mean? What is this ‘mumbo jumbo’?

Foot-washing during Jesus Army outreach work. It makes nice therapy! But foot-washing among Jesus’ disciples was actually inaugurated by the Master Himself. To their dismay, He wrapped a towel round His waist and began to wash their feet as a mark of His service to them. They objected – it should have been the other way round. But Jesus came to turn a lot of stuff upside down – in His kingdom, the ‘first’ are ‘last’, and the greatest must be the servants of all, not their corrupt bosses. Now there’s a new political model for you! Faith focus on graffiti board

that go – and maybe it’s a good thing because it gives Christian-ity a chance to show what it is really all about, instead of being mixed up with the running of our modern, secular society. Take the picture, right. What are they doing to that poor man in the river? Trying to drown him? Trying to save him from drowning? OK, you may have guessed from your knowledge about the Chris-tian faith – they are baptising him. Next question – what is baptism all about? What is it as a ‘ritual’, but what is it as a life-inspiring act of someone who wants to be a follower of Jesus? It’s time to take a closer look inside the Christian faith – your little bit of general knowledge (or ‘general prejudice’) is not going to help you discover the real thing – but it’s there for the taking if you ask, if you delve into things a bit. Go on – take a look inside!

TAKE A L

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EMMAEMMA describes her faith in Jesus as a ‘second chance to live.’ “I was someone who did the wrong things, got in with the wrong crowd, had wrong relationships. The violence of one of those wrong relationships made me look for a new life.” Emma tells how she knew very little about God and what Christian things were all about, so finding

faith in Jesus was a real, new experience for her. In particular, at her baptism, Emma had a deep experience of the Holy Spirit. “When I came up out of the water, I felt cold, empty and like a baby. But then I felt this warmth creeping over me and the Holy Spirit came to me – I was born into my new life with God as my Father. “Now He is teaching me how to live this new life.”

TALLIETALLIE SAYS that if there was anything to get involved in, she’d go for it twice as hard as anyone else: men and drinking were particu-lar problems in a wish to escape her past. Tallie’s parents be-lieved in God, but faith did not become ‘live’ for her until she made friends in the Jesus Army. “God has changed my life. Temptation still has a go at me, but I’m learning to

say ‘No!’ and to enjoy the freedom I have found. “For me, being baptised wasn’t a ceremony – it was washing away my sin, a way of affirming the death of my old life. “Now I belong to Jesus. I am a disciple, along with all my brothers and sisters, and I am being healed from my self-doubts. “It’s only as I live this Christian life of freedom that I see what a big change this has caused in me.”

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hopes for our hi-tech futureIT’S GOING to cure all dis-ease, make us live for ever and wipe out poverty from the world – but you know as well as I do that our hi-tech, hi-speed progress is going to doing nothing of the sort. What moral and social dilemmas have we created already? Nations have the power to wipe out other nations, even civilisation as we know it, at the push of a button. Laser-guided bombs home in on their targets, with no one ‘getting their hands dirty.’ Doctors can perform the most amazing operations – but they also give us the tantalising decision of whether to kill that unborn, but imperfect baby. Medicine can make us live longer, but it brings us the moral dilemma of euthanasia at the same time. Birth control and the abil-ity to deal with many STDs (Sexually Transmitted Dis-eases) has helped the lives of many – but they have also released the fl oodgates of a promiscuous lifestyle which the original hippies probably hardly dared dream of – be-haviour which brings havoc in its wake. Believe in the advance of mankind through technol-ogy? Think again!

RALPH ONLY came to the Chris-tian meeting to put his best mate off. He was definitely not there to find Jesus. Ralph was brought up as an athe-ist thinking of Christianity as a load of rubbish and religion as ‘the opium of the people’. So he was sitting in the upstairs room of the little Bap-tist chapel to get some arguments to convince his friend not to carry on going any more. All around Ralph, people were wor-shipping. He wouldn’t sing the songs because he thought that would be unreal and hypocritical. Yet, as he heard them and saw their sincerity, there was a challenge in them that made him want to sing. The pastor said: “Could people tell us what God is doing for them” and a middle aged lady said “God has healed me from a cold.” Ralph thought “For goodness sake! They think everything that’s hap-pened to them is God’s work!” Someone spoke out saying “There is someone here who is being really cynical.” “At that moment, I knew that God knew me and that I hadn’t given Him any room in my life. I had a sense of Him knowing ex-actly what was going on inside me, with a twinkle in His eye and a sort of humour, He was saying to me ‘Ralph, you’re so ready to say that you know everything, but you haven’t given Me a try.’ I realised that if I wanted to be honest, I would have to try out this ‘Christianity’.” As soon as Ralph had given in to God, he says he felt a deep peace.

The next day, his friend en-couraged him to go to Bible study and the pas-tor taught about how Christians needed to be more r a d i c a l than com-munists . He taught a b o u t what Je-sus said and how Jesus lived. “I sat with eyes closed and the words were like water to a dry land. “Jesus wasn’t asking me to give up all my ideals of love, equality and sharing to embrace the middle class values that I hated. Quite the op-posite! All the things I ever wanted, I’d find there, inside His teaching! But instead of it being me trying to change it was Him working in me. It was amazing to me and I just filled up with life!” This was a complete turn around in Ralph’s life. He describes how, over the next few days, he got jaw ache from smiling so much and a sore throat from singing so much! His family noticed and his sister remarked “You never used to smile, Ralph.” Those life-changing days when Ralph thought he had better give God a go were thirty years ago – and thirty years later he’s still go-ing strong!

IT SUDDENLY ALL MADE SENSE

No - he’s not being rescued from drowning: it’s a Christian baptism in a river. This was how Jesus Himself was baptised before His three-year ministry began.

Ralph: arguments

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THEY ARE out there – suffering, hurting people. Maybe it’s true that there are many to-day who don’t ‘give a ****’ about Jesus, about faith, about the Kingdom of God. But there are many, still, who are long-

ing to fi nd forgive-ness, freedom, faith – a new beginning and a new society in Jesus. And who will tell them if we, Chris-tians, calling our-selves ‘God’s peo-ple’ won’t go and do the job? Let’s go!

Tell them

HELEN HAD often seen the Holy Spirit change other peo-ples’ lives, but could He ever change hers? One night, camping, Helen listened to the village church bells mer-cilessly tolling out the quarter hours. She had been a Christian almost as long as she could remember, but still she could see no future, no hope. Helen hated her-self. “I’d hated myself since my early adolescence and I was now twenty-four and desperate to change. “Even now, looking back, I can only specu-late as to why I felt so worthless. Sometimes I think it was perhaps just my own demanding personality, a kind of per-fectionism. I was unable to measure up to my own expectations and so I be-lieved I was a failure.” Every time something went wrong, Helen said “I hate myself!”. What-ever friends would say, nothing would convince her to believe she wasn’t useless. “I think I was determined not to be convinced! “And that hating of myself also made me hate other people. With-out that, perhaps I could have gone on living as I was - most people didn’t even notice how it affect-ed me. They just thought I lacked confidence.” As soon as she had finished university, Helen moved into a Jesus Fellowship community house near Birmingham. But there was a problem. She hated being with everybody. “Not all the time, ob-viously, but a lot of the time I felt resentful and

I hated meangry. Not particularly in an outward way, it just quietly built up inside, and I’d feel guilty and tell myself I was a terrible Christian. “I’d make resolutions to be more loving, more tolerant, and I’d end up back where I started, despising my own lack of compassion. I couldn’t escape the destructive cycle. My heart felt fro-zen, unable to give or receive love, and there was no way out.” Until that night, lying in her tent, when Helen called out to God, saying: “All my life I’ve believed in You, I’ve seen You change other people and now I need You to change me. I can’t do it. I can’t go on like this. Please help me! “And God heard me. There was no thunder-bolt, no rending of the canvas over my head, just a stillness, a great love. After a while the birds began to sing and I fell asleep.” Helen has never doubt-ed that God heard her despairing cry because her life changed from that day onwards. She promised God that she would never again say “I hate myself”. “I soon found I no longer wanted to say it. I stopped criticising myself so harshly and, strangely enough, began to feel a new confidence – my family couldn’t un-derstand what had hap-pened! I stopped being so afraid. “Then I found I was starting to feel compas-sionate towards other people. I’m not saying I was transformed over-night into a saint-like figure, but in the tent, as night slipped quietly into day, I felt God’s love and I was changed.”

Helen had faith for othersbut despaired of herself

Helen couldn’t believe God loved her

Can you believe

it?THEY USED to call it the ‘never never’, but for many UK people today the prob-lems of debt are becoming very pressing indeed.

What we owe:Personal debt in the UK

today is increasing at the rate of £1 million every four minutes.

In July 2004, the total of UK personal debt topped £1 trillion (that’s a mil-lion million, or in fi gures £1,000,000,000,000).

If mortgages are in-cluded in the debt, every individual (including chil-dren) in the UK now owes £18,152.

Plastic:In March 2005, we in

the UK had run up over £55 billion in credit card debt. During 2004, the average number of ‘plas-tic’ transactions was 264 every second. But more than 10% of us have trouble with our card re-payments.

Did you know?

Nearly half the people who take out credit in shops, hadn’t planned to do so when they left home.

15 million people in the UK are struggling with debt repayments. The number of us going to Citi-zens Advice Bureau for help with debt has risen by nearly three quarters over the last seven years.

A quarter of those in debt are receiving treat-ment for stress, depres-sion and anxiety from their GP.

More than three million people are struggling with energy bills, and more than a million have had their phone cut off.

These statistics are

compiled monthly by Richard Talbot of Credit Action.

For further info see www.creditaction.org.uk

If you are caught in the debt trap, assist-ance is available.

Call us, we will try to fi nd help for you.

For a full catalogue, or to order by credit card t: 0845 166 8172

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“BROKEN-HEARTED. That’s how I left her night after night, as she knelt before me, pleading with me not to go out.” This is how John describes his mother’s des-peration when faced with the realities of his double life. As a child, brought up on a farm in rural Brazil, John had been teased and branded as lazy, because he was not physi-cally strong enough for the tough farm life. “At school they said I was ‘different’- always asking ques-tions and wanting to know everything,” he recalls. Encouraged to go to church by his religious mother, John found some stability. “I was pious, good and obedient, always willing to please. I enjoyed singing the songs and bringing flowers home as presents for my sister.” Then, when he was eight years old, a close member of the family began to abuse him. The abuse went on for two years and it was a huge relief to John when the family left the area to live in the city. As a child, John’s escape had been to live in a dreamworld of books, painting and TV cartoons. But as he moved towards adulthood, he became drawn into a twilight world of parties and promiscuity. He’d started working and attending school in the evenings and it was someone at work who introduced him to the un-derworld of gay clubs and wild parties. John recalls the conflict he knew within. “On one hand, there was my good, religious, moral upbring-ing; but, on the other, this attraction for a wild life in the gay scene. I tried hormones and drugs in an attempt to change myself but in the end I justified it by saying God made me this way. “I can see now how I was desperately searching for some-one intelligent, attractive, personable, who would be faithful to me. Yet I wanted peace too. I wanted glam-our and long-term relation-ships – but still to have God’s blessing. “It became hell for my mum. She would kneel, pleading with God to save me. There I would find her still awake and praying, when I got home in the early hours.” When he was 18, his mother’s prayers were answered - and the change in him was dramatic! He had got in with a crowd of actors and TV models, who encouraged him to be a model and gave him the name of an agent. This man was to prove the turning point in John’s life. Not only was he an agent, but a Christian too and he began to take John along to small Christian gatherings at his home. “I went because I thought I had nothing to lose. I was tired of having so many relationships, but never finding the one I was looking for. One day my Christian friend said: ‘Here’s a

BIBLEWORK

“If in seven days Gyour life, you can

- John’s frien

7

Bible. If in seven days God doesn’t change your life, you can burn it.’ “On the second day, a woman in the group knelt on the floor, and read from the Bible, Matthew 11:28: ‘Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest’. That spoke to me, because ‘weary and burdened’ was how I felt inside!” John’s aim had been to live a wild life, out of the ordinary. But, as he spent time with the Christians, his ambitions changed and he began to drop all his old friends and relation-ships. Soon he gave his life to Jesus and was filled with the Holy Spirit. That was the beginning of a new life. He got deeply involved in the church and, eventually, left Brazil to come to Europe as

a missionary. From Italy he went to Sweden and then to Denmark, and finally – London. “I wanted to find a real church where I could take root. I had been in London about a month when, one day, strolling down the Embankment, I spotted a group of guys wearing bright red crosses. They were from the Jesus Army and I found myself drawn

to this church and its easy-flowing mixture of informality, creativity and maturity. “I’m an evangelist and it is on the streets, sharing life, love and hope with the dying, hurting and hopeless that I find my place and purpose. As someone from another country, I would also say to all the lonely immigrants and asylum seek-ers who suffer because of the language barrier, ‘Even though you may not understand the English language, you can un-derstand the language of the soul. If I can find my place in this world with Jesus and His church, then you can too!’ ”

John went to Christian Bible group because he had ‘nothing to lose’

od doesn’t change burn the Bible” ’s challenge

THE YOUNG Muslim asylum seeker from one of the war-torn countries of Africa had been only seven when his father was shot dead in front of him. As he grew up he became more and more alienated from the culture around him and decided to seek asylum in England. Two years later, in a Midland town, he met Paul from the Jesus Army. “He told me how empty his life was,” says Paul, “and that he had not been able to fi nd peace through his religion. He fi nished by saying ‘I need to fi nd God and His peace!’” Paul shared his own testimony with him from when he became a Christian right up to the

present day. “I didn’t leave out any of the mess that I had got myself in - and how God has been true to me all the way through. When I fi nished, he asked if he could feel this peace, too and I replied that he could. “We prayed through the prayer card together, asking God to come and cleanse him and to bring healing from all that had happened and all that he had seen in his country. Then we both sat in silence for a minute and there were tears in both our eyes. “Then he turned to me and said ‘I feel peace like I’ve never known: is this Jesus?’ “‘It is!’ I told him.”

Prayer Card works

I WAS born in Edinburgh in 1947 into a work-ing class family. Dad didn’t stay around, so Ma

kept us going with two or three jobs at once. I left school at 14 to be an apprentice with Scot-tish Insulation and, later, was in the Army catering corps. Causing trouble was my hobby! I was an atheist, but somehow got invited by a lady to a service. I found myself bursting into tears when

Friends and Family

James: has found his spiritual family

we sang “What a friend we have in Jesus”. I needed a friend at that moment. My ear was pouring pus after a failed mastoid operation and I was worrying about my son Alan, who’d just been told he was HIV+. The lady who brought me to church prayed with me for both things. My ear cleared up and when Alan went in for an operation he was told he wasn’t HIV+. The doctor said “this is impossible!” I knew Alan had been healed by prayer.

I met the Jesus Army in June 1998 while I was sleeping rough in South Shields. I got invited to stay at ‘Promise House’ in Coventry, found God and found my spiritual family. Friendship has always been important to me and it’s friends that have kept me going. Now, in Jesus, I am bonded to my brothers; times I’ve gone off the rails with drinking they’ve helped me through.

old v newYOU MAY be convinced that technology won’t save us, so you look back to times past when things were ‘better’. Old ways, traditions, values of previous genera-tions – all working in their context but clashing often with the world of today. How often do you hear people say, “It wasn’t like this when...” Jesus is Lord of today! The Christian gospel is about how we can live our lives in OUR today. Jesus’ offer of forgive-ness, salvation and then a new way of living is about bringing faith into the es-sence of what you are today. His ‘core values’ are love, sincerity, truth, justice – who doesn’t long for values like these in all aspects of current society? Don’t look back and say “It was better when…” Jesus is our answertoday.

CHALLENGE S MIRACLE

John gave up his wild ambitions to follow Jesus

d

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HOLY SMOKE!Rob Bentley reports on developments in London“THE LONDON Jesus Centre is only three min-utes walk from Oxford Circus and although most of the buildings around give the impression of an area devoted to shops and business premises for the rag-trade, film and TV, there are more residential houses here than you would imagine. “We are still at the planning stage of deciding exactly what services we will be able to offer. “The premises were originally owned by Anglican nuns - the All Saints Sisters of the Poor. They had a vision to live together, sharing all their possessions and using the rest of the building for worship and serving the poor. Our Jesus Army style is a bit different but our vision is exactly the same as theirs.”

Piers Denholm-Young, reports on Coventry Jesus Centre“COVENTRY Jesus Centre has been open for four years now and in that time we’ve met over 2,200 different people in the Bridge drop in and our practical help and support have been instrumental in changing a lot of lives. “The Centre has made ‘church’ more accessible, too. So we’ve made loads of friends – Jesus is the life-

Have you heard?

The Jesus Centre project is advancing into the ‘big smoke’

- London.It will take a while to develop, but prepara-tions for a city-centre facility are underway.The Centre will open

in 2006, offering a range of services

as the Jesus Army seeks to serve today’s

people.Inside the London Jesus Centre, formerly a convent, which includes a chapel built in 1860

Jesus Centres are spreading. The firstone to open was Northampton ...then Coventry ... now London is on the way!

changer! Over the last four years we’ve had 41,000 visits to the Bridge and in the region of 100,000 visits to the Centre as a whole – this includes several churches that hire our rooms for worship and meetings. “It’s good to BE the gospel as well as telling people. People need time to make changes and we’re here for the long haul to help them to do that.”

Steve Jones reports from Northampton“IT’S ONLY six months since we moved from the Pilot Project in a shop to the huge Art Deco building next door that used to house the Cannon cinema. “The day-centre area, whose work was built up through the Pilot Project, has a weekly average of 230 visitors. “Since we opened, many new people have found faith in Jesus and ten have been baptised in our baptistry under the stage.” On Friday nights, Northampton town centre is buzzing with young people and young Jesus Army mem-bers run an ‘After party’ called Fluid, until around 3am. Hannah Chappell, one of the Fluid team, says; “Many drop in at the Jesus Centre for Fluid. “It’s been good to be able to pray for young people in an informal setting, where they feel they can come no mat-ter what they’ve been doing the rest of the time.”

8

Special UK number: 0845 123 5550

(local call rate)For further help/info:

Jesus Fellowship, FREEPOST,

Nether Heyford, North amp ton NN7 3BR

tel: 0845 166 8171fax: 0845 166 8178

e-mail: info@jesus.org.uk www.jesus.org.uk

or contact:

NEWS PA PERS SUPPORT RECYCLINGRe cy cled paper made up 68.5% of the raw ma te ri al for UK news pa pers in 2004

“I USED to drink for sev-eral hours a day. But then a busker friend called Peter, intro-duced me to his friends in the Jesus Army. They took me for a meal at the Pilot Project of the Northamp-ton Jesus Centre. I prayed to God and ex-perienced a real change in my life. I gave up drinking and was baptised. The support of my new Christian friends has helped me get stronger and to not go back to the old ways.”

John prayed

DON’T PUT your trust in economic prosper-ity or the advance of technology. Don’t even look back on the nostalgia of ‘better days’. No, it’s time to look at who you really are. That’s hard to do. We all wear masks. We learn from an early age to play different roles in a variety of social situations. And we learn, too, how to cover up the turmoil inside that we often feel as we get battered by the events of life. A friend asks how you are; “Fine” is the simple reply, when inside you are hurting, angry, upset. And what would your friend actually do if you broke that social conven-tion and answered their question with the truth? They might well be horrifi ed. So, take a look behind the make up. Gently. You see, Jesus came to talk to the real ‘us’. Time after time in the Gospel stories, people know that He KNOWS them, that

He sees through the cover-up. The hope in this, though, is that Jesus came to save, not to condemn. How many times have you said to yourself, ‘If they only knew what the real me is thinking…’. Well, Jesus came to save, not to chuck us away on life’s rubbish heap. Have a look at yourself today. If you can, pray this prayer: Jesus, I have done it! I have taken a look at the real ‘me’, and I do desperately need to be saved, to have a new beginning. Jesus, You died for me, for my sins. Please forgive me, please bring me into a new way of living in You.

For help / Information, please contact:Jesus Fellowship, FREEPOST, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3BRt: 0845 123 5550 e: info@jesus.org.uk

face up to who you really are

JESUS SAID:

“I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness.”

St John 12: 46

20/06/2005, 19:11:14