modern Jesus army: bringing spiritual and social help to all people No. 73 FREE

TEXT US info@jesus.org.ukwww.jesus.org.uk

>

MIX!

Human Beings – Loveable, Irritating, Emotional, Menacing, Friendly, Spiritual

P3: FREEDOM FROM DRUGS

P5: UK - SECULAR SOCIETY?

P7: SOLDIER JOINS THE ARMY

P8: HERE TO SERVE

CRAZY

images: freeimages.co.uk; pixelperfectdigital.com; imageafter.com; morguefile.com; animations-galore.com; openphoto.net; bigfoto.net

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YOU MAY be thinking, where do I fit in this crazy mix? Am I the odd one out, the one who will never fit anywhere, a loner who can never make real friends, always pre-tending to be happy, but feeling reject-ed and sad? Am I destined to live with bouts of depression all my life? Can I find happiness? Can I find fulfilment? Can I escape from this feeling of being lost and lonely and find real friends? Is there a place for me in this crazy mix of humanity? If that’s how you’re thinking what about finding a Christian group where the people are warm and friendly and

you will feel accepted and trusted? It may take time to find them but they are around! You’ve been wounded by many rejections and find trusting people dif-ficult. But as you find faith in God’s love for you and receive prayer and support from your new friends, you will be emo-tionally healed and find freedom to be yourself without any fear of rejection. You can always contact us because we’re always keen to help those who can’t find their way in this “crazy mix” of a human society.

...but where do I fit in?

Text, e-mail and “web” details, top right, or use the contact details on page 2.

20/06/2005, 16:53:26

HE GOSPEL of John s part of the Bible and ells the story of the Life of Christ. Packed into 70 pages you can fi nd how one man bridged

the gap between man od. Find out what liv-

ing 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.

Get a bestseller

FREE

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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.

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, write to Jesus Fellowship Central Offices, FREEPOST, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3BR tel: 0845 123 5550 email: info@jesus.org.uk modern JESUS army Streetpaper No.73 © 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/mJa. 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.

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 8154Chester/ 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 ......................................................0845 166 8152Manchester................................................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 5556Walsall/Wolverhampton ...........................0845 123 5563

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Radical family live for Jesus!

THEY WERE very different in personality - Jack out-spoken in a blunt Yorkshire way, Harriet shy and quiet. But soon after meeting each other in the Jesus Fellow-ship in 1996, they realised they had a common vision and calling. “Neither of us wanted to get sucked onto the career conveyor-belt or to settle for ‘Sunday-only’ Christianity,” explains Jack. “We felt God’s calling was to live as radical disciples of Jesus and reach out with the gospel to our locality.” Jack was brought up in York-shire and Harriet hundreds of miles away in Buckinghamshire, but both experienced godly influ-ences in their childhood. Jack’s dad was an Anglican lay preacher in Leeds and from an early age Jack understood what faith in Jesus requires of us. “I can see now that my father’s influence on me was great - he’s a righteous man with very strong moral ethics. I was by no means angelic but some of it rubbed off on me!” Harriet became a Christian through the Christian Union at her school in High Wycombe and then received a powerful filling of the Spirit at a weekend retreat. These early encounters with God made them both hungry for more. Harriet found her ‘more’ in her first year at Leeds university. “In Freshers’ Week, I’d been curious to see a marquee labelled ‘The Big Holy Tent’ and I wan-dered inside. I thought the peo-ple were a bunch of lunatics but they were quite obviously in love

Jack and Harriet met through their

commitment to church, and have decided

to live their faith out as a familywith God loads! Many of them belonged to Word of Life Church and I became a regular visitor, learning about the Holy Spirit and devouring every Christian book I could lay my hands on. “The following year I was invited to a Jesus Fellowship Festival. It was an overwhelming experience and I realised God was calling me to join the church. After gradu-ation, I stayed on in Leeds to become part of the pioneer team that set up the Jesus Fellowship’s Leeds community house. It was also at this time that I met Jack. We’d both been students in Leeds but our paths had never crossed before.” Jack first met a group from the Jesus Fellowship as he walked down the street in Leeds, soon after completing an HND in build-ing science. He soon realised that he’d found the spiritual home he’d been searching for. The pioneer work in their area of Leeds is not easy. Several key local industries have failed over the last fifty years. Unemploy-ment and relationship break-down have left many people living in lonely bedsits, without traditional social groupings of family and friends to encour-age them. But Jack and Har-riet have no regrets that they’ve exchanged the chance of a life of success and material ease to identify with those who have lit-tle materially. “We both love to read historical Christian books that tell of the radical sacrifices that people have made for the cause of Christ in years gone by,” says Harriet. “We live in an industrial city, with modern problems - but we’re glad to take up the challenge of the same calling.”Harriet, Jack and baby Grace

ONE YEAR ago, Fabio was living in Spain; his life was a real mess. He was dabbling in pornography, his sister was very ill and his parents had no money.Fabio gave his testimony at a national Jesus Army event:“In 2004, I came to the UK and I found a Streetpaper in the house where I was living.I texted the number that was there and I made con-tact with this church.Now I’m really happy and not involved in pornography any more; my parents have a job and my sister is really healthy.

Want someone to pray for you? Want to get in touch with the mJa near where you live?

TRY THE MJA TEXT HELPLINE: 07969 679 501

TXT: JESUS LUVS U

MANY HAVE used the Tex-tline already, with varied requests (some of which we can’t help with!).• pls pray for my unsaved dad• if i read the bible will god provide me with a range rover? am prepared to swap my soul for a 4.6HSE. your

call, jehovah…• hi, can u help me. I feel really depressed. I need to speak 2 sum1 to help get closer 2 god• can you tell me which road or street in brighton your meeting takes place on sun-days as i am new to the area

Txt help!

Fabio: used the Text Helpline

Ouch - my back!

MHAIRI WAS working as a volunteer in a London charity shop when a mid-dle-aged Irish woman came in. Mhairi noticed that she winced as she stooped to look at something on the shelf and asked her if she was in pain. “I’ve got arthritis in

my back,” she explained. When Mhairi told the

woman that she was a Christian and asked if she could pray for Jesus to heal her back, the woman gladly agreed. The following day the

woman came back to the shop. “Your prayer yester-

day helped me so much,” she said, “I came to ask you if you could please pray for me again today!”

Safe at home?

THERE ARE about 2.8 million home accidents each year where the vic-tim visits an Accident and Emergency department for treatment. A similar number of cases are treated by their GP.• Every year there are over

3,000 deaths in the UK due to home accidents. • More than a third of all

accidents to adults take place in the home.• Each year almost a

million children under the age of 15 seek hos-pital attention following a home accident.• Around 1,500 over 65’s

die annually following a fall in the home.Info at www.dti.gov.uk

Sweet dreams

FOR TWELVE long years the man hadn’t been able to get a proper night’s sleep. When he met Mike from the Jesus Army com-munity house in Liverpool he told him all about it. “God can help you

with that,” said Mike and prayed against the power of insomnia. The following day the

man told Mike he’d slept for twelve hours of deep, unbroken sleep!

Recon-ciled and

soberTHE MAN stopped to

watch some children danc-ing - they were copying the Jesus Fellowship team worshipping and praising God on the street. Seeing the happy,

lively children brought home to the man that he wasn’t allowed to see his own grandchildren because of his addic-tion to alcohol. He asked Jesus to help him to stop drinking. Eight months

later news fi ltered through to the Jesus Fellowship house in Belfast that after that day in Bangor the man hadn’t touched a drop of drink and was now recon-ciled with his family.

Jumping veins!

A HINDU man who has been searching for faith in Jesus has received such strong touches of the Holy Spirit that he describes his feelings like “my veins are jumping up and down!”

20/06/2005, 16:53:57

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Thea became a Christian when she was 13, but was confrontedvery quickly with losing her mother to meningitis

Faith grows in trials of life

THEA HAD her first encounter with God sitting on her bed. She should have been doing homework, but was looking out of the window at the horizon. If you’d asked her then if she believed in God, she would have said ‘No’, but contrast-ing the heavens with the chore of homework, the size of the earth and her ‘smallness’, she cried out to God for help – but didn’t feel much except a hope inside. At school, Thea was very shy. She would smile so people didn’t think she was upset or lonely. Then a friend asked her to go on a Christian holiday. “It was the first time I was aware of other people’s spiritual beliefs. People knew God and His love and I wanted that. Church didn’t interest me, but my relationship with God couldn’t be a phase, so I quit my Sunday job and went to a local Anglican church. “My social life started about the same time. The pints and parties gave me confidence but going to church with a hangover didn’t help! I was always saying sorry to God on Sunday morning. I felt an increasing emptiness inside and I longed to belong but I didn’t completely fit in with any of my groups of friends.” Going to university presented the situa-tions Thea needed to live for God in a new way. Her priorities were challenged and she discovered a sense of her value as a human being. “My desire for acceptance on the outside was changing to value what God had made me on the inside. I had a powerful experience of God’s love and power and He motivated me to love people. He helped me to serve others. He answered my prayers before I

even asked them... and then I went home.” There was a rugby match on at Twick-enham that Thea went home for. Her mum was feeling ill so she went with her father and brother, though the thought crossed her mind, she ought to be praying for her mother. After the match, Thea’s father went to London to see friends whilst she and her brother went home. When they arrived, their mother was having a seizure; at the hospi-tal they put her straight on a life support machine. She had meningitis, and two days later she died. “I wanted to face death but I couldn’t work it out. Returning to university, every-thing in me had changed. Education wasn’t important anymore, my priorities became completely different. “I found I didn’t blame God for what had happened; He was solid, He wouldn’t change. I cried every day, but the Holy Spirit convicted me when my tears were out of self-pity, and, as I felt the pain, I stayed open, I let it cut me deep inside. I discovered the heart of God, His longing for a people who would love him. I’d worship and dance with God, spending time in prayer.” But Thea felt stunted, living a lonely life. Through friends, she was filled with the Holy Spirit and God showed her that she wouldn’t be very useful to Him on her own! “Now I live within Christian commu-nity. My work is on a hospital cancer ward. There’s a lot of death, pain and hurting fami-lies but God has kept that wound of Mum’s death open in me so I can feel with others. I see people die without God and there’s a fear of unknowing, but for those who know God there is a peace.” Thea: facing life’s pain

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FOLLOW US on a short walk through the questions of life and faith. Which way do we look for assurance and direc-tion: in a world that is losing faith as it develops its own amazing technological and biological skills (see page 4-5), where can we look for answers to the everyday di-lemmas which we all face? How can I live a moral life (what IS a ‘moral’ life!)? How can I face the issue of WHO I am? How can I understand death and sick-ness? How can I have so much when so many in the world still live on ‘under $1 a day’? Institutional religion has its problems too, so often aligned with political and economic movements that

WHICH WAY WHICH WAY ARE YOU ARE YOU TAKING?TAKING?

are manipulated by the rich ‘few’. But today, many fi nd that Jesus has their answer; that life-changing faith is still available. Read about a handful of them in the pages of this paper. You can also order a free copy of John’s Gospel (in modern English) and read the things He said for yourself. Follow the footprints through these pages, and begin your journey of faith.

For your free John’s Gospel write to Jesus Fellowship Resources, Nether Heyford, North-ampton NN7 3BR. Or email info@jesus.org.uk, or call 01327 344522.

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FREEDOM FROM DRUGSEXPERIMENTING with drugs seemed to Neil to be a normal part of teenage life and he accept-ed the risks as he looked for more striking experiences. As his hallu-cinations became more and more ‘full on’, he realised his mind was getting badly twisted up. When he was 18, Neil met a team from the Jesus Army, at the Glaston-bury Festival. “These people were into Jesus, not drugs or dodgy spirituality. I looked at them like ‘Jesus hippies’, but what they were saying convinced me I needed to take a step into a new life. “I gave my life to Jesus, I was baptised in water and then received the power of the Holy Spirit which was more amaz-ing than any other experience!” Neil gave up drugs, but then found he had to face dealing with the damage they had done. Friends noticed that he was very ‘hy-per’; he moved from the rush of London to a Jesus Fellowship community house on a farm.

Still his psychotic condition wors-ened and seemed to become a down-ward spiral. “My thinking was muddled, anxious and driven. I prayed to God to help me. “For several months I was in a mental hospital; it was hard being where you seemed to have no choices. “After a while, Neil was allowed time at home. I hated being on tranquillis-ers; I could feel that people around loved me, but I could not respond. I cried out to God, ‘Everything’s gone. I feel such darkness!’ One night, Neil dreamed he was healed. When he woke up, he realised he was! “I got up and came running to my friends saying I’d been healed. “I was dancing, singing, hugging my friends. The hospital were cautious at first, but bit by bit the drugs were re-duced and I was finally discharged. “God has given me back ‘myself’; I am so grateful to Him and to the friends who were with me all the way through. “Drugs mash you up – they’re not a way to connect with your spiritual side. Get-ting your head fried is definitely not God’s plan for any of us! But finding Jesus is!”

Teenage drug-taking put Neil in danger,but faith broke in at a music festival

Neil: feels like he has been given his life back after drugs damaged him||

20/06/2005, 16:54:00

A SECULA

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“EVEN AS a child,” says Jonno, “I’d be more likely to be thinking about the meaning of life than football or pop stars. “Was there some kind of God? If so, what did He look like? And what about me? What was I doing here?” Though Jonno’s upbringing offered security and material comfort, as he got older his questioning in-tensified. His dad was a civil engineer, with no particu-lar religious beliefs, but his mum believed in God and taught him some prayers. School brought hymns and things, but a local Baptist church offered something more tangible. “All this gave me a vague belief in God – but who, or what WAS He? And what was the ‘greater thing be-yond ourselves’ that life was supposed to be a journey towards?” Then, aged fourteen, Jonno discovered the drug LSD. His first trip lasted all day and seemed to offer an adventure ‘beyond himself’. He started reading searching books and smoking hash. “God wasn’t getting any clearer, though. I was con-cluding that He must be some kind of universal spirit, somewhere along the Krishna lines, except that I didn’t like the idea of worshipping images. “By nineteen I was directionless and drugs and al-cohol dominated my life. Several years of aimlessness followed, until I stayed on a kibbutz in Israel.” Jonno was challenged by the unselfish, communal lifestyle of the kibbutz; he also met a Christian there whose sacrificial way of living disturbed him and when he came back to the UK he was shocked to discover a close friend had become a Christian! “Instead of talking about gigs with his rock band, he was asking me where I was going to spend eternity! I felt a great fear of God all of a sudden, and knew I had to do something about it.” Jonno went to see an older couple, Christians, who had prayed for him for years – he knelt and gave his life to Jesus without conditions. Receiving the Holy Spirit brought an overwhelming sense of God’s holiness. “The final bits of my spiritual jigsaw fell in to place. Jesus offers a much more powerful security than the affluence I grew up with. All we really have is what we are inside and my spiritual search has led me to see that what is of value is Christ’s opinion of us – not the opinion of society. I am accumulating heavenly, not earthly, treasure!”

What about eternity?

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LET’S CONTINUE our journey. We all have to contend with our nature. What are your main traits of character? Are you ‘proud as a pea-cock’? Are you someone who lives in the grip of guilt and insecurity? Every one of us is a unique mix of character, for better or for worse. Many can look at events in childhood, teens or adult life which have ‘shaped’ them. Scientists and psychologists still debate the effect of genetic make-up on the fi nal ‘you’. But we all grapple with a human nature that is prone to ‘sin’; that’s the word Jesus used to describe that ‘dark side’ of our nature which is the root of jealousy, hatred, and all the things that degrade our character. And Jesus came and died as a sacrifi ce for all that ‘dark side’. He offers a new-life identity powered by the Holy Spirit.

R U “PROUD AS A PEACOCK?”

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4

OUR FAITH IS REAL

THE NAME on my tee-shirt spells out that I’ve got my place in a bright, positive future! It wasn’t always like this. I was into a lot of things that were pretty dead-end. It all changed one night in May 2003. I was out with a group of friends at a party, doing my hardest to get into it and enjoy the atmosphere but something had changed inside me and I saw right through it. I woke up next morn-ing with a thumping hangover and I thought ‘I’ve had enough’. I felt God tapping me on the shoulder, directly speaking to me inside that I had an

Steve“FUTURE”, 21

eternal future. I thought ‘that’s incredible that God should bother with me!’ and I started to make my first steps towards Him. Many people today get caught up in the rat race of life and lose their iden-tity. They end up feeling that they’re just another person in a huge crowd of people all out trying to better their lives. It doesn’t have to be like this! And the word on my tee-shirt is my way of showing that!

mJa (modern JESUS army) teeshirts are black with a red cross on the front. Many young members of the church have started putting a positive faith-name on the back.

It’s not hard to see that faith is playing less and lessof a part in the nitty gritty issues of 21C life in the UK– but will we just let faith slip off the agenda and seekanswers to life’s questions in our own abilities?

WE BELIEVE it. A YouGov poll a few months ago for The Daily Telegraph has reported that 81 percent of UK citizens believe we are be-coming a more ‘secular’ country; fewer peo-ple these days are ‘religious’ and regularly attend a place of worship. Compared to polls of previous generations, fewer of us now believe in heaven and hell, in a devil or in life after death. But as you look around, you realise that our tech-nological, medical and political progress is bringing mankind into areas where faith, ethics and morality are going to be desperately needed. How can we decide where the boundaries of ge-netic engineering should be set? How are we going to address the old problems of rich and poor, starv-ing and obese? How will we be able to cope with a robotised humanity, electronically tagged and monitored? In the midst of all this, how do we retain our dignity and nobility as human beings? What is there ‘beyond’ ourselves that will help us deal with our own seem-ingly unstoppable ‘progress’?

Do we believe in God?

Do you believe in God? In 1968, 77% said ‘yes’: in 2004, that was down to 44%.

81% of those interviewed believed the UK was becoming a more secular soci-ety – and many (68%) regretted the fact!

43% still believe in life after death, but only 23% believe that there is a devil.

source: YouGov

20/06/2005, 16:54:02

AR SOCIETY?|| ||Decline of faith: in central Northampton, the stone lettering shows what this building was before it became a

lapdancing club. An internet search revealed a total of twenty-six closed chapels in Northampton.

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AS FAR BACK as 2002, a leading plastic sur-geon was calling for a debate about whether face transplants should take place.

Peter Butler said surgical techniques would soon allow the procedure to take place. But he also said it was essential for a proper moral and ethical debate to happen first.

The BBC quoted Mr Butler as saying; “It is not ‘Can we do it?’ but

‘Should we do it?’” Mr Butler told the BBC that a survey of people’s atti-tudes, including doctors, nurses and lay people, had high-lighted some serious concerns about face transplants. “It’s the moral and ethical debate that needs to be raised in a public way to find out what the issues are that need to be addressed to make this possible.” The BBC also quoted Dr Aric Sigman, a psychologist, who said the operation would be aimed at people with serious disfigurements: “What we don’t know is what happens when they wake up with someone else’s face.”But he warned: “The chances are, it won’t be long be-fore it’s used for aesthetic reasons.” In 2004, CNN reported that doctors in Kentucky, USA, were preparing a document to be submitted to an ethics panel at the University of Louisville School of Medicine seeking permission to perform a face transplant. They said that the operation was intended for pa-tients with severe disfigurement, and had not been at-tempted before, though doctors in the past have suc-cessfully reattached faces to patients after accidents. The doctors, though, will not put any date on their intended operation so that there is not a race against teams from other countries!

New hair?New face?How can we handle themoral debate?

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A FRIEND gave me the word ‘genuine’ which I have on my tee-shirt and I really like the thought that people see me as someone who is genuinely himself. It also makes me check and make sure that I really am being genuinely myself! People - especially my age - often feel they have to fit into a group to have an identity. If you don’t do what they do and like the things they like, then you lose your friends. There’s a pressure on you to be the same as everyone else. Nobody likes to be lonely and if you don’t happen to fit into a group, then you have to end up a loner. In the church it’s not like that. Young people respect each other for who they re-ally are. When you love Je-sus, you are all drawn together whatever your background or your taste in music! You can be yourself. You can be who you genuinely are!

A DIFFICULT child-hood, loneliness and a deep lack of self-worth led me into a defeated life in later years. I be-came a woman who doubted her ability to be anything, so I slid into drugs, the occult and casual relationships to es-cape the pain. When I encoun-tered Jesus in 1993, I found such a deep love and accept-ance from Him and His church that I soon began to find the real “me”. I think a lot of people in today’s society have given

up on themselves. I want them to know that Jesus offers a fresh start to EVERY person - no matter what they’ve done. That’s why the word ‘victori-ous’ is so precious to me.

Vanessa “VICTORIOUS”, 32 Andy “GENUINE”, 20

ON WE GO… The world we live in offers so much pleasure, so many riches – so much to satisfy the thirst of human beings to be entertained, comfort-able and secure. But then we see how all this is ours at the expense of others. How unequal our world is! How many are dying through war and starvation every day! Even within the affluent UK, so many are lonely, so many live in fear while so many are indifferent to their plight. As we discover a ‘new life’ in Jesus, we also discover our ‘brothers and sisters’ in the church, the ‘family’ that the Holy Spirit creates. OK, institu-tional religion is not keen on this, but

DO YOU LIVE FOR

FUN?

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read what Jesus said and you will dis-cover the true revolutionary who tells us to ‘love God and love your brother as yourself’. It’s a revolution – we are not here for our own pleasure, but to love others and to build something that is DIFFERENT!

20/06/2005, 16:54:17

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How are your feet?DO YOU like it when someone offers to wash your feet? Or maybe a better way to put it is, ‘Has any-one ever offered to wash you feet?’ It’s not a very common occurrence socially! But Jesus did just that for His disciples in a gesture that said, ‘I am here to serve, I am here to love.’ And He told them that they should follow His example. Of other things Jesus instituted as real, mean-ingful ‘sacraments’ – actions that are fi lled with the Holy Spirit and deeper signifi cance – bap-tism and ‘communion’ are two examples. And what do we do with them? In the course of time, these acts are reduced to the level of religious ritual, losing so much of their meaning and impact. So many surveys and media features today point to the decline in Christianity in the UK. But is this simply a decline in fossilised religion? People who respond to surveys often seem to say they want to be ‘spiritual’, but they don’t want to be part of dead religion. So, among other things, the church needs to rediscover the reality of ‘sacraments’! Ok, foot washing isn’t ‘normal’, but it can be very hum-bling both to be on the ‘giving’ and ‘receiving’ end. Through it, we signify our desire to love and serve one another. Who wants to wash people’s feet otherwise!?

Couple make a stand

NEITHER ROB nor Pauline were committed Christians when they married in the ‘Swinging Sixties’. But, in-stinctively, they chose to be married in a church. “All around us,” explains Pauline, “people were pushing away the accepted moral cus-toms of previous generations and experimenting with new things, including wife-swapping. We felt serious about marriage and – even though we didn’t yet know Him – we wanted God’s blessing.” They had been married for six years and had two sons when Rob decided to write a novel. During his research, he read the Bible – which brought him, unexpect-edly, to a personal crisis point. “One evening – in 1974 – I said to Pauline; ‘We must stop fight-ing God. We’re both just living for ourselves.’” They knelt down and simply prayed together – the result was a complete change in their lives.

“We were very much people of our time,” Pauline explains. “If we hadn’t found God, we could easily have rationalised that wrong was right and slipped into the values around us. As we read the Bible, we saw that marriage is unique and sacred, something God has ordained. Using the Bi-ble as our guideline, we worked towards a relationship that was innocent and guileless.” Rob sees lasting Christian marriage as a ‘sign’ to our age. “Many people today think it’s impossible to have a partner for life. Divorce and promiscuity don’t shock any longer. “We have discovered richness and depth that can only come from a length of relationship and a depth of shared experi-ence. Giving and taking, real ‘mutuality’, produce a depth of love which is both emotional and physical. “We both long for society to re-claim the depth and intimacy of marriage, along with real purity in relationships.” Rob and Pauline: marriage can be lasting and good

For Rob and Pauline, a 37-year-long Christian marriage contrasts with the values of today’s UK society

Language of tears

A YOUNG woman from Latvia came into the Jesus Centre looking for a church and wanting to join the Eng-lish classes offered at the Centre. Sadly, her hours of work changed and she was no longer free to come to the classes. But she could still come to visit people in one of the Jesus Fellowship community houses. The power of God on these occasions would touch her so deeply that tears would fl ow almost con-stantly from the moment she entered the house - espe-cially if she received prayer. It was as if the Holy Spirit was helping her to express all that was inside her in a language that was far be-yond all Latvian or English words.

ARE YOU one of those peo-ple who would prefer to hide from all the issues of life? Many do – trouble is, things have a way of catch-ing up with us. Life is always moving, of-fering us challenges, upset-ting our apple-cart. Today may be the day that the Spirit of God is say-ing to you, ‘Think!’. Today is your day to lift your head and take a serious look at what He said, at what He offers and at what being part of Christian brother-hood can really mean. Don’t be someone who just hopes life will go away – it won’t.

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SORRY, LIFE JUST WON’T GO AWAY

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TSCHAKA had gone to university full of questions. In his first year, he had decided, he would look into Christian-ity, the second year Islam, and the third year Buddhism or Judaism. So that first Sunday at university he had gone to the Chapel. He met Krish at the service. “Well, Tschaka, what do you think?” asked Krish. “I’m starting a course on Christian-ity called ‘Just Looking’. Fancy coming along?” Tschaka had decided, when he got to universi-ty, he should investigate God’s existence. He had believed that God didn’t exist, but thought it was arrogant not to investi-gate at least. “During the ‘Just Looking’ course I con-cluded that the whole Christianity thing was just a clever big riddle, invented by man. Then, one day, the group dis-cussed ‘What was Jesus doing, dying on the Cross?’ ‘He died to make us perfect’, someone said. That blew my mind. I knew I didn’t deserve that. I was quite a ‘good’ person but I’d still done

some drastically wrong things. Jesus had given Himself for me, one Man for everyone else. That total unselfishness had to be divine, it’s not a characteristic of man at all! “Walking home, I said ‘God, I want this!’. Quite simply, He filled me with joy, something that’s still in my heart a decade later! That was what gave me my identity.” With a new found zeal, Tschaka threw himself into his new Christian role, stuffed his quick mind with Bible knowl-edge and enrolled for two years mission work. Everything should have been perfect, but a friend pointed out he was acting as a loner. “That was it. Here I was, part of an excellent team of strong young Christians, yet I didn’t have any relationships that counted. The word ‘lonely’ had such a pro-found effect on me that I felt suicidal. In my usual way, I tried to organise myself out of it by seeing a counsellor. But the is-sue didn’t go away. “It was all me control-ling my own life. My joy in knowing God couldn’t find a place to grow. I kept crying ‘Where are the real relationships?’ “Then, one night, God challenged me to do a

complete u-turn. He said to me: ‘Tschaka, you’re building your own little corner of My kingdom. Let Me take over. I want to put you in a church where you will be happy. Then you’ll be effective.’” It was at this point that an old university friend got in touch. He’d joined a Christian com-munity in Coventry and invited Tschaka to stay. “I agreed to go, found what I’d been looking for and moved in! Communi-ty life is such a rich expe-rience. And it’s giving me the ability to achieve my heart’s desire: to build God’s church. Nothing else matters.”

Questionsanswered

Tschaka: investigating Jesus

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CROSS ES

When the Spirit comes | 64 pages £3.99Fire in our Hearts | 384 pages £5.99Your Baptism | 36 pages £1.50Re viv al Fires | 40 pages £2.50Sev en Silver Rings | 80 pag es £3.50The Be st sell er | 64 pages £3.99

Qara | CD £10.99 // The Poor | CD £10.99 Cas £7.95New Awakening | CD £10.99 Cas £7.95Atmosphere | CD £10.99Dare To Be! | CD £10.99 Ca £7.95

M U S I C

Stop arguing and LISTEN!OF COURSE, you may be some-one with lots of questions, genuine ones. You may be someone who just loves a good tussle over religious topics! Faith in Jesus has become real for millions around the world today. It crosses cultural and political boundaries and it is the inspira-tion for so much that is good in peoples’ lives. If you have questions, ask them. Many people came to Jesus

and put their questions; often these were religious people, trying to catch Him out. Constantly, Jesus stressed that faith cannot be interpreted as a list of rules or laws but is a matter of your heart – are you kind, honest, loving, diligent, someone who ‘builds’ rather than someone who fi nds fault or tears down? Jesus offers us a change of heart, a chance to be ‘brand new’ – settle your differences with Him so you can see what He is saying to YOU.

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“I’M SORRY but your name isn’t on my list,” the sergeant-major said to 18-year-old Eelco van Daalfsen. Eelco’s Dutch regiment had been sent to Germany as part of basic training. Somehow there’d been a mix-up. “I had gone there to work as a mechanic; now I was sweeping up and making tea for the regiment.” A war of nerves began. Eelco was isolated from the others, pushed around and subject-ed to a barrage of aggressive remarks. With no communication and no friends, he retreated into himself. “I’d been addicted to smoking pot from age seventeen. Now I spent whole days alone, mostly high as a kite. My mind began to crack. When I started hearing voices, I asked to see the base psychiatrist, who sent me home ‘medically unfit’.” Eelco had started military service early to get away from problems at home. Now, arriving back in Holland, he found the old problems still alive and kicking – and some new ones, as well. Eelco’s parents had split

up when he was three. He and his brother and sister had stayed with his mother, who was left very hurt by the divorce. Tensions caused the boys to move out. When Eelco came back from the army, he had no money, no job and no hope. Sharing a flat with his brother and then with his sister, Eelco drifted through the next two years. His life became a shapeless procession of days, spent smoking more and more drugs. Being alive seemed completely futile. After one of the huge family rows that kept erupting, he went for a walk by the dyke. “I’d tried everything to bring peace into our home. I sat down and sobbed. ‘God, I can’t sort this out anymore. If You really ex-ist, show Yourself to me and give me a pur-pose in life. Make me of some value to others - that’s the only purpose there can be!’ “Even though I didn’t hear audible words, I felt like a little flame lit up inside. God also began to speak to me in vivid dreams. “In one, I saw a tree hanging with smashed up fragments of the material things I coveted. I woke up realising how fragile material things were and that I could get by without them.”

Soon after, a Christian friend, called Luke, came to say goodbye. He was on his way to England to ‘do something more with his faith’ by trying out Christian community. Eelco asked him ‘Can I come with you and have a look - there’s nothing for me here!’ “My first visit felt like a homecoming. I got really excited when I saw people sharing money and possessions. “When I returned to Holland, my brother thought I’d lost the plot and took me to a psychiatrist. He turned out to be a Chris-tian. He said ‘You’re not as mad as your brother thinks - just go and read John’s Gos-pel.’ I returned to the community - this time to live permanently!” Looking back, Eelco feels an enormous debt for the soul healing he has received, which has given him confidence to make radical decisions. “The radical life of the church was the very thing that drew me in and brought me healing. This creates a brotherhood, based on hearts open to one another. Take it away and you’d take the cutting edge of the church away. That edge is getting rid of my prides and forming me into a man God can use.”

SOLDIER JOINS A NEW ARMY

Army life, family life - both left Eelco questioningeverything until his desperate cry for help was heard

Eelco: Christian life has brought healing

20/06/2005, 16:54:30

WE ARE HERE TO SERVE!

Northampton Jesus Centre now in full swing

Northampton Jesus Centre: the Step-Up is open Monday to Saturday

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Join in!

ALIVE FESTIVAL WEEKENDFri 25 - Mon 28 March 2005Giant Marquee, Cornhill Manor, Pattishall

NORTHAMPTON

MEN ALIVE FOR GODSaturday 30 April 200511:30am, 2:00pm & 6:00pmJesus Centre, Abington Square

NORTHAMPTON

POWER FESTIVAL WEEKENDFri 27 - Mon 30 May 2005Giant Marquee, Cornhill Manor, Pattishall

NORTHAMPTON

MULTIPLY EU LEADERS CONFERENCESaturday 18 June 200511:00am, 2:00pm & 6:00pmJesus Centre, Abington Square

NORTHAMPTON

LONDON JESUS DAYSaturday 2 July 2005March to Trafalgar Square 12:30pm Jesus Festival6:15pm Jesus Celebration (venue to be confi rmed)

LONDON

UK JESUS CELEBRATIONSaturday 30 July 20051:00pm, 2:00pm, 4:30pm & 6:00pmJesus Centre, Abington Square

NORTHAMPTON

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Step-Up

IN ITS first month of operation, the new Jesus Centre recorded:• a quadrupling of visits to over 800• a tripling of enquiries and refer-rals (to over 250)• a doubling of those receiving on-going support (to over 350)In 2004, the combined Jesus Centre/Pilot Project recorded over 8000 vis-its, with over 4000 of those resulting in help being given.

Step-Up is the name of the Jesus Centre project which aims to help people ‘step up’ to a better life

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I STARTED drink-ing when I was a very young child and by the age of twelve I had a bad drink problem and used drink and drugs to blot out bad things in my past, especial-ly from my very early childhood and the time I was in care. I came to Northampton from a hostel for the homeless in North Wales and went to the Jesus Centre for advice. They sorted me out with temporary ac-commodation and are helping me get somewhere permanent. My friends at the Jesus Centre have given me the courage to start building a life. I’m a very suss person and you can’t blag me. It takes a lot for me to make friends. I can still be suspicious of things and insecure at times but at the Jesus Centre I’ve found friendships, love and warmth and hope for the future. Even-tually I can see I’ll be able to trust fully.

DONNA HAS HOPE

WELL, OUR journey is over (if you started reading at the back and are asking, ‘what journey? please start at page 3!). We have looked at a few of the things Jesus said, and we have looked a bit at ourselves. We are all stuck in our own attitudes, our ‘world’, and Jesus’ aim was to restore us to a place where we can love God and love our brother. But in the end, you have to make the decision about where you stand with Him – will you dismiss Him as a crank, will you ignore Him, will you just concentrate on the ‘now’ of your life – or will you come out and join with Him today? Jesus taught His followers to pray, and you can do that too:

|| || || || ||Lord Jesus, I have been looking at my life and I want to come right out and ask You to be my Saviour. I want to live a new life; I want to love others more than I do myself. Please forgive my sins; please give me that new life, and Your Holy Spirit. Thank You, Jesus.

If you would like help with how to be a follower of Jesus, or how to fi nd out more about Him, please contact:Jesus Fellowship, FREEPOST, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3BRTel: (01327) 344511 Email: info@jesus.org.uk

IT’S DECISION TIME

Whoever desires to become great among you let him beWhoever desires to becomeWhoever desires to becomeyour servant... I did not comeegreat among you, let him be great among you, let him beto be served but to give my your servant... I did not comyour servant... I did not comlife as a ransom for many.to be served but to give mto be served but to give m

JESUS SAID:

Whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant... I did not come to be served but to give my life as a ransom for many. St Matthew 20: 26-28 (summarised)

Special UK number: 0845 123 5550 (local call rate)

For further help/info, contact: Jesus Fellowship Cen tral Offi ces, FREEPOST,

Nether Heyford, North amp ton NN7 3BRtel: 0845 166 8171 / fax: 0845 166 8178

e-mail: info@jesus.org.uk web: 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 2005

IT WAS an amaz-ing team effort to get to the stage w h e r e we could a c t u -ally open the main J e s u s C e n t r e

to the public in De-cember 2004. When we bought the derelict 1936 cinema, I don’t think we fully appreciated the im-plications of refurbishing one of the UK’s finest examples of Art Deco cinemas! Moving to the big Centre has dramatically increased what we are able to do (see Step-Up figures, right).|| || ||

Steve Jones, manager ofNorthampton’s new JesusCentre, speaks to Streetpaper

Several things help to show the positive impact that the Centre is having: one is the number of people that come here for one reason and then get inspired to branch out into another activity. The other is the number of our visitors who offer to help the team with cleaning and odd jobs because they see the Centre as their Centre, too. About 200 volunteers form the backbone of the service and provide the warmth, faith and hard work which make the Jesus Centre. Visitors say they feel at home and comment on the Centre’s welcoming inclusiveness and the multicultural atmosphere.

20/06/2005, 16:54:42