Church of the poor - Jesus Army

We learnt from the poor
The Jesus Fellowship is a
church of the poor. Jesus
Fellowship apostolic leader,
Kelly Bartholomew, describes
how principles of justice,
equality and simplicity have
been woven into the church.
MY OWN personal moment of truth about poverty came
when I took my mum and dad to my old church. They
found it so difficult that the leaders drove off in their big
cars while their congregation was left queuing in the rain
waiting for a bus. I couldn’t argue with what they said and
soon after I found this church and moved to be part of it.
The Jesus Fellowship is a church for the poor. If we
weren’t, we’d soon lose our rootedness in Jesus and His
affinity with everyday people. Our doors must stay open to
all, otherwise we’d quickly become those who live in ivory
towers. Sadly, today, most people’s view of “church” is
that it’s made up of rich people gathering to observe some
sort of ritual – so they dismiss it as irrelevant.
Our ministry to the poor began as soon as the Holy
Spirit birthed our church in 1969. The first requirement
of anything apostolic – whether it’s a person or a church
– is to “hold the truth as taught.” Whether you first hear
it from a man, or in your own heart or direct from God,
through the prophetic word you see the kingdom and then
you have to live it out – with determination.
The prophetic word about poverty found an echo within
us in those early days. Generosity and sharing started as
soon as the Holy Spirit came to us.
The first step that the Holy Spirit showed us was that we
ourselves needed to become “poor”. In those early days
we were a small Baptist congregation in a village chapel in
Continued overleaf
www.jesus.org.uk
Jesus Life One/2008 Page 5