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Jesus Life 91 - The Jesus Army

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JESUS<br />

Issue <strong>91</strong> FREE<br />

three / 2012<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

LIFE<br />

<strong>The</strong> magazine of the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> & Multiply<br />

Christian Network<br />

ON LONDON’s<br />

STREETs<br />

INSIDE: TALKING TO “DIGITAL NUN” ALCOHOLISM MULTIPLY RWANDA


CONTENTS<br />

New<br />

Generation 4-7<br />

Rich Wilson of<br />

Fusion on raising<br />

up future leaders<br />

Called out of<br />

chaos 8-9<br />

Carrie-Ann Edwards<br />

tells <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> how<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> rescued her<br />

On the<br />

margins 11-14<br />

A look at the ‘hidden<br />

problem’ of middleclass<br />

alcoholism<br />

Talking<br />

to... 18-22<br />

An interview with<br />

“Digital Nun”, Sister<br />

Catherine Wybourne<br />

Multiply<br />

Rwanda 23-26<br />

A moving story of<br />

a community of<br />

reconciliation<br />

To forgive is<br />

divine 30-32<br />

A young man’s<br />

testimony of difficult<br />

forgiveness<br />

2 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

and...<br />

History Makers 15-17<br />

‘Beguines’: radical women of God<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Centres 27-29<br />

<strong>The</strong> journey toward Birmingham <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />

Astounding news 33<br />

An excited blog post from Stuart Patnell<br />

Just four questions 34<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> asks a <strong>Jesus</strong> radical just four questions<br />

Keep in touch 35<br />

Phone numbers for UK Multiply churches<br />

<strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church, which is also known as the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

<strong>Army</strong> and includes the New Creation Christian Community, upholds the<br />

historic Christian faith, being reformed, evangelical and charismatic.<br />

It practises believer’s baptism and the New Testament reality of<br />

Christ’s Church; believing in Almighty God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit;<br />

in the full divinity, atoning death and bodily resurrection of the Lord<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Christ; in the Bible as God’s word, fully inspired by the Holy Spirit.<br />

This church desires to witness to the Lordship of <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ<br />

over and in His Church; and, by holy character, righteous society<br />

and evangelical testimony to declare that <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ, Son<br />

of God, the only Saviour, is the way, the truth and the life, and<br />

through Him alone can we find and enter the kingdom of God.<br />

This church proclaims free grace, justification by faith in Christ<br />

and the sealing and sanctifying baptism in the Holy Spirit.<br />

© 2012 <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church, Nether Heyford, Northampton NN7 3LB,<br />

UK. Editor: James Stacey. Reproduction in any form requires written<br />

permission. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship does not necessarily agree with all<br />

the views expressed in articles and interviews printed in this magazine.<br />

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations are taken from the<br />

HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973,<br />

1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder &<br />

Stoughton Ltd, a member of the Hodder headline Plc Group. All rights<br />

reserved. Photographs in this magazine are copyright <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />

Church or royalty-free stock photos from www.sxc.hu. <strong>The</strong> <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />

is part of Multiply Christian Network. Both the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship and<br />

Multiply Christian Network are members of the Evangelical Alliance<br />

UK. <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship <strong>Life</strong> Trust Registered Charity number 1107952.<br />

JESUS<br />

ARMY<br />

www.jesus.org.uk


ON LONDON’S<br />

STREETS<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

A word from Mick Haines,<br />

apostolic team leader of the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />

LONDON WAS very busy this summer with<br />

the Olympics. We were very pleased to be<br />

able to march for <strong>Jesus</strong> in the West End of<br />

the capital in June. <strong>The</strong>re was rain before and<br />

after, but as we marched along the streets and<br />

gathered for a <strong>Jesus</strong> demonstration in Trafalgar<br />

Square the sun shone!<br />

We were very blessed to have around<br />

65 delegates from Africa, the Indian subcontinent,<br />

South America and several other<br />

places join us for the march. <strong>The</strong>y came for our<br />

Multiply International Leaders’ conference. Our<br />

eight apostolic men helped to enrich the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Fellowship “Power Festival” at Pentecost, with<br />

songs from their countries and inspirational<br />

testimonies. Rukundo (pictured right) is our<br />

apostolic man for Rwanda. You can read more<br />

about him on pages 23-26.<br />

We recently held our “Winning Festival”<br />

in our Golden Marquee. Our focus was “the<br />

overcoming church”. <strong>The</strong>re is a real sense<br />

of God moving us forward as we face many<br />

challenges including succession and the<br />

strengthening of our distant plants. We ever<br />

want to be an army spreading and enforcing<br />

the victory of <strong>Jesus</strong>.<br />

We do value the friendship and support of<br />

many in the UK and other nations. Please<br />

continue to pray for us. <strong>The</strong> spiritual battle is<br />

intense.<br />

Finally: this issue of <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> magazine<br />

is the last! In keeping with this internet age,<br />

we are moving our focus more fully onto our<br />

website, jesus.org.uk. A new updated version<br />

of this website will be coming out before the<br />

end of 2012. In future we will release, just<br />

once a year, a magazine named jesus.org.uk<br />

with highlights from the website. This will be<br />

distributed by <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship members and<br />

friends; we will no longer be maintaining a<br />

mailing list. However, if you wish to receive the<br />

first jesus.org.uk magazine in January 2013,<br />

fill in the card between pages 10 and 11 and<br />

we will send it to you free of charge.<br />

May God bless you as read this last <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

<strong>Life</strong> magazine.<br />

JL<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 3


THE PROPHETIC<br />

WORD<br />

RELEASING A<br />

NEW GENERATION<br />

OF LEADERS<br />

4<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


Rich Wilson is the National<br />

Team Leader for student network,<br />

Fusion. He spoke at the Multiply<br />

International Leaders Conference<br />

this year about releasing a younger<br />

generation of students.<br />

I<br />

’M PASSIONATE about connecting students<br />

to church and church to students. Courageous<br />

steps need to be taken to create space and<br />

expectation for young adults to come and pioneer<br />

the church.<br />

Risk-taking is the only way<br />

At Fusion we took a risk with a young woman<br />

called Anna. We’ve been seeking to engage with<br />

Loughborough University and to bless it for<br />

nearly twenty years now. A few years ago we<br />

asked the university how we could bless them<br />

and they said, “Well, you can serve us. You can<br />

help us clear up some litter after a festival and do<br />

some car park attending”. Around the same time,<br />

a girl called Anna had real compassion for the<br />

female students who were getting very drunk in<br />

the student union night club. <strong>The</strong> student union<br />

night club in Loughborough holds around 3000<br />

people and it’s a mad place to be, a challenging<br />

place to be. It’s a place where we need a whole<br />

load of Christians to stand out and do things.<br />

So Anna started hanging around the female<br />

toilets, looking after the really drunk female<br />

students because they were vulnerable. She’d<br />

hold their hair while they were being sick and<br />

make sure they got home safely. <strong>The</strong>n another<br />

group of Christians started working with her and<br />

ministering to the girls and guys.<br />

<strong>The</strong> student union noticed what was going on<br />

and they said, “You’re doing what we should be<br />

doing, but you’re better at it, so why don’t you<br />

take responsibility for the pastoral and practical<br />

needs of the students on these nights?”<br />

It’s a bit like having Street Pastors inside the<br />

nightclub. It has grown and grown, and now<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

Are we able to see<br />

through people’s<br />

ordinariness? To<br />

see what God has<br />

put in them?<br />

they’ve named the club event after us!<br />

Desperation makes taking risks easier! How<br />

desperate are you to see a new generation<br />

released into effectiveness? <strong>The</strong> woman in the<br />

bible who was bleeding for twelve years took a<br />

big risk to touch the rabbi’s clothing, but in taking<br />

a risk, power is released and she is rewarded.<br />

Desperation drove her to take the risk.<br />

Anna was released in a risky venture in<br />

reaching people. It’s a great story which can be<br />

multiplied and replicated right around the UK<br />

and Europe. We estimate on “Club Mission”<br />

nights there are 40 Christians out in t-shirts<br />

doing all kinds of things, like looking after the<br />

drunk students, giving out water, handing out<br />

cups of tea, and flip flops to girls with high<br />

heels they can’t walk in when they’re drunk.<br />

We reckon we minister to around 15 per cent<br />

of the university in one night.<br />

Sometimes a time in the wilderness prepares<br />

us for taking risks. <strong>The</strong>re are clear parallels<br />

between Elijah’s and <strong>Jesus</strong>’ “wilderness<br />

experiences” in 1 Kings 19 and Matthew 4.<br />

Both Elijah and <strong>Jesus</strong> travelled through the<br />

wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights and were<br />

ministered to by angels. Both of them called<br />

people to follow them – Elijah called Elisha<br />

to leave his lifestyle behind and follow him,<br />

and <strong>Jesus</strong> called the disciples to follow Him,<br />

promising to make them “fishers of men.”<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 5


She’d hold their<br />

hair while they<br />

were being sick<br />

and make sure they<br />

got home safely<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

Desperate measures are needed<br />

We all enter into ‘the wilderness’ for some<br />

seasons in our life. Most of the time it’s not our<br />

choice, or something that we want to do, but<br />

we find ourselves there. Elijah was intimidated<br />

and depressed, but he was sustained by the<br />

Spirit. He was encouraged and ministered to<br />

by angels for 40 days and nights. He ventured<br />

through the wilderness before he met with<br />

God.<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong>, affirmed by the Father, led by the<br />

Spirit, enters the desert to “face his demon”<br />

and he’s ministered to by angels. <strong>The</strong>re’s<br />

something about the wilderness that makes<br />

us aware of our weakness and it’s out of that<br />

weakness that we gain clarity.<br />

We will struggle to truly release younger<br />

leaders from a place of strength and<br />

sufficiency. <strong>The</strong>re’s a cost to truly releasing<br />

people; it’s not just about recruiting volunteers<br />

to do our bidding, it’s about multiplying<br />

leaders. That’s a whole other level of risk and<br />

I think it’s difficult to do that from a place<br />

of strength – we need it to happen out of<br />

desperation.<br />

<strong>The</strong> art of seeing needs to be embraced<br />

This is what happens to Elijah: God very<br />

clearly speaks to him about his successor. We<br />

don’t get that from <strong>Jesus</strong>, but my guess is, it’s<br />

a very formative time; He’s got an idea about<br />

what’s going to happen next, even who He’s<br />

going to choose to be His disciples. <strong>The</strong>se were<br />

common people – Elisha was just a farmer,<br />

one of twelve teams ploughing the fields, Peter<br />

and Andrew were fishermen.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y were ordinary people and the challenge<br />

for us is: are we able to see through people’s<br />

ordinariness? To see what God has put in them?<br />

Do we embrace this art of seeing what God sees?<br />

It’s going to be the key to getting the right people<br />

and the right leaders beyond their self doubt.<br />

Beyond the enormous ego that is sometimes<br />

there in young men, lies potential.<br />

s<br />

s<br />

6<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


A high challenge is mandatory<br />

Philip Petit is a tightrope walker. In the early<br />

1970s, when the twin towers had been built,<br />

he read about them in a magazine in a dentist<br />

surgery. He saw the plans for the towers and<br />

thought, “I know what I want to do: I want to<br />

rig up a wire from one tower the other and walk<br />

across.” He got so excited about the vision of it.<br />

He said, “It’s impossible – so let’s start working”.<br />

“It’s impossible – so let’s start working”.<br />

That could be our mandate. And that’s what<br />

Philip Petit did on 7 August, 1974 – he illegally<br />

rigged a wire from one tower to the other and<br />

walked across.<br />

We must call a generation to respond to a<br />

high challenge. Young people don’t need a<br />

low bar; they need a high bar, something to<br />

reach for. <strong>The</strong>y need something that will be a<br />

challenge and will cost them.<br />

With Elisha, there was a gap, a time for<br />

consideration. Once Elisha’s made up his mind<br />

there’s no going back; there’s a high challenge.<br />

Celebrate the competency gap<br />

This isn’t always very easy to do. I remember<br />

a student just turned up Loughborough<br />

University a few years ago now. In the first<br />

week he was very keen: he said to me, “I’m<br />

not sure which team to join! <strong>The</strong> student<br />

leadership team or the church leadership<br />

team?” I thought, “Well, let’s just see how you<br />

get on, shall we?!” But there was certainly a<br />

desire in him to achieve.<br />

How do we release young men and women<br />

who’ve still got issues and character failings?<br />

Release young<br />

leaders: they<br />

are going to do it<br />

differently<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

For a start, I mustn’t be unrealistic about how<br />

I was like when someone released me. Some<br />

of the students I meet now are way further on<br />

than where I was when I was their age.<br />

It was the same with Elisha: he had his<br />

issues (he couldn’t take ridicule, for instance)<br />

even after ten years of training with Elijah.<br />

Or <strong>Jesus</strong>’ disciples: they wanted to be first;<br />

they wanted to call down fire; they didn’t<br />

understand most of what <strong>Jesus</strong> told them.<br />

We often think young people “aren’t quite<br />

ready yet” – but we’ve got to release them<br />

anyway. <strong>The</strong>re are some things that God<br />

will deal with in individuals – they’re not for<br />

us to deal with. We have to release them.<br />

Don’t fear what you see as the competency<br />

gap – recognise God works with the new<br />

generation “as they are” – and celebrate it.<br />

Can we release without agenda?<br />

This is perhaps the hardest thing for leaders.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y’ve worked hard to get to where they are,<br />

to steward what God’s given them – but there<br />

is an imperative to release younger leaders, not<br />

just create volunteers. <strong>The</strong>y are not just there to<br />

do our bidding or to enhance our position, our<br />

reputation, our credit, or our work.<br />

Release young leaders: they are going to<br />

do it differently. <strong>The</strong>y are not there to be our<br />

shadow; they are there to lead and take the<br />

church forward. That’s something we need<br />

to work out. May we all have the courage and<br />

the wisdom to multiply out younger leaders. JL<br />

Rich Wilson is team leader for<br />

Fusion. He works across the four<br />

purposes of Fusion to ensure<br />

joined up thinking and action for<br />

the delivery and expansion of the network.<br />

He is responsible for strategy that builds<br />

partnerships with students, churches and<br />

other organisations. Rich is married to<br />

Ness and has been based in Loughborough<br />

since 1992.<br />

VISIT THE FUSION WEBSITE: fusion.uk.com<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 7


CALLED OUT<br />

OF CHAOS<br />

8<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


Carrie-Ann Edwards tells <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

the moving story of how God healed<br />

her from her chaotic past.<br />

WAS starving hungry, had no money, three of<br />

I my family members were in prison, mum had<br />

died and I had lost my daughter. I felt like my<br />

life had been a lie, so far, and I felt so alone.<br />

I’d just been released from hospital (from<br />

an overdose) and now I wanted to end my life<br />

again. I phoned a helpline: “Try the Coventry<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre,” they suggested, “they give out<br />

food parcels.”<br />

I went down to the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre and sat at<br />

the back; they were talking about God and I was<br />

angry: “<strong>The</strong>re is no God. You’re taking the Mick.<br />

I hate God – He’s hurt me.”<br />

When the meeting was over I was invited<br />

back to Promise House, a <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />

community house, for lunch. People were sitting<br />

round tables and I was shocked to notice<br />

glasses of water. I had never sat at a table to eat,<br />

or to drink water – we only had beer!<br />

<strong>The</strong>n someone prayed: “Thank You, Lord, for<br />

the food we’re about to eat.” In that moment I<br />

found God; something inside me changed and<br />

for some unknown reason I fell in love with<br />

God. Hope had come back into my life.<br />

I was brought up in Coventry and my parents<br />

It was like I was<br />

at the cross and<br />

everything in me<br />

was nailed to it<br />

– my habit, my<br />

hurt, my pain<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

were alcoholics. I was an alcoholic at the age of<br />

twelve and at fourteen I began taking drugs. At<br />

sixteen I moved in with my boyfriend; we later<br />

got married and had a baby. We began arguing;<br />

I was drinking anything I could get my hands<br />

on and my husband began turning violent.<br />

When my child was five, I went to a safe<br />

house. Mum became very ill. I had a bad nervous<br />

breakdown; I couldn’t cope anymore and<br />

I asked social services for help. <strong>The</strong>n Mum<br />

died and my child was taken into care. I was<br />

traumatised and tried to commit suicide. I also<br />

self-harmed.<br />

After two years I left the safe haven and<br />

got a flat. I fought to get my child back but I<br />

still drank and took drugs. <strong>The</strong> social services<br />

thought I was an unfit mum because of my<br />

habit and because I kept breaking down.<br />

It was at this point that I walked into<br />

the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre. <strong>Life</strong> wasn’t plain sailing<br />

afterwards. I lost my child after finding God and<br />

at one point I felt like I was losing God too.<br />

On New Year’s Eve 2010 I got really wasted<br />

with drugs and drinks and the next day I phoned<br />

up someone at the <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre for help. <strong>The</strong>y<br />

invited me to a meeting in Northampton.<br />

That day I got really free from drugs and<br />

drink. I fell on my knees and I called out to God:<br />

“I can’t take any more.” Everything I had, all of<br />

me, I gave to Him.<br />

God brought me, for the first time, to the<br />

cross. It was like I was actually at the cross where<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> died and everything in me was nailed to it<br />

– my habit, my hurt, my pain. I experienced God<br />

embracing me. It was really peaceful. God lifted<br />

everything off me. I was lost in Him.<br />

God has been faithful; it’s Him that keeps<br />

me afloat.<br />

He’s helped me get clean and eased the pain<br />

of losing my daughter. I’ve got a new family<br />

I can trust now and I have been shown what<br />

love is again. I live in Christian community and<br />

have a full time job. It’s not always been an easy<br />

journey but it has been exciting and fulfilling. JL<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 9


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ALL THEIR STUFF?<br />

...these people would!<br />

A <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship DVD production<br />

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Seven short videos on life in an intentional<br />

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NEW<br />

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To order your DVD, flick to the card<br />

between pages 26 and 27 and fill out the<br />

order form, or go to www.jesuspeople.biz<br />

10 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


OFF THE<br />

BOTTLE<br />

I had a young<br />

family and a<br />

mortgage and<br />

started drinking<br />

incessantly to cope<br />

with the stress<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

Dominic Finch-Noyes leads an alcohol<br />

support group ‘Stay Dry, Be Free’<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> takes a look at the<br />

widespread but often hidden<br />

problem of alcoholism amongst<br />

middle-class professionals in the UK<br />

THINK Britain has a huge drink problem,”<br />

I Alistair Campbell, former Director of<br />

Communications and Strategy for Tony Blair,<br />

recently told <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong>. “I think there’s a real<br />

danger that all the focus is on binge drinking<br />

and people causing trouble in city centres. I’m<br />

not saying that isn’t a problem, but I think the<br />

bigger problem is the middle class professionals<br />

who are addicted to alcohol.<br />

“As a country I don’t think we have accepted<br />

that so many people, particularly middle-class<br />

people, are addicted to drink. <strong>The</strong>y’re not so visible<br />

– they are often at home – they don’t come<br />

out drunk.”<br />

Dominic Finch-Noyes, 58, a member of the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship, runs a group at Northampton<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre for people who with serious<br />

alcohol issues called “Stay Dry, Be Free”.<br />

Dominic has experienced firsthand the painful<br />

slide into alcoholism.<br />

“My father was a wine merchant,” explains<br />

Dominic; “I grew up in a drinking environment.<br />

I went into the wine trade, too, and had<br />

my own business. Until my late 30s I was a<br />

borderline alcoholic.<br />

“In the late 80s and early 90s I had been very<br />

successful businesswise. But the early 90s financial<br />

crisis caused interest rates to rise quickly. Being<br />

a small business man, my company overdraft<br />

suddenly cost me much more; customers stopped<br />

paying; cash-flow dried up. I had a young family<br />

and a mortgage and started drinking incessantly<br />

to cope with the stress.<br />

“My wife, Susan, was a Christian (I wasn’t).<br />

She had the courage to believe that things<br />

would eventually get sorted. She coped until she<br />

couldn’t cope anymore, but eventually told me I<br />

had to live somewhere else.<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 11


I know from<br />

experience that the<br />

first step you have<br />

to take is to admit<br />

your problem<br />

Alistair Campbell, speaking at Northampton <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre<br />

12 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


WHAT IS AN ALCOHOLIC?<br />

Someone who is dependent on or addicted to<br />

alcohol.<br />

WHAT ARE ALCOHOL’S WITHDRAWAL<br />

SYMPTOMS?<br />

When alcoholics abstain from drink their<br />

experiences include: sweating, nausea, shaking,<br />

diarrhoea, rapid heartbeat and seizures (which<br />

can be life threatening). Psychological symptoms<br />

include stress, anxiety and depression.<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

“I tried as hard as I could, for four years, to<br />

give up drinking – unsuccessfully. I wanted more<br />

than anything to stop. I managed to get into<br />

residential rehab, but was chucked out for drinking<br />

(worse than ever) and hitched to near our<br />

house in Huntingdon, where I lived rough. One<br />

morning, I waited till the kids were at school,<br />

knocked on the door and asked my wife for a cup<br />

of tea. I went into the downstairs toilet and saw<br />

myself in the shaving mirror and the enormity<br />

of my helplessness hit me; I looked like a twitchy<br />

scarecrow. I realised I just couldn’t fix this. At<br />

that point, for the first time in my life, I started<br />

crying out to God.”<br />

Dominic’s wife had heard about the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Fellowship and rang asking for help. Two weeks<br />

later, Dominic went to stay at Honeycomb, a <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Fellowship house in Northamptonshire.<br />

Dominic continues: “I was ill with alcohol,<br />

underweight and weak. I spent June and July<br />

1994 working on the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship’s farm. I got<br />

physically well and at the same time I found new<br />

life; I was born again. Later I was filled with the<br />

Holy Spirit. I did drink a couple more times, but<br />

six months later I had my last drink. That was in<br />

January 1995.”<br />

“My wife visited me and made friends, too. I<br />

lived at Honeycomb for six months and Susan<br />

was so happy with what she found that she<br />

had the confidence to agree to sell our house<br />

in Huntingdon. In 1995, my family all moved<br />

into Honeycomb with me and we stayed for<br />

s<br />

s<br />

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six or seven months before moving to our own<br />

new home.<br />

“My family was back together again. <strong>The</strong>y’ve<br />

forgiven me for the pain I caused them and I have<br />

a new church family too. <strong>Jesus</strong> continues to give<br />

me the strength to stay dry and to help others to<br />

do the same.”<br />

Alistair Campbell describes his “big crash”,<br />

back in the 1980s – the day he ended up in<br />

hospital when drinking and depression triggered<br />

a breakdown – as “the best day of my life and<br />

the worst day of my life; it was the best because I<br />

survived and sorted myself out”.<br />

He added, “I think part of the problem with all<br />

mental illness, and I include alcoholism in that<br />

category, is that there’s still so much stigma and<br />

taboo attached to it that people are generally<br />

reluctant to open up. <strong>The</strong> most important thing,<br />

I think, is to bring it more out into the open. If<br />

you’re reluctant to open up, you don’t find the<br />

services that might be able to help you.<br />

“I know from experience that the first step you<br />

have to take is to admit your problem. My worry<br />

is that for some people there is no rock bottom,<br />

before death.<br />

“It’s only because of what I gained through the<br />

experience that I have been able to do what I have<br />

done since. It’s helped me prioritise and accept<br />

things that are important which before I had<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

WHAT ARE THE SIDE-EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL<br />

DEPENDENCY?<br />

• Physical problems include: insomnia, infertility,<br />

memory loss, liver disease, high blood pressure,<br />

stroke, coronary heart disease and obesity.<br />

• Psychological problems include: anxiety,<br />

depression and suicidal feelings.<br />

• Personal problems include: loss or<br />

disruption of relationships, loss of<br />

employment, financial difficulties.<br />

• Social problems can include crime such as<br />

violence or theft.<br />

• Safety problems include accidents at work,<br />

at home, and on the road.<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 13


WHAT CAUSES ALCOHOL ADDICTION?<br />

Sometimes drinking is an integral part of<br />

people’s social life and dependence gradually<br />

creeps up on them; sometimes it runs in the<br />

family; sometimes stress at work or in the family<br />

such as the death of a family member causes<br />

people to find temporary relief in alcohol.<br />

HOW WIDESPREAD IS ALCOHOLISM?<br />

More than one in 25 adults in the UK are<br />

dependent on alcohol and the UK has one of<br />

the highest rates of binge drinking in Europe.<br />

According to <strong>The</strong> Office for National Statistics,<br />

the professional classes are the most frequent<br />

drinkers in the country.<br />

People need to<br />

not just know<br />

about forgiveness;<br />

they need to<br />

experience it<br />

14 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

Stay Dry, Be Free group members<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

pushed away.”<br />

Dominic identified relationships as key to<br />

his recovery: “I had never met Christian men I<br />

could relate to before. Now I met guys of my age,<br />

people I could connect with. I realised there was a<br />

masculine, virile, radical faith available. I’d never<br />

appreciated this – and it was for me.”<br />

“Stay Dry, Be Free”, the alcohol support group<br />

Dominic and others run, aims to be a secure,<br />

trusting environment for people to share honestly<br />

how they have coped with their addiction during<br />

the last week.<br />

“<strong>The</strong> group has to be a safe place,” Dominic explains.<br />

“People can look at us and say, ‘If they can<br />

do it – people who have hit rock bottom – I can.<br />

<strong>The</strong> group is inclusive – people of any faith or none<br />

are welcome. However, we do say, ‘This is the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre; sometimes we may pray – but we will<br />

not shove it down your throat. We may also discuss<br />

our experience from a spiritual dimension.’ <strong>The</strong>re<br />

is no programme, no professionals and sometimes<br />

we just sit around and have a discussion.”<br />

Paul, a member of the group, put it like this:<br />

“A car that has had a head on smash can take<br />

months, even years, to repair and that is the same<br />

with us. We have to learn to cope with the guilt,<br />

the regrets. People need to not just know about<br />

forgiveness; they need to experience it.” JL<br />

s<br />

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BREAKING<br />

THE BOUNDS<br />

Trevor Saxby tells the remarkable<br />

story of the Beguines, a radical<br />

Christian women’s movement in the<br />

Middle Ages.<br />

WE LIVE IN days of great social upheaval.<br />

<strong>The</strong> late 1100s were much the same.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re was a great migration away from rural life<br />

and into the towns, where a new “middle class”<br />

of merchants and craftsmen evolved. Also, the<br />

Crusades had led thousands of men to their<br />

death, leaving an imbalance of women.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Church was not well placed to cope<br />

with this new climate. For centuries, the<br />

beating heart of the faith had been the<br />

monasteries, but these were usually in the<br />

country, their ancient traditions out of touch<br />

with new social developments. Many had<br />

grown rich and cared little for service and<br />

evangelism. Women who wanted to live<br />

radically for God had few openings. <strong>The</strong> time<br />

was ripe for a new expression of the kingdom of<br />

God, and the Beguines rose to the challenge.<br />

This was a grassroots movement that began<br />

with a group of praying women in Liège,<br />

Belgium, in the 1190s. <strong>The</strong>ir name derives<br />

from Lambert le Bègue, a parish priest who<br />

preached against abuses in the established<br />

church and urged a new movement of godly<br />

women to rise up to serve their generation.<br />

Adult women during the Middle Ages were<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

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<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 15<br />

Photo: Grégoire Lannoy, Flickr.com


16 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

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s<br />

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Continued from previous page<br />

expected to be either a wife and mother, or<br />

nun. <strong>The</strong> Beguines questioned this concept<br />

and lived outside the boundaries. <strong>The</strong>y also<br />

saw how society was changing and chose<br />

to stay in the towns, especially the poor<br />

suburbs, where they could serve the people<br />

with <strong>Jesus</strong>’ love.<br />

Women who entered Beguinages (Beguine<br />

houses) were not bound by permanent vows, in<br />

contrast to women who entered convents. <strong>The</strong>y<br />

could leave the Beguinage to marry. Some were<br />

widows with children; others came to escape<br />

arranged marriages. <strong>The</strong>re were celibates<br />

like Yvette de Huy, who had a prophetic gift.<br />

Together, these radical women pioneered a<br />

new form of community.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y pledged themselves to prayer,<br />

poverty and service. <strong>The</strong>y aimed to recover<br />

the simplicity, love and outreach of the early<br />

Church. <strong>The</strong>y preached (which was not<br />

allowed), and in the language of the people,<br />

not Latin. <strong>The</strong>ir communal settlements had<br />

a hospital, a chapel, and craft workshops to<br />

generate an income. <strong>The</strong>y held literacy classes<br />

for poor children, supported widows, and took<br />

in orphans. And at every turn, they proclaimed<br />

God’s love for the poor.<br />

Beguines had no mother-house or<br />

appointed head. Every community was<br />

complete in itself and fixed its own rule of life.<br />

Some only admitted ladies of high degree,<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

Others came<br />

to escape<br />

arranged<br />

marriages<br />

<strong>The</strong>y preached<br />

(which was not<br />

allowed), and in<br />

the language of<br />

the people<br />

others only the poor, but most welcomed<br />

any women, and these were the most densely<br />

peopled. Several, like the great Beguinage of<br />

Ghent, numbered around a thousand.<br />

In the beginning, the clergy’s attitude<br />

towards Beguines was ambivalent. <strong>The</strong><br />

groups were religious and dedicated to<br />

charity, which was acceptable; but they<br />

existed without men (except for priests and<br />

confessors), which was dubious. <strong>The</strong> Church<br />

did not approve of their lack of permanent<br />

vows. Women were not supposed to have<br />

that much freedom. In time, this led to the<br />

Beguines being opposed as heretics.<br />

<strong>The</strong> Beguines made their mark for God.<br />

<strong>The</strong>y had heard the pulse of the society God<br />

had placed them in, and met its need. <strong>The</strong><br />

movement multiplied, and by 1270 there<br />

were Beguine communities in most towns in<br />

Belgium, Holland and North Germany. JL<br />

Trevor is a senior leader in the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship. He says, “I<br />

love learning from God’s movers<br />

and shakers in history because I<br />

want to be a history-maker now!<br />

READ HIS BLOG:<br />

radical-church-history.blogspot.com<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 17<br />

Photo: Kat Cole, Flickr.com


TALKING TO<br />

“DIGITAL NUN”<br />

Online Nun<br />

On Twitter, Sister Catherine describes herself<br />

as a “Benedictine nun, keen on God, books<br />

and technology” who “likes people, too”.<br />

She is the Prioress of Holy Trinity Monastery,<br />

formerly at East Hendred, now at Howton<br />

Grove Priory in Herefordshire.<br />

18 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


Sister Catherine Wybourne is<br />

better known online by her Twitter<br />

name: “Digitalnun”. She talks<br />

to <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship writer Amy<br />

Williams about community, vows,<br />

sharing and technology.<br />

It’s great to talk with you, Sister Catherine.<br />

Could you tell us a bit of your own story to start<br />

with, about your vocation?<br />

I was born of poor but honest parents and<br />

I had a Catholic education, which was a bit<br />

unusual as neither of my parents were practising<br />

Catholics. I was very influenced by the sisters<br />

who taught at the Catholic school. <strong>The</strong>y were<br />

lively, intellectual people who would talk about<br />

faith in a very open way that made me do a lot of<br />

thinking about my own life.<br />

I decided to do a PhD in Spanish medieval<br />

history. I was studying the Cistercians, so I<br />

had to read the collected works of St Benedict.<br />

While I was reading it, the monastic life began<br />

to speak to me – not in an academic way, but as<br />

something that I should pursue.<br />

I sat down and thought about where I’d be<br />

when I was 50, and realised I didn’t want to be<br />

living in isolation from other people. I took myself<br />

off to Stanbrook Abbey in Worcester in 1981,<br />

where I lived until 2003.<br />

What is the process that somebody goes through<br />

to become a nun?<br />

Well, the first stage is postulancy, which lasts<br />

at least six months and can be extended to a<br />

year. <strong>The</strong>y wear their own clothes and essentially<br />

live with the community and pray with the<br />

community, but they don’t have any particular<br />

commitment. <strong>The</strong>y can leave at any time – they<br />

can also be asked to leave at any time.<br />

<strong>The</strong>n you’d get the monastic habit with a<br />

white veil, which lasts about two years, but can<br />

be extended. That’s a period of more serious<br />

formation, with more study in scripture, theology<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

I’m sure there<br />

must be a way<br />

of opening up<br />

the internet as<br />

a sacred space<br />

where people can<br />

encounter God<br />

and rules of St Benedict. <strong>The</strong>n you have first<br />

vows for three years – although they can be<br />

repeated – vows of stability, conversion of life<br />

and obedience. <strong>The</strong>n, finally, solemn confession,<br />

which means you make your vows for life and<br />

wear a black veil. It takes at least five and a half<br />

years to get to that stage – and they are vows for<br />

life. You become a full member of the community.<br />

That’s the point where you have to give up<br />

everything, all your worldly possessions.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re must be times when somebody who has<br />

made life vows does in fact break those vows. Or<br />

is that extremely rare?<br />

It’s extremely rare, particularly for women.<br />

I have known only two cases where a nun has<br />

asked to be laid aside from her vows: one was<br />

ill and the other person wanted to live as a<br />

hermit. <strong>The</strong>y’re the only ones I personally have<br />

known in my life.<br />

Do you think that is because of the process<br />

before making those vows?<br />

Oh yes, it’s a real “weeder-outer”! We find a<br />

lot of people can’t cope with small community,<br />

doing pretty much the same thing day after day<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 19


I see the vows<br />

like this: one<br />

roots us, one<br />

opens us up,<br />

and one lifts us<br />

up to the Father<br />

20 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

Sister Catherine in her Priory Garden<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

and not having very much in the way of material<br />

possessions. Some people just don’t grow. But<br />

usually you find that people who stay perhaps<br />

two or three years still feel that they have gained<br />

something from that monastic experience,<br />

though they may not spend their whole lives in<br />

the community.<br />

Vows of ‘conversion, stability and obedience’<br />

– can you unpack them a little more? What do<br />

they mean?<br />

Stability is a vow which binds you to a<br />

specific community or group of people and<br />

a specific way of living a monastic life. All<br />

Benedictine Monasteries are independent,<br />

so each of them will have their own take on<br />

how the rules of Benedict should be lived and<br />

stability is a commitment to live in that way<br />

and to carry it forward.<br />

Conversion is really a promise, a vow to live<br />

the monastic life as it should be lived and to be<br />

open to the process of conversion every day of<br />

our life.<br />

Obedience is having an attitude of listening<br />

to God.<br />

I see the vows like this: one roots us, one<br />

opens us up, and one lifts us up to the Father.<br />

That’s how I see it anyway.<br />

Give us a flavour of your community life.<br />

Well, we have what’s called a “chapter of<br />

faults”. That’s an occasion when we specifically<br />

meet together to apologise to one another for<br />

ways of which we may have hurt each other<br />

or brought down the community. <strong>The</strong> other<br />

person may know nothing about it: for example<br />

if I’ve been a bit short tempered with some<br />

of the people I deal with on e-mails, I will<br />

acknowledge that and ask for their prayers<br />

because I have weakened the public perception<br />

of the community. Equally, we have an important<br />

rule – again it’s from St Benedict – which is that<br />

if we have any dispute or disagreement during<br />

the course of the day, it must be settled before<br />

nightfall. I have noticed that very often it’s the<br />

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person who hasn’t given offence that goes to the<br />

other and asks forgiveness. It’s a great liberation.<br />

You have everything in common. How do<br />

you work that out in practice? Do you have a<br />

common bank account as a community?<br />

Yes, we own nothing personally; St Benedict<br />

is very clear about private ownership. A monk<br />

would have absolutely nothing of his own. Yes,<br />

we’ll use our own toothbrushes and so on,<br />

but anything that we need is asked for from<br />

the community. So if my shoes were worn<br />

out I would ask the community if I may have<br />

another pair of shoes. We try to make sure<br />

that our own private life as a community is as<br />

simple as possible.<br />

So you don’t have a television?<br />

No, but we read a lot.<br />

Your work means that you’re online quite a lot –<br />

so there is media exposure in your life!<br />

Yes, we made a conscious decision as a<br />

community back in 2003 to use social media as<br />

a way of reaching out to other people. Because<br />

my work is typesetting and web development I’m<br />

on the computer most of the day so it isn’t really<br />

too much of an interruption in my life. Everything<br />

I do is either with the encouragement or the<br />

sanction of the community.<br />

We decided as a community that it would be<br />

a good thing for me to have a Twitter account. I<br />

didn’t decide that for myself.<br />

So – “Digitalnun”! I don’t know of many digital<br />

nuns! Why did you make the decision to actively<br />

use the internet and social media?<br />

<strong>The</strong> “Digitalnun” bit actually came from<br />

my email address in the 1990s – I wanted<br />

something memorable. We were reading the rules<br />

of St Benedict on welcoming and hospitality, and<br />

I said “How do we put this into practice, in a<br />

house with very limited space for guests?” So we<br />

thought, “We haven’t got any space, why don’t<br />

we do our hospitality online? It’s something that<br />

we could teach ourselves.”<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

Amy Williams<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

21


Why would<br />

people be looking<br />

for us online,<br />

what would they<br />

be seeking?<br />

22<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

s<br />

s<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

I’d had a bit of experience with building<br />

websites so we sat down and said “How do we<br />

want to present ourselves online?” But then we<br />

realised that most monasteries were doing just<br />

that – talking about themselves and what they do<br />

– and so we asked ourselves a different question:<br />

“Why would people be looking for us online,<br />

what would they be seeking?” Trying to answer<br />

that question has decided how we’ve used the<br />

internet and social media.<br />

So what are people seeking?<br />

A lot of people are seeking some sort of<br />

community online; I am appalled by the<br />

loneliness that we seem to touch. A lot of people<br />

are seeking anonymous information about<br />

Christianity or the monastic life – it’s a lot easier<br />

than knocking on the door and asking.<br />

People also want an experience of God and<br />

that’s why I’m very keen that we move from<br />

what I call the ‘declarative’ – proclaiming<br />

things online – to the ‘immersive’ – an<br />

experience. I’m sure there must be a way of<br />

opening up the internet as a sacred space<br />

where people can encounter God. I have a<br />

feeling that if we pray hard enough and work<br />

hard enough, we might find a way of doing it.<br />

Is there anything that you’d like to say to the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong>?<br />

I think that what I would most want to say<br />

is, be encouraged, because in the life of any<br />

community there is a ‘middle-aged sag’ and if<br />

you’re getting on for 40 years old now you may<br />

be experiencing a bit of that. <strong>The</strong>re comes a point<br />

where the initial enthusiasm has waned a little<br />

bit, maybe some of the initial dynamism has<br />

gone. I think that’s when it’s really important to<br />

remember why you started, to remember what it<br />

is that you were called to be. So be encouraged<br />

and don’t give up.<br />

JL<br />

www.jesus.org.uk


FROM BLOODBATH<br />

TO BROTHERHOOD<br />

Rukundo,<br />

himself a Tutsi,<br />

lost 78 relatives<br />

before the war<br />

was over<br />

Rukundo (top left) with his wife and children<br />

www.multiply.org.uk<br />

Rukundo Bartholomew is building<br />

a remarkable church community<br />

against a background of tribal<br />

warfare and genocide in Rwanda.<br />

He tells <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> his story.<br />

WOUNDED RWANDA” are the words<br />

Rukundo Bartholomew uses to<br />

describes his homeland.<br />

He experienced firsthand the genocide<br />

that shook the world in 1994 when extremist<br />

Hutus rose against Tutsis and moderate Hutus.<br />

Rukundo, himself a Tutsi, lost 78 relatives<br />

before the war was over.<br />

While fleeing the bloodbath in Uganda,<br />

Rukundo heard God’s voice, audibly, bringing<br />

him words of reality, vision and hope: “You<br />

were part of the problem; now you are part of<br />

the solution.”<br />

Rukundo said, “God revealed to me how bad<br />

I was! I felt I was worse than anyone! Now I<br />

understood people because I understood myself!<br />

I began forgiving everyone! This changed<br />

everything. I had been full of hatred toward<br />

the Hutus. Now I could look at every Hutu and<br />

say, ‘they are my problem!’ I realised that we<br />

all need <strong>Jesus</strong> and we all need changing. I knew<br />

everyone needed to come to that same place<br />

and forgive. Now I knew – I could be part of the<br />

solution!”<br />

Rukundo’s life had been turned around. A<br />

few months later Rukundo again heard God<br />

speak audibly to him again: “<strong>The</strong> solution is in<br />

the church.”<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 23


oth Tutsis and Hutus (and a smaller<br />

tribe, the Twas) are called to live in<br />

harmony as members of one “body of<br />

Christ” – as a fourth “<strong>Jesus</strong> tribe”<br />

“<strong>Jesus</strong> tribe”: Rukundo with his brothers and sisters<br />

24 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

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s<br />

s<br />

Continued from previous page<br />

Having returned to Rwanda, in 1997<br />

Rukundo established the first Christian community<br />

house of what was to be called the<br />

New Humanity Mission. <strong>The</strong>se are houses of<br />

Christians from different tribal backgrounds,<br />

living together as a family, sharing possessions<br />

and lives.<br />

In 2006, Rukundo started the Disciples of<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Christ church, which now has about 70<br />

members. In 2009, some members of Disciples<br />

of <strong>Jesus</strong> Christ chose to make up a second Christian<br />

community house. Last March, another<br />

family of five joined it.<br />

<strong>The</strong> survival of this prophetic venture has<br />

been a financial struggle at times, due to high<br />

unemployment in Rwanda. Recently members<br />

of the community began a small business selling<br />

second hand clothes. Enough money has<br />

been generated to provide enough for everyone<br />

to eat.<br />

In 2007, Rukundo founded a group called,<br />

One Heart One Mind, with the aim of bringing<br />

people together from different churches<br />

with a united message: forgiveness and<br />

reconciliation must begin in the church where<br />

both Tutsis and Hutus (and the smaller tribe,<br />

the Twas, considered primitive and inferior by<br />

many Rwandans) are called to live in harmony<br />

as members of one “body of Christ” – as a<br />

fourth “<strong>Jesus</strong> tribe”.<br />

Rukundo says, “Being a New Testament<br />

Christian is simple: living for <strong>Jesus</strong> equals living<br />

for our brother. To love <strong>Jesus</strong> is to do His will<br />

and love our brothers and sisters.<br />

“<strong>The</strong> new tribe needs to be seen by everyone<br />

in Rwanda,” he adds.<br />

Today there are small One Heart One Mind<br />

groups, made up of the different tribes and<br />

coming from different denominations, all over<br />

Rwanda, as well as in Burundi, Tanzania and<br />

the Congo. <strong>The</strong>se meet often locally and altogether<br />

once every three months for two days,<br />

www.multiply.org.uk<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

Being a New<br />

Testament<br />

Christian is<br />

simple: living<br />

for <strong>Jesus</strong> equals<br />

living for our<br />

brother<br />

Rukundo (right) at the Multiply<br />

International Leaders Conference<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

25


Continued from previous page<br />

praying, “Your will and kingdom come” and,<br />

“Teach us to love each other”.<br />

Rukundo and his team make use of radio<br />

broadcasting skills. Rukundo compares this to<br />

“shelling” the land before the “infantry” move<br />

in – preparing the people “over the air” not only<br />

for the message of God’s forgiveness, but also<br />

that “<strong>Jesus</strong> must be Lord as well as Saviour”.<br />

<strong>The</strong>n small ‘One Heart One Mind groups are<br />

formed to put the message into practice.<br />

Rukundo said, “In Rwanda, the Church is a<br />

people chosen from the three ever-warring tribes<br />

and the many conflicting denominations to shine<br />

for wounded Rwanda with the love of <strong>Jesus</strong>.<br />

Rukundo spoke at the recent Multiply International<br />

Leaders Conference in the UK with<br />

this message: “When we first become Christians<br />

we often pray ‘My Father in heaven.’ We must<br />

step beyond that, into calling God ‘Our Father’<br />

and living not only for God, but for our brothers<br />

and sisters, too.”<br />

JL<br />

s<br />

s<br />

Rukara Barthelemy, from<br />

Rwanda, is married to Ericka and<br />

has four sons and two daughters.<br />

He is better known by the name<br />

Rukundo (Kinyarwanda for “love”).<br />

WHAT IS MULTIPLY?<br />

Multiply Christian Network is a worldwide<br />

apostolic stream of churches, initiated by<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church.<br />

CONTACT MULTIPLY:<br />

www.multiply.org.uk<br />

Contact Multiply Director, Huw Lewis,<br />

Tel: +44 1327 344533<br />

Email: huw.lewis@jesus.org.uk<br />

Write to:<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship/Multiply,<br />

Nether Heyford, Northampton,<br />

NN7 3LB, UK<br />

26<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.multiply.org.uk


cool oasis in<br />

the city sprawl<br />

<strong>The</strong> fifth <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre is to be in<br />

central Birmingham. Laurence<br />

Cooper tells its story so far.<br />

THE NEW York Times rated Birmingham<br />

in the top twenty places to visit in 2012,<br />

consolidating the city’s reputation as a major<br />

tourist destination, replete with world class<br />

cultural, entertainment and gastronomic attractions.<br />

But beyond the vibrant night life and überchic<br />

shopping destinations like the Mailbox,<br />

there’s a darker side to the city.<br />

Gangs deal drugs, homeless asylum seekers<br />

surf sofas and impoverished families struggle.<br />

Loneliness haunts both bedsits and penthouse<br />

apartments. In this city, both champagne and<br />

tears flow, and an angry restlessness, erupting<br />

vividly in the rioting of 2011, is stoked up by<br />

the glaring inequalities illustrated by all the<br />

conspicuous consumption.<br />

At <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres, every kind of person is<br />

welcomed. <strong>The</strong> Birmingham <strong>Jesus</strong> Centre will<br />

attract both the kind of people who’ve been<br />

shopping in Selfridges, and those who have<br />

been shoplifting in Aldi (or, for that matter,<br />

in Selfridges). It’s the kind of place where<br />

the haves, and the have-nots mingle, and<br />

where you’re not judged for your past or the<br />

label you are now wearing. It’s a cool oasis of<br />

kingdom life, a peaceful space in the bustling<br />

heart of the city where you can catch your<br />

breath, find yourself, and get a bit of help<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 27


Continued from previous page<br />

when you need it.<br />

After looking for a suitable property for a<br />

couple of years, we thought we had found a<br />

good place in the Jewellery Quarter. It wasn’t<br />

to be. A few local businessmen didn’t fancy a<br />

drop-in on their doorstep: they conspired to<br />

thwart us. We won the support of the council<br />

for our plans but, in a desperate move, a<br />

property speculator gazumped the property<br />

from under our noses.<br />

Disappointment! We were back to square<br />

one, or so it seemed. From the jaws of defeat,<br />

however, we snatched a victory. We were<br />

led by the Spirit to identify the ideal area we<br />

wanted for our building. Eventually, we found<br />

a vacant property.<br />

<strong>The</strong> value of a place is all “location, location,<br />

location”, and it seemed God wanted<br />

us to have a far more central location than<br />

the Jewellery Quarter. Now we’re going to be<br />

a stone’s throw from the Bullring and New<br />

Street, right smack in the heart of the city.<br />

It’s no time for resting on our laurels.<br />

<strong>The</strong>re’s work to do – to inform and motivate<br />

the <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship congregation in Birmingham,<br />

apart from anything else. A <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Centre is effective if it has a crew of volunteers<br />

who are engaged and willing, and we’ll<br />

struggle if the congregation doesn’t “buy in”.<br />

So far, our people in Brum have showed<br />

they are up for it. Financial giving is up significantly.<br />

A “<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre fair” will take place<br />

soon, when we will hear about what <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

s<br />

s<br />

Centres are like from people who are doing<br />

it already. A broader spectrum of people are<br />

being brought into planning talks, and young<br />

people especially are being invited to key<br />

management and operations meetings. <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Centres need to be hubs of youthful energy<br />

and enthusiasm for <strong>Jesus</strong> and his cause.<br />

It’s time to dream and to work our imaginations:<br />

what shall we do at our centre? After<br />

school clubs? Lunches for office workers in<br />

the building above? Most importantly – what<br />

is the Spirit saying about the role of the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Centre in this sprawling city?<br />

Many challenges loom. How might we meet<br />

some of the gaps in homelessness provision<br />

created by budget cuts – without simply<br />

allowing the government to use us as a convenient<br />

means of outsourcing their responsibilities?<br />

We will encounter many practical<br />

challenges along the way as well as spiritual<br />

challenges. This is to be expected as we seek<br />

to demonstrate the kingly rule of <strong>Jesus</strong> in a<br />

modern city.<br />

Yet the same <strong>Jesus</strong> who is the source of our<br />

inspiration will also provide what we need for<br />

the tasks ahead.<br />

JL<br />

Laurence is a writer, fundraiser,<br />

and leader in the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Fellowship. He lives in a Christian<br />

Community house in Birmingham<br />

and supports <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres around the UK.<br />

READ HIS BLOG:<br />

laurencecooper.wordpress.com<br />

JESUS<br />

CENTRES<br />

worship • friendship • help for all<br />

WHAT ARE JESUS CENTRES?<br />

Places where the love of <strong>Jesus</strong> is expressed<br />

daily in worship, care and friendship for every<br />

type of person.<br />

WHERE ARE JESUS CENTRES?<br />

<strong>The</strong>re are <strong>Jesus</strong> Centres in Coventry, London<br />

Northampton and Sheffield with one planned<br />

for Birmingham in the near future, with vision<br />

for further locations.<br />

MORE INFO:<br />

jesuscentre.org.uk<br />

facebook.com/jesus.centre<br />

28<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


We seek to<br />

demonstrate the<br />

kingly rule of <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

in a modern city<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 29


TO FORGIVE<br />

IS DIVINE<br />

30 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


Forgiving those “who sin against you”<br />

is one thing. How about when they<br />

beat up your mother? A young <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Fellowship member speaks out.<br />

WAS woken up at 6am, one Wednesday<br />

I morning, by a distress call from my mother.<br />

I could tell by her voice on the phone that<br />

she was distraught. She told me that she had<br />

just been released from the hospital. A few<br />

weeks earlier she had been beaten up by four<br />

women in a local park.<br />

Some background: my mum has spent<br />

the past seven years homeless, or as near as,<br />

and involved with the harsher aspects of that<br />

scene. She got caught up with a guy who went<br />

on to commit some very nasty acts against<br />

her. This was the reason she’d been assaulted<br />

so badly in the park that day: the women had<br />

asked her, “Are you ****’s missus?” to which<br />

she’d replied, “No I’m his ex.”<br />

She told me she didn’t see the first punch.<br />

And she didn’t feel the last, because when<br />

they’d finished she was unconscious.<br />

She told me in that phone call that she<br />

has some brain damage that the doctors will<br />

never mend.<br />

She was slurring and had trouble<br />

remembering what she had just told me<br />

because her short term memory was affected.<br />

After planning to meet with her in the next<br />

few days, we said goodbye and I put the<br />

phone down.<br />

Needless to say, I couldn’t get back to<br />

sleep. I sat there in my bed numb. How was I<br />

to feel about this?<br />

I started to ask God “Why?” It was all<br />

I could say. I felt led to look up the word<br />

“abuse” in the concordance in my bible. It<br />

took me to the verse in Luke’s Gospel, where<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> talks about turning the other cheek and<br />

says “Pray for those who abuse you”.<br />

What was I supposed to do with that? I said<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

She didn’t see<br />

the first punch.<br />

And she didn’t<br />

feel the last,<br />

because when<br />

they’d finished<br />

she was<br />

unconscious<br />

to God, “I could do that – just about – if it was<br />

me! But this is my mum! I should protect her;<br />

I’m her son!”<br />

I read further on and was shocked at what I<br />

saw at the bottom of the page: “God is kind to<br />

the evil and ungrateful.”<br />

How impossible! How can He be?! And how<br />

can He expect me to be that?<br />

What I did next may not be what you’d<br />

have done, but people have different ways<br />

of handling strong emotions: I grabbed my<br />

guitar and started making up a song. I was<br />

singing what I felt. And I started to cry.<br />

As the tears ran down my face, a song took<br />

shape: “Lord, my heart is small and black. I<br />

want to hurt them, Lord, I want to hurt them<br />

bad. But You said we don’t fight against flesh<br />

and blood, so I won’t. Instead I’ll give them<br />

Continued overleaf<br />

s<br />

s<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 31


Continued from previous page<br />

Your love. Pour Your blessing out on them, O<br />

Lord. Pour Your favour out on them, O God.”<br />

Not exactly lyrical genius, but I felt a peace<br />

begin to settle on me as I sung those words.<br />

I started to pray for the women who had<br />

assaulted my mother and the man who had<br />

abused her so badly.<br />

Fast forward a week or two and I was at a<br />

big church event. During a time of worship<br />

and singing, I imagined myself visiting the<br />

man in jail (there is to be a court case against<br />

him for what he’s done), talking to him about<br />

God’s love.<br />

“How impossible! How can I do that?” I<br />

asked God, tearfully. And the reply I sensed<br />

was: “You can’t. But I can, through you.”<br />

It’s impossible. But I must trust God.<br />

If I am to lead a life of love, I have to trust<br />

God. I can do that.<br />

JL<br />

s<br />

s<br />

I imagined<br />

myself visiting<br />

the man in jail,<br />

talking to him<br />

about God’s love<br />

This article was written by<br />

a young man in the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

Fellowship. His name has been<br />

left out in order to protect his and<br />

his family’s safety and confidentiality.<br />

32<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


SOME ASTOUNDING<br />

NEWS<br />

From the blog of <strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship<br />

pastor, Stuart Patnell.<br />

Stuart Patnell is a leader in the<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship and lives in<br />

a Christian community house<br />

in Coventry. He made a vow of<br />

celibacy 13 years ago. He says, “I’m single<br />

and I love it. Living undivided.” READ HIS<br />

BLOG: single4jesus.blogspot.co.uk<br />

ACK living for the old, normal, natural things.<br />

S<strong>The</strong> comfortable things. <strong>The</strong> predictable.<br />

Sack living a this-is-how-it’s-always-been<br />

kind of life.<br />

An everyone-else-does-it-so-it-must-be-theway-to-go<br />

kind of life.<br />

A norms-of-society-don’t-rock-the-boat-live-adecent-life-get-a-job-have-a-family-buy-a-housewith-a-nice-little-dog-two-cars-and-a-beautifullypaved-drive-all-nicely-placed-in-the-middle-ofthe-road<br />

kind of life.<br />

Sack that!<br />

Living for <strong>Jesus</strong> is about the never-seen-before,<br />

not the always-been-there; it’s a journey of<br />

discovery into what’s on its way, what’s coming<br />

in, what is destined to be.<br />

It’s about the new, not the old.<br />

And the good news of the New Testament is<br />

exactly that – news! <strong>The</strong> news, or new things, as<br />

spoken by and lived out by <strong>Jesus</strong>. <strong>The</strong> news, or<br />

new things, as freshly passed on to His disciples.<br />

<strong>The</strong> news, or new things, as startlingly endowed<br />

with power by the Holy Spirit.<br />

<strong>The</strong> strong, exciting, life-changing, brand<br />

spanking new things, fresh out of God’s<br />

exceptional, inimitable, omnifangled heart.<br />

And, in Christ, it’s available to anyone and<br />

everyone.<br />

Here’s a short burst of the kind of news I’m<br />

talking about:<br />

New birth (John 3:1-8); new wine (Matthew<br />

9:16-17); new covenant (Luke 22:17-20);<br />

new creation (2 Corinthians 5:14-17); new<br />

humanity (Ephesians 2:14-16); new earth (2<br />

Peter 3:11-13).<br />

Yes, as if heaven wasn’t enough, there’s a new<br />

earth on its way!<br />

And, of course, we mustn’t forget the new<br />

commandment either (John 13:34).<br />

Ah, it’s good to be in the news.<br />

JL<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> 33


JUST FOUR<br />

QUESTIONS<br />

When I love<br />

God, I love<br />

those He loves<br />

Olivia, 29, is married to Stevo and has two<br />

children, Liberty, 4, and Eben, 2. She lives<br />

with twelve other people at Living Light, a<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship community house on a<br />

council estate in Northampton.<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong> asks Olivia Scott<br />

just four questions.<br />

Why do you live on this estate when you<br />

could live in a nice country house?<br />

Don’t rub it in! Sometimes the constant smell<br />

of weed and the barrage of bad language can<br />

get too much. On days like that I would love<br />

to live in a nice country house with a proper<br />

garden! But there’s need here, people to love.<br />

Why live with so many people?<br />

With so many other people who love God!<br />

That’s the key; it would be a painful disaster if<br />

it wasn’t for our joint love for God. When I love<br />

God, I love those He loves (well, at least I give it<br />

a shot) and I want to be with them. And when<br />

people see that, hopefully they will see God.<br />

What’s it like being a mother in community?<br />

When I was single, living in community<br />

meant “living with my friends”. Getting married<br />

was a whole different ball game. It got harder<br />

– and even harder when we had a family! We<br />

had to work out how to be a family inside<br />

another family.<br />

Our parenting skills (or lack of) are played<br />

out on a very public stage. Saying that, though,<br />

community is a great way of life for the children;<br />

their lives are jam-packed full of love and they<br />

get to learn pretty early on to think of others<br />

(still a way to go on that one though).<br />

You’re 29. What do you want to be doing in<br />

50 years time?<br />

To still be in God’s will. I want to be able to<br />

look back and smile, not hold onto bitterness<br />

and disappointments.<br />

I want my life to be like a snowball going<br />

downhill; not slowing down with age, but<br />

speeding up and gathering more momentum<br />

the closer I get to heaven.<br />

JL<br />

34<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

www.jesus.org.uk


BELFAST<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 123 5552<br />

Birmingham<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8153<br />

BLACKBURN<br />

Hyndburn Christian Fellowship.............01706 222 401<br />

BLACKBUrn<br />

Rishton Christian Fellowship................01254 887 790<br />

Bridgend<br />

<strong>The</strong> Bridge Community Church............01656 655 635<br />

BrightoN<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8151<br />

chATham<br />

King’s Church Medway........................... 01634 847 477<br />

Coventry<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8154<br />

gloUCESTEr<br />

Living Word Fellowship.......................... 01452 506 474<br />

High Wycombe<br />

Church of Shalom...................................01494 449 408<br />

KETTEring<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8157<br />

LeiCESTEr<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 644 9705<br />

Liverpool<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8168<br />

London CENTRAL<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8152<br />

www.jesus.org.uk<br />

London N<br />

Glad Tidings Evangelical Church..........0208 245 9002<br />

London S<br />

Bible <strong>Life</strong> Family Ministries...................07932 938 <strong>91</strong>1<br />

London SE<br />

Ephratah Int’l Gospel Praise Centre....0208 469 0047<br />

London SE<br />

Flaming Evangelical Ministries ...........01634 201 170<br />

London SE<br />

Glorious Revival Eagle Ministries.........0208 855 3087<br />

London SE<br />

<strong>Life</strong> For <strong>The</strong> World Christian Centre....07956 840 002<br />

London SE<br />

Mission Together for Christ................... 07737 475 731<br />

MiLTon KeynES<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8159<br />

Northampton<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church .......................0845 166 8161<br />

Norwich<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 Sevilla Orange Panel 166 8162 Shoulder Top<br />

Oxford<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8164<br />

RAMSEY HOLLOW (HunTS)<br />

Christians United.....................................01487 815 528<br />

ShEFFiELd<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 166 8183<br />

SWANSEA<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Fellowship Church........................0845 123 5556<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

35


lots more at...<br />

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B<br />

Keep up to date with the latest news,<br />

tunes, videos and more at the <strong>Jesus</strong><br />

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<strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Army</strong> Events<br />

Upcoming events you don't want to miss...<br />

UK JESUS<br />

CELEBRATION<br />

SATURDAY 13 OCT 2012<br />

2.00pm & 6.00pm Ponds Forge<br />

Sheaf Street, SHEFFIELD S1 2BP<br />

ALL FREE<br />

ALL WELCOME<br />

MORE INFO AT<br />

jesus.org.uk/dates<br />

0845 123 5550<br />

info@jesus.org.uk<br />

UK JESUS<br />

CELEBRATION<br />

SATURDAY 16 FEB 2013<br />

2.00pm & 6.00pm THE NEW BINGLEY HALL<br />

1 HOCKLEY CIRCUS, BIRMINGHAM B18 5BE<br />

NEW YEAR<br />

CELEBRATION<br />

SAT 29 DEC. 2012 2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre, Abington Square<br />

NORTHAMPTON NN1 4AE<br />

36 <strong>Jesus</strong> <strong>Life</strong><br />

EQUIPPING DAY<br />

SATURDAY 26 JAN 2013<br />

11.30am, 2.00pm & 6.00pm<br />

<strong>Jesus</strong> Centre, Abington Square<br />

NORTHAMPTON NN1 4AE<br />

www.jesus.org.uk

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