Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSAWAKE O ZION!swayed from side to side. Noel continued to speak with acalm smile. He didn’t overemphasise the demonic.In Northampton the two Jesus homes at Argyle Street andHarlestone Road filled up. The weekly notice sheet got longer.‘Is This Your Ministry?’ it said on the back. ‘Help needed fordecorating... Someone required to organise bulk buying...Lawns need cutting... Sister wanted to type new chorus books.’The Love Community News section included all sorts of jottings:‘Ralph is working as odd job man... Alan is available todig gardens... Please bring surplus fruit, veg and clothes tothe chapel... Dave and Karen have room for two single people...’In September I went off to Plymouth for a breather to doteacher training but news of Bugbrooke followed me there. Afriendly but extravagant article appeared in The Daily Mail:More than 200 people in a village of 800 have dramatically dedicatedtheir lives to Jesus. Nowhere else in Britain has experiencedsuch a concentrated surge of religious fervour. So manywant to be part of the Bugbrooke Miracle that some travel formiles almost every day to attend prayer sessions... So muchwas written about the Jesus Freaks. But the pattern here, thoughsimilar, is dramatically different. For this extraordinary revivalslashes through all barriers of age and background. 25Our fame spread. ‘What Wesley did for gin, the movementdoes for drugs,’ reported New Society. 26 We were wary ofpublicity, but there was no holding back the secular media.Television companies got wind and Thames Television began100