Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSCITY ON A HILLWe believe that God’s purpose is to gain a people... God madecovenant with Abraham, and the promise finds fulfilmentthrough the New Covenant, in which both Jews and Gentilesare of the true Israel, the church of the living God...We believe that God’s covenant people are called to be separatedto him from the spirit of the world. They are to bear propheticwitness to the Kingdom of God as a visible expression ofthe Lordship of Christ. They are thus the City or Zion of God,His temple and dwelling place...We affirm the call of Jesus to renounce all other things to beHis disciple... not that this requires rejection of the nuclear familyor any strict exclusivism. The regenerate, as may be possible,shall voluntarily have all things in common, but we do notmake this a condition of membership...We affirm that male and female are equal in status, but wehold the scriptural distinction... that men differ from women inrole, appearance and dress. We regard the keeping of specialdays and seasons as unwarranted by scripture...We also hold that believers are to bear their cross as Christ’sdisciples. The world must persecute us...Three days later a headline appeared in the Oxford Journal:‘MP URGED TO PROBE RELIGIOUS SECT. An Oxford couplehave accused a religious sect of splitting their family.’ 58Their son, who had maintained regular contact with his family,was in fact a twenty-eight year old teacher with a PhD!Within weeks the Baptist Times had grieved many of its readersby reproducing this headline on its front page.Lewis Misselbrook from the Baptist Union headquarters wasa friend of ours and replied, ‘Bugbrooke is a member of ourfellowship of churches. I hope our Union will never become a198