Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSCITY ON A HILLattract the world to an alternate society and a counter-cultureand a way of life that they are looking for.’ 62Gilbert Kirby paid us a visit, too. He was then General Secretaryof the Evangelical Alliance. Michael Harper also cameand asked Stanley Jebb, the minister of New Covenant Churchin Dunstable, to write an article on us for Renewal.Stanley Jebb attributed our comparative success to strengthof leadership and careful shepherding, to the application ofthe Scriptures, to holiness and to covenant loyalty. The criticism,he reckoned, stemmed mainly from gossip and ignoranceof the real facts. ‘The church is orthodox in doctrine.Being different is not the same as being heretical...’ he wrote.He saw the danger of the Jesus Fellowship becoming isolationist.But he said there was also the ‘danger’ of ‘having ourway of life challenged, our horizons widened, and our understandingof Scripture tested, if much contact is made withthe Bugbrooke Fellowship. Some are not willing for this, sothey stay away.’ 63By the autumn we were evangelising in Milton Keynes andhad bought Promise House in Coventry, and Faith House inLeicester. The Fellowship was on the move and becoming increasinglypublic. Dave ‘Resolute’ was now editing our magazine,Newness, which explained our biblical basis and conveyedour radical vision to others.Arthur Wallis and Gerald Coates were amongst those whocalled in. Our bridge-building efforts had broken the ice, butwhere larger, more visionary men saw in us a venture of faith,many still treated us with caution, or even contempt.Dave wrote in Evangelism Today:205