Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

1Forward Through the Desert1805-1968It all began in a village with a funny name. Bugbrooke, justsouth of Northampton, was a very English village with smallsandstone cottages, a spired church and a large old rectorythat dominated the southern edge. Its parkland of meadow,oak and copper beech added a touch of grandeur to a scenethat nestled peacefully beneath the rolling hills of the Northamptonshireuplands.Mind you, it hadn’t always been peaceful. The East Midlandshad a long history of religious rebels and, in the seventeenthcentury, had gaoled men like George Fox and JohnBunyan. At that time, Bugbrooke had the highest proportionof nonconformists of all the villages in Northamptonshire.The Bugbrooke Quakers, Presbyterians and Independentswere none too popular and some of them had to worship outin the fields at a spot called ‘Hallelujah Corner’.23