Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSNEW GENERATIONshowing a decrease, and finances were becoming stretched.Stunted growth and short supplies were signs of a diseasedheart and clogged arteries.A new apostolic spirit had certainly been released. Therewas ‘a call to holy passion’. But it was meeting a backlash ofdead institutionalism. This had been a repeated patternamongst us when any new initiative dared disturb theslumberers. Though people nowadays were more free to bethemselves, there was less ‘holy fear’ around — more of acasual attitude to God.Community was a particular cause for concern. Throughall the comings and goings, changes, phases and anointings,the number of core members had hardly grown. Had the visiondimmed? Did the high note of discipleship sound as sweetand acceptable as once it had? Some houses began to rattleas families moved out to their own place. The Bugbrooke estatebegan to fill up again. Only this time it wasn’t the goldrush into the promised land. It was the quiet retreat out.Not that anything was grossly wrong. There was no scandal,no rebellion — at least, none worthy of the name. Just thequiet ongoing work of discouragement and the drooping spiritof the settler. Some of us had been communified for twentyyears. Maybe ‘Mother Zion’ was growing long in the tooth.On the positive side a new spiritual generation was on theboil. But the question was, who was in it? Who was for thefuture? Some of us who’d been reckless idealists in the 70swere now hitting mid-life crisis. The challenge was to maintainour spiritual passion.The renewed call to sacrifice was rocking the boat. For theapostolic challenged, by its very nature, all that was institu-388