Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTSNEW GENERATIONWhen Channel 4 was doing a series on alternative youthservices, one of the team, who was not a Christian, told Roger,‘We’ve been to 70 of these and the most interesting messageis this one on the Christian Celts. This is the first thing we’veheard that really engages and gives a Christian alternativeas relevant culturally as the New Age movement.’Primitive, spiritual, colourful; something in these days wascoming through about pre-institutional Christianity. This wasas much for the hungry believer as for ‘pagan’ seekers. Atone level the appeal was to the mystical, the symbolic. A postmodernculture was responding to images, music and drama.They were looking for humble bards not preachers. At anotherlevel they were seeking an alternative.The example of the Celtic Christians helped to clarify thefuture role of our community houses. The key to Celtic evangelismwas the network of communities which were both missioncentres and spiritual oases. The numbers who embracedtheir rigorous lifestyle were small in comparison with themultitudes caught up in the wider movement. But the communitiesstood like priests, blessing and serving people.The Celtic spirit resonated with so much we held dear. Itcrystallised our whole apostolic call; combining radical discipleshipwith a passionate sense of mission. Like them we wereto move with sensitivity amongst the people, showing Jesusas the answer to their search. Maybe we too, together withother Christian streams, would see the ‘post-modern’ cultureof our day powerfully influenced by the gospel.In the late sixties God moved in a remarkable way upon thechurches of this land. We were one of many little groups at413