Fire in our hearts - The Jesus Army

FIRE IN OUR HEARTS THE LORD TOOK HOLD OF BUGBROOKEsame wavelength. They actually loved one another. This wasn’tformal religion or even the type of evangelical Christianityshe had known. ‘For we were all baptised by one Spirit intoone body... and we were all given the one Spirit to drink,’ sheread (1 Cor 12:13). She looked at the ‘intoxicated’ teenagersand smiled. That was what she was seeing before her veryeyes.A few weeks later she was in the manse again. ‘Some ofyou will be baptised in the Spirit tonight,’ Noel announced.Carol wept again as God’s love bubbled within her and shespoke in tongues. Immediately her barriers went down. Shewanted to go around the room and hug everyone.They often spoke of the ‘body of Christ’. The church wasnot an organisation — it was a living organism. All over theworld, believers were discovering this, and were meeting intheir homes as a ‘family’. In Scripture the manse group readof the body ‘building itself up in love’ (Eph 4:16), of the membershaving ‘different gifts’ (Rom 12:6) and of rejoicing andweeping together (Rom 12:15). All who experienced the Spiritfelt this sense of unity, of being part of one another. But othersin the chapel weren’t finding God in such a way and somefelt a little excluded. Not everyone wanted such an experience.Quite a few clung to the old ways. Some were confusedor a little fearful. Others could be proud and quite rude!It seemed that belonging to the ‘body of Christ’ and chapelmembership were not exactly the same. The Spirit was a blessingand a trouble-maker. Jesus had warned against sewing anew patch on an old garment, and the chapel was feeling thestrain. It was a heartache for those who sought to bridge thewidening gulf. Some had already left.46