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The Jesus Army is the outreach ministry of the Jesus Fellowship Church, an evangelical Christian movement based in the United Kingdom.

History

Originally based on a village Baptist chapel in Bugbrooke near Northampton. Its founder was the chapel pastor Noel Stanton who was seeking a new way to continue his ministry in 1968 and experienced a profound and intense spiritual episode or 'Baptism in the Holy Spirit', see also Pentecost.

The church was affected by the Charismatic Movement in the late 1960s and early 70s and influenced by the Jesus People movement in the USA.

The Jesus Army is known for its street outreach and particularly feels 'called' to work with the poor. Like many other churches, they engage in frequent evangelistic activities on 'street level', seeking to spread the 'Good News' through relationship building and friendships which demonstrate the love of Jesus and a moving of the Holy Spirit. Around 600 Jesus Army members live in 60 intentional communities collectively known as "New Creation Christian Community". Within each "house family", members pool their income in a common purse arrangement in accordance to the calling of the Bible in Acts 2 and Acts 4. An additional 1800 members live outside these communities and operate much like other 'normal' church members.

Beliefs

The Jesus Army upholds the historic creeds of the Christian faith. The creeds are a set of common beliefs shared with many other Christian churches (including Church of England) and are known as: the Apostles' Creed, the Athanasian Creed and the Nicene Creed.

More can be read on the Jesus Fellowship's / Jesus Army's Christian beliefs, in their free pdf e-book "We Believe" *.

Criticism

In the past, local Northamptonshire newspapers and the late Archdeacon of Northampton, Bazil Marsh, among others (have accused the group of being a sect (religious cult ([http://www.rickross.com/reference/jesus_army/jesus_army1.html" target="_blank" >*) but members of the group have denied this (Evangelical Alliance (*)" target="_blank" >and is linked to other churches and groups in the UK and elsewhere through the Multiply Christian Network ([http://www.multiply.org.uk/multiply/yourarea_uk.shtml).

Regarding the Jesus Army, Mark Hunter wrote in The Fold * that the word 'cult' is used in such a way that "when it comes down to it, it means a religious group they don't like the look of". He writes that "if the church of Acts was around today it would most likely be called a 'cult'" and that "any group which sets out to be entirely faithful to the teachings of Christ is going to be incomprehensible and threatening to the world."

According to newspaper articles from the 1980s, members of the Jesus Army communal houses are encouraged to withdraw from the world and cut off their ties with outsiders*," target="_blank" >except for the purpose of proselytising, and it is also a policy of the group that community members must gain the permission of the group's "elders" before they get married*

One of these houses was featured more recently in a Channel 4 television documentary, "Battlecentre", in 2001 (Production summary, Guardian Unlimited Reader Reviews, BBC interview with producer).

References

External links

Intentional communities | Charismatic and Pentecostal Christianity

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Jesus Army".

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