Jesus Army
The Jesus Army, also known as the Jesus Fellowship Church and the Bugbrooke Community, was a neocharismatic evangelical Christian organisation based in the United Kingdom, which has been considered as a cult. Part of the British New Church Movement, the name Jesus Army was used specifically for the outreach and street-based evangelism for which they were known.
The Jesus Fellowship was founded in 1969 by Noel Stanton, who at that time was the lay pastor of the Baptist chapel in the village of Bugbrooke near Northampton. It expanded in the ensuing decades by appealing to a younger generation of worshippers. As the new church grew and became more charismatic in nature, many of the original congregation left to continue worshipping in more traditional churches. The Fellowship continued to grow considerably and by 2007 consisted of approximately 3,500 members in around twenty-four congregations in various cities and towns of the UK. The church frequently engaged in evangelism in public places, seeking through outreach to demonstrate the love of Jesus and the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Fellowship used various slogans, in its early days adopting "Love, Power & Sacrifice" and later "Jesus People, Loving People," and the name "Jesus Army."
The Jesus Fellowship announced in May 2019 that it "will cease to exist and the current National Leadership Team will be stepping down from their roles once the winding up of the central Church has been completed." Members had voted on 26 May 2019 to revoke the church's constitution, after a decline in membership to less than 1,000 following claims against Stanton and two other then-members of the church of a history of sexual assault during the 1970s. It was planned that the Jesus Centres charity organized by the church would continue to operate and that individual churches would become independent congregations. Fewer than 200 people were still living in communal households of the Fellowship.
In October 2021 Companies House certified the change of name from Jesus Centres Trust to JCT - Joining Communities Together Limited. Since December 2020, the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust existed as a residuary body with the sole purpose of winding up the administrative affairs of the Jesus Fellowship Church. A 2024 "Final Report," described as "staggering," stated that a Jesus Fellowship Redress Scheme was available "to those who have suffered harm, abuse and/or adverse experiences within the Jesus Fellowship community. It also provided a clear process for employment, pension, national insurance and retirement claims."
Distinctive features
The Jesus Fellowship operated like the house church movements, or the more radical elements of the larger, more conventional churches. It was affected by the charismatic movement of the late 1960s and early '70s, and influenced by the Jesus people movement in the United States. According to author William Kay, Stanton was highly influenced by Arthur Wallis's book In the Day of Thy Power, and associated with a number of the early leaders within the British New Church movement. The beliefs of the Jesus Fellowship are in line with historic Christian orthodoxy. Nevertheless, there are various aspects of the Fellowship's way of practising Christianity that are distinctive when compared with more conventional churches.Jesus Army, evangelism and ministry to the marginalised
The British public were most likely to be aware of the Jesus Army by its brightly coloured minibuses and coaches, and the highly visible multi-coloured camouflage jackets often worn by Jesus Army evangelists on the street. The Jesus Army was launched in 1987 as the campaigning identity of the Jesus Fellowship. Following the example of the early Salvation Army, and with a stated intention to "go where others will not go," the Jesus Army engaged in what has been called "aggressive and effective street evangelism among the marginalized sections of society." The Jesus Army's mission was described as "essentially one to the poor, the disadvantaged and the marginalized." Since 1987 the Jesus Army held an annual high-profile gospel event in London called London Jesus Day with a three-hour public event on Trafalgar Square, then an evening event in a marquee on Roundwood Park.Jesus Army Charitable Trust and Jesus Centres
Growing from the Jesus Army's work among homeless street people, those involved in drug or alcohol abuse, and prisoners and ex-prisoners, the Jesus Army/Jesus Fellowship founded a charitable trust "to develop and enhance its existing work with many disadvantaged groups and individuals", largely through the founding and running of "Jesus Centres" in UK cities and towns.In 2002, the Jesus Fellowship opened the Coventry Jesus Centre including a Drop-In Centre known as "The Bridge", which provided services such as a subsidised breakfast, free clothing, showers and hot drinks, as well as social support, job training and providing medical help to vulnerable people. The centre also assisted in finding rented accommodation for the homeless, though a major emphasis of these activities was evangelistic, "bringing people to Jesus". Other Jesus Centres were opened in Northampton, Central London and Sheffield.
Multiply Christian Network
The Jesus Fellowship was also linked to around 250 other churches and groups in the UK and elsewhere through the Multiply Christian Network, which it initiated in 1992.Youth ministry
From 2007 to 2017 the Jesus Army hosted a yearly event for young people aged between 15 and 35 called "RAW ". In contrast with many Christian churches which often have an aging population, the Jesus Army had a comparatively high proportion of young members.New Creation Christian Community
In the early years of the Jesus Fellowship, a residential Christian community was founded for its growing membership. Initially, a large Anglican rectory in Bugbrooke was purchased and renamed "New Creation Hall". Several members of the Jesus Fellowship moved in and it became the first centre of a community lifestyle. By 1979, several other large houses in the surrounding area were purchased and "New Creation Christian Community," as the entire community was named, was established, with some 350 residents. At its height in the early 1990s there were roughly 850 residents in about 60 communal households, but their numbers later dropped to less than 200 persons. Motivation for the Jesus Fellowship's venture into residential communal living and the sharing of possessions came primarily from their interpretation of Biblical descriptions of the early church.The Jesus Fellowship's community had many features in common with other charismatic Christian intentional communities and part of the initial stimulation towards starting the New Creation Christian Community came from the Church of the Redeemer, Houston, Texas, established by the Episcopalian priest Graham Pulkingham. New Creation Christian Community was one of the largest intentional Christian communities in Europe. According to sociologist Stephen J. Hunt, the Jesus Fellowship's community "has been a source of inspiration and frequently attracts visitors from Europe and beyond who wish to observe, and sometimes imitate, a vibrant and enduring model of charismatic community life." Residents of each community house ranged in number from 6 to 60 people. The pattern of community life in the largest, down to the smallest residence, was modelled along the same principles and pattern. Those dwelling in a community house, along with the majority of members who lived outside but who are formally attached to it, made up the "church household". The church household was the basic unit of the Jesus Fellowship, usually comprising both members who lived in community and a majority who did not. Several church households usually came together to form congregations for public worship along with members of the public who wished to attend. Jesus Fellowship congregations typically met in a hired venue such as a school or community centre, although latterly the church purchased "Jesus Centres" in some cities and towns: the Jesus Fellowship in these places used these centres as their venue for public meetings.
The community founded a series of Christian businesses employing once up to 250 people. Profits from the businesses helped fund the wider work of the Jesus Fellowship. Businesses and community houses were owned by a Trust Fund ultimately controlled by the members. In 2001, one of the houses was featured in a Channel 4 television documentary, Battlecentre.
Membership
There were a variety of levels of commitment in the Jesus Fellowship with corresponding types of membership. Those in the loosest forms of membership may have been merely attached to a Jesus Fellowship weeknight "cell group" or attended only on Sundays. Others were more involved. The committed core membership of the Jesus Fellowship consisted of "covenant members", those who had made a "covenant", or pledge expressing an intention of lifelong loyalty to the Jesus Fellowship. Even within covenant membership, there were four different "styles". "Style 1" was the non-resident membership, with a similar membership practice to that of most members of other churches. "Style 2" covenant members entered into closer financial and general accountability."Style 3" covenant members were the residential members of the New Creation Christian Community: all their income, wealth and possessions were shared, though they may have reclaimed them should they subsequently decide to leave. While they were members, the value of their contribution was protected by the Trust Fund. Becoming a member of the Jesus Fellowship's community was a gradual process and most of those who joined the community had already belonged to the Jesus Fellowship as part of its broader membership first. "Style 4" was for covenant members who lived at a distance and were unable to join regularly in the life of the church.