The Jesus Army, also known as the Jesus Fellowship Church and the Bugbrooke Community,[1] was a neocharismatic evangelical Christian movement based in the United Kingdom, part of the British New Church Movement. The name Jesus Army was specifically used for the outreach and street-based evangelism for which they were known.[2]
The Jesus Fellowship was founded in 1969, when Noel Stanton (1926–2009), at that time the lay pastor of the Baptist chapel in the village of Bugbrooke near Northampton, East Midlands, was inspired by a charismatic experience which led him to successfully expand the congregation, largely by appealing to a younger generation of worshippers.[3][4] As the new church grew and became more charismatic in nature, many of the original congregation left to continue worshipping in more traditional churches.[5] The Jesus Fellowship grew considerably and by 2007 there were approximately 3,500 members in around 24 congregations in various cities and towns of the UK.[6]
The Jesus Fellowship frequently engaged in evangelism in public places, seeking through outreach to demonstrate the love of Jesus and the moving of the Holy Spirit.[7] 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 church 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".[8] 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 its founder 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 the church created would continue to operate[9] and that individual churches would become independent congregations.[10] Fewer than 200 people were still living in communal households of the Jesus Fellowship.
In October 2021, Companies House certified the change of name from Jesus Centres Trust (1165925) to JCT - Joining Communities Together Limited.[11]
^Nigel Wright in Charismatic Christianity: Sociological Perspectives, p.66
^Jesus Fellowship Church website Archived 15 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine (retrieved 13 December 2018)
^C. Peter Collinson, All Churches Great and Small, p.78: "Originally this was a Baptist church in the village of Bugbrooke, just west of Northampton. Noel Stanton became the pastor there in 1957, and is still the overall leader. After a charismatic experience in 1969, he led the church into experiencing the supernatural gifts of the spirit, and they grew in numbers quite dramatically."
^George D Chryssides, Exploring New Religions (Cassell, 1999), p.149-150
^Chryssides, p.151
^William K Kay, Apostolic Networks in Britain (Milton Keynes; Paternoster, 2007), p.157
^Cornerstone Church Christian information website (retrieved 4 March 2014).
^Cite error: The named reference closure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Jesus Centres Trust". Charity Commission. Charity no. 1165925. Archived from the original on 17 December 2019.
^"Jesus Army churches close after child sex abuse claims". BBC News. 28 May 2019.
^"JCT - Joining Communities Together Limited filing history". Companies House. 11 October 2021. Retrieved 25 May 2022.
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