sitting on the rough ground on the Smethwick estate where she'd lived since she was born, the young teenager did some serious thinking.

Jo Kirkham was only 13, but that moment remains distinct in her memory.

"That night I'd been hanging out with friends who were into the occult. I knew it was evil - I'd always accepted that God was God and gone to church since I was 11.

"They said, 'Jo, come on with us, we're going to do a séance.' I felt this intense fear about the place.

"'No, it's wrong and bad.'

"They went away, then. I sat on the ground and said aloud, 'Okay, if this is the power of evil, there must be good. And good must be God.'"

The experience was so vivid to Jo that she knew she needed to take steps forward as a Christian.

"I'd made my first commitment to God just before this incident. I'd come back from Sunday School, went to my room and said, 'God, I know my life is a mess. I'm dirty but I want You to be my friend. I want to live for You.' I felt His power and presence in my room and felt Him saying, 'I want to be your friend, too.' I felt totally unclean before Him. I hadn't really known Him as a Person before. I knew, at that moment, that He was a holy God.

"I also realised there must be a more radical life you could live as a Christian; much more of God than I could see around me. So I prayed."

Jo had to wait three years before her prayer was answered. During that time, 'I want more!' was her constant cry. Everything she read pointed to the concept of 'the kingdom of God on earth'. But where was it?

One day, aged 16, Jo was visiting a friend when she heard someone talking about God, downstairs. The Jesus Fellowship had a campaign in Smethwick and one of the teams had come door-knocking.

The conversation that day brought the answer to Jo's questions and she asked for a real baptism to symbolise her decision to follow the Lord more radically.

"As soon as I was eighteen, I moved into one of the Jesus Army community houses. I'd been reading 'Hinds' Feet on High Places' by Hannah Hurnard and it struck me how God provided 'Much-Afraid' with companions for her journey with God. I felt, yes, the path would be difficult - so I'd need people with me on the path.

"Fourteen years of community have proved I made the right decision. It's not ever been easy. I've had many times when I've wanted to throw it all in. But I've received so much healing from the shame and the guilt of the past. The hurts and the ups and downs you find in community have all been part of that healing!"

A vital part of this has been self-acceptance. As a child, Jo felt she lived a double life.

"I was one person at home and another when outside. I never shared what was really going on. I could never imagine anyone would accept me if they really knew me. In community I quickly felt safe to be who I really am.

"Then, about four years ago, I fell in love with the Bible. I couldn't get enough of it. It became a word of life for me. Its truth became my strength and freedom. I started to have an intense hunger to see the Word of God really practised. I couldn't bear it that we didn't take God at His word and do the things He asked us to do."

Jo kept her small Bible in her pocket, taking it out to read on buses, in parks and in breaks at her telesales desk, in the church's whole foods business. She found a new confidence to speak to groups of young women and a gift for sharing on the Bible began to unfold. In 2001, she felt the call to stay single for Jesus and be more available to God.

"God is a serious God, who calls us to be disciples, ready to focus, stop messing about, be real, seek Him and deny ourselves. Many people in the world see Christianity as a sham: I don't ever want to be a party to that. I want my life to be free for the Lord!"