“I CANNOT carry on a friendship, a love affair, or even a conversation without relating it to this force which both drives and guides my life. I’ve already been in jail because of my ideas and if necessary I am ready to go before a firing squad.”

700 J Gen (aged 15-35) heard these words, written many years ago by a young communist activist to his girlfriend, at our gathering on 16 October in Sheffield.

The call to the young people there was to be those who seek not to “die comfortable”, but to “live radical”; in other words, to be willing to abandon every other plan and priority in order to follow Jesus Christ and demonstrate that His is the greatest cause on earth.

Action was the order of the day.

Earlier in the afternoon, several hundred young people assembled outside the auditorium to the sound of a beating drum. Quite how big the crowd was we were later to discover as the 10am news the following morning announced that the “country’s biggest Christian flash mob” had taken the city centre by storm.

A tide of enthusiastic youth celebrated Jesus in front of dumbfounded shoppers and baffled but smiling shop owners. A “Jesus People” carrier screeched to a halt outside HMV and speakers were rolled from the back of the vehicle; a thumping dance beat heralded a wild session of worship before the eyes of the astonished crowd.

“I think what you are doing is so impressive!” said an enthusiastic 20-something Canadian Christian. Other wowed onlookers followed the crowd of upbeat J Generation back to the Ponds Forge venue to take a closer look at this phenomenon.

The auditorium lay in darkness and hushed silence as the J Generation present dedicated themselves to Jesus. A red, seemingly blood-stained, cross stood illuminated on the central stage. This was a time of seriousness, of earnest intent, as the Holy Spirit moved among us in consecrating power.

We sensed a new beginning, and as the cry went up - “Jesus is Lord!” - we knew that the great warrior Christ was leading us, and that more fighting, more marching, more battles lay ahead.