“IT WAS a 'silly little thought' that crossed my mind when I was 18" says Doris. "Why 'make' more children when so many exist but live without love?"

Two years later Doris left her home in Germany, with thoughts of working in an orphanage in Africa.

But, while in London, Doris soon realised that "deprived children" are everywhere: of any age and from all over the world.

"They are our neighbours, our workmates. They are found in every layer of society: top managers and cleaners, doctors and prostitutes, musicians and the unemployed - everywhere there are 'children without love'.

"Ten years on I'm a celibate and live in a former convent. But I'm not a nun."

Doris lives in the Jesus Army's large house in central London - formerly the original mother house of the "All Saints Sisters of the Poor". It is now home to two families with six children between them, two couples, seven single men and eight single women.

Doris says: "Like the nuns I pray in the chapel; however, I don't kneel down in the benches but sit in a comfy chair or walk around the coffee table. A few people have managed to play some wonderful old hymns on the organ, but mostly we play guitars, tambourines and bongos." She laughs. "I don't know what the saints on the stained glass windows make of it."

One of the most driving thoughts which led her to vow myself to celibacy, aged 24, was "you never know how long you've got". Doris puts it bluntly: "I want to make all my life count for eternity. Marriage is only for this present life. I had always wanted to get married and have my own children but when I read what Jesus said about staying single for His kingdom I thought, "Yes! Surely only by the grace of God but I can do this. Yippee!

"The Sisters of the Poor centred their lives on prayer and service to the poor, especially children, and kept vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. They recognised them as a 'three-fold cord by which the believer is bound to God - a binding of love through which one is set free.

"As celibates, we too are seeking to be 'bound to God' and to have less 'attachments'. Our time, our energy and our love are in a constant process of surrender to God so that He may bring healing and love to the people around us.

"Some people…stay single for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Anyone who can accept this teaching should do so." Jesus, Matthew 19:12

"This is why I am celibate. In this way I seek to love 'children' who have not known much love. Not a silly little thought - but a gift from God!"

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