JESUS ARMY outreach in Birmingham began in 1982. We'd already planted the Jesus Fellowship in Coventry and Warwickshire by then, in response to a prophetic word. Though there was never a specific call of this kind to extend the Jesus Army into Birmingham, it grew out of our desire to reach city people with the gospel.
There had already been some regular evangelism on the streets of Birmingham, particularly on Friday nights, when I first got involved. I'd been leading the Jesus Fellowship in Warwickshire for three years. In 1982 a few key people who had started the small work in Birmingham pulled out; in August I came to Birmingham and regular evangelism followed.
We started "servant groups" in the city - small groups which aimed to meet with people in their homes and initiate church.
Once we had met a few people, we started having "friendship meals" on Thursday evenings, seeking to join people together in Christian brotherhood. There was a powerful movement of God that year which resulted in the
purchase of our first community house in Handsworth - "The Anchorage", in March 1983.
We held meetings on Sunday mornings and evenings at Anchorage. There was a strong flow of the love of God among us. It was a powerful time. We would often have between 30 and 40 visitors: it wasn't long before we needed another community house in Birmingham!
Cornerstone was the answer to that. We moved in, in 1984. Many of those who moved in became well-rooted leaders. The movement was rolling on. In one of our meetings in 1985 the sense of the presence of God was so strong that the food burnt in the oven (nobody cared) and the meeting went on till midnight!
But 1987 was a very difficult year. A lot of key people left community. We were really shaken. This was one of the hardest times we faced during the planting of mJa Birmingham and it took quite some time to recover.
But we did recover, slowly, and the work picked up. The next notable movement God initiated was in 1991 when a lot of Japanese brothers and sisters joined us at Anchorage. It snowballed, and at times there were about 50 visitors. A partner church in Japan through the Multiply Christian Network was the result. God was blessing us.
In 2001 a couple of Iranian asylum-seekers got involved with the church. They'd first met Marie, one of our members, who taught them English at the City College. More and more came until we had a congregation that was almost half and half English and Iranian! Many of them found true commitment and we still have a lot of Iranian members today.
Another huge encouragement since the turn of the millennium has been a fresh influx of young people, particularly young men with real vision to be a new generation of all that God has called the mJa to be.
Our vision now? We want to establish an even stronger base of Christian community in Birmingham: it will always be true that the main source of our effectiveness is in the strength of our community teams. It's also so central to our desire to train up young men for future leadership. We want to purchase a fourth community house, to be part of a Jesus Centre in Birmingham.
Having a Jesus Centre in Birmingham is a key part of our future: we aim to establish it within the next three years. And beyond all that we want to extend the work still further, to plant a church in the Black Country - and beyond. There's much to be done!
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THE MOVEMENT ROLLS ON
