The idea of the Jesus Army evangelising in Belfast first came about when Terry Scullion, originally from Belfast, planned an outreach campaign there "for the craick" (for the fun of it). He invited a few people to go with him in 1997 on a campaign which became the first of many.

Terry sadly lost his life to cancer a few years later - but his vision and inspiration lived on until the first Jesus Fellowship community house in Ireland was born: "Safe Haven".

Ray Gunn was a friend of Terry who went on that first campaign. When he returned, Ray was commissioned as the Jesus Fellowship's "man in Belfast". From then on the vision in Belfast moved fast. The first campaign was followed by yearly campaigns in 1998-2001 and in 2002 and 2003 there were two campaigns each. These campaigns caused a real vision to grow for Belfast's youth. The team met a lot of younger people down near the waterfront and, finding them open to Jesus, often prayed with them. During one of these prayer sessions the team sat and wept for them, praying that God would truly move among them, healing their hurts and divisions.

With the blessing, however, came battles. On one of the trips the Jesus Army double-decker bus drove through a deprived area of Belfast and a bunch of kids started to throw stones at it. However, as a Jesus Fellowship member put it, "the Lord's protection was upon His people" - most of the stones missed the targets; the bus and all its passengers remained unscathed.

Despite the battles, the vision to plant a Jesus Fellowship church in Belfast went from strength to strength. And at the same time as pushing the vision in Ireland forward, Ray was also inputting a new Jesus movement that had birthed in Japan!

Whoever said "behind every great man is a great woman" was right when it comes to Ray: his wife Ruth was with him every step of the way - she'd never been on a plane when she jumped in one to fly halfway round the world to Japan to help with the work there. And she was at the heart of what was happening in Ireland, too.

In 2003 Ray and Ruth moved to Belfast. It was a leap of faith from a well-established Jesus Fellowship congregation in Birmingham to the small group in Belfast. Initially growth blossomed and the Belfast group more than doubled in size. But disappointment followed: some of the initial members drifted away, and the little church passed through a difficult and testing time.

At this time, Ray and Ruth were trying to start a Christian community house. But being based in rented accommodation, they often had to move house which didn't help the new church to have a settled hub. So, in 2008, the Jesus Fellowship purchased a house. Safe Haven now have a "home" - and the fig tree is beginning to bud. A brother, Eddie, has moved in with Ray and Ruth, with another looking to move in soon. Christian community - a key facet of the Jesus Fellowship - is being established in Belfast.

Belfast is a city with a painful history of conflict and violence. For a Christian community - where people live together and share together, demonstrating reconciliation in the daily nitty-gritty of their lives - to take root there is a sign of hope: a safe haven.

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Belfast boy finds family