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https://www.vice.com/en_dk/article/the-jesus-army-will-feed-you-because-the-government-wont
Why Are London's Homeless Addicts Scared of the Jesus Army?
If you hang out much with homeless people in London, the Jesus Army tend to come up in conversation. They're basically a street team for the Jesus Fellowship Church, a neocharismatic evangelical movement who throw big God parties where people gather to speak in tongues, reap the benefits of divine healing and witness other miracles of the Holy Spirit. There's an urban myth that circulates around London's homeless that the Jesus Army kidnap people off the streets and put them to work in fields surrounding London. Surely it's not true?
Jesus Army's soldiers spend their nights cruising around London and other urban areas in vans, looking for new recruits to take back to these households, which have names like Dayspring and Crown of Life. As well as those who sleep rough each night, they also enjoy looking after drunk students on what they call "club missions", where Jesus Army "cell groups" with pink crosses round their necks hand out water and give flip-flops and foot massages to girls in high-heels. Each Jesus Army house sleeps anything from 12 to 40 people and all of them are led by a group of male "brothers".https://www.vice.com/en_dk/contributor/matt-shea
However, once we'd read the Jesus Army's statement of beliefs, we realised that it was no coincidence that the only women we had seen were mopping up our toast crumbs in silence.
"As women, we accept the headship of godly men," reads the statement. "This is not a question of equality, but of social and spiritual role... In today's society the roles have become blurred.
"My job was to look after the chickens," Kristen told us. "Every bit of my money went into the Jesus Army communal pot, and I didn’t get a penny back when I was kicked out. In fact, after I’d been forced out, they continued to claim my housing benefits for four weeks. "They deliberately target vulnerable homeless people," Kristen continued. "I used to be one of the people who handed out sandwiches [to homeless people]. Basically, what they do is they help you fill out the benefit forms. They then make you sign over all your money to them. If you’ve got a bank account and you’ve got savings, then you have to give that to them as well.
However, Kristen's account does bear a strong resemblance to similar testimonies from the 90s, and the church states that it makes "exorcism an important part of our ministry in the Gospel". With its advocacy of trad gender roles and its opposition to sex outside of marriage, it's hard to see how the church's apparent LGBT members would be able to express their sexuality in a way that the community was happy with.
Why Are London's Homeless Addicts Scared of the Jesus Army?
If you hang out much with homeless people in London, the Jesus Army tend to come up in conversation. They're basically a street team for the Jesus Fellowship Church, a neocharismatic evangelical movement who throw big God parties where people gather to speak in tongues, reap the benefits of divine healing and witness other miracles of the Holy Spirit. There's an urban myth that circulates around London's homeless that the Jesus Army kidnap people off the streets and put them to work in fields surrounding London. Surely it's not true?
Jesus Army's soldiers spend their nights cruising around London and other urban areas in vans, looking for new recruits to take back to these households, which have names like Dayspring and Crown of Life. As well as those who sleep rough each night, they also enjoy looking after drunk students on what they call "club missions", where Jesus Army "cell groups" with pink crosses round their necks hand out water and give flip-flops and foot massages to girls in high-heels. Each Jesus Army house sleeps anything from 12 to 40 people and all of them are led by a group of male "brothers".https://www.vice.com/en_dk/contributor/matt-shea
However, once we'd read the Jesus Army's statement of beliefs, we realised that it was no coincidence that the only women we had seen were mopping up our toast crumbs in silence.
"As women, we accept the headship of godly men," reads the statement. "This is not a question of equality, but of social and spiritual role... In today's society the roles have become blurred.
"My job was to look after the chickens," Kristen told us. "Every bit of my money went into the Jesus Army communal pot, and I didn’t get a penny back when I was kicked out. In fact, after I’d been forced out, they continued to claim my housing benefits for four weeks. "They deliberately target vulnerable homeless people," Kristen continued. "I used to be one of the people who handed out sandwiches [to homeless people]. Basically, what they do is they help you fill out the benefit forms. They then make you sign over all your money to them. If you’ve got a bank account and you’ve got savings, then you have to give that to them as well.
However, Kristen's account does bear a strong resemblance to similar testimonies from the 90s, and the church states that it makes "exorcism an important part of our ministry in the Gospel". With its advocacy of trad gender roles and its opposition to sex outside of marriage, it's hard to see how the church's apparent LGBT members would be able to express their sexuality in a way that the community was happy with.
