Challenge to Ex-Members

Many of you who leave the Jesus Army just want to get on with rebuilding a "normal" life in the outside world and all you want to do is put the Jesus Army years behind you. I have heard ex-members refer to these years as a big black hole or some kind of time warp!

But there are many different ways in which people have been involved in Jesus Army membership, and many different experiences of leaving. I am well aware that some of you will simply feel that the Jesus Army lifestyle was just too demanding for you and you couldn't live up to it...and maybe one day you would like to go back and try again. Without doubt, there are many ex-members who still hold a very positive attitude towards the Jesus Army.

My challenge is really towards those of you who are well aware that membership of the Jesus Army has blighted both your own life and also that of many others, but are still buying into the idea (advanced by who? The Jesus Army? Jesus Army apologists?) that those who speak out against what is going on are doing so with malicious intent of some kind!

That may be so for some! But it ought not be a hindrance for those of you have a genuine concern to expose what you believe to be wrong, and to help others who are (or are about to become) victims of the same system that has done you so much harm!

There is also the issue of "forgiveness" - the exercise of Christian charity towards those who have wronged us. Forgiving people for what they have done to us (or maybe even those near and dear to us) is one thing. Forgiving them for what they have done, or are doing, to others is an entirely different issue...it isn't something, in my estimation, which have the right or the authority to do. Opposition to something which we believe to be wrong need not be malicious or personally vindictive, it is a statement of how strongly we believe about an issue and also how deeply we care about what is happening to others!

And then, finally, there is the perfectly understandable concern that most people have of not wanting to be "troublemakers", the deep rooted desire to lead a quiet and peaceable life. The truth is that whenever you stand up and make your voice heard you are going to be accused of mischief making. As a volunteer environmental campaigner I am well used now to being told to "get a life", to "have a wash" and "get a proper job" (which, incidentally, I have!). Making your voice heard may not be for everyone and there is most definitely a time for leading a quiet and peaceable life!! But please don't allow that to be an argument which prevents you from making hard decisions about "the right thing to do".

My challenge to you, then, once you've got your life back onto some kind of even keel, is to do SOMETHING! Please don't just sit back and let the Jesus Army lifestyle go unquestioned by default. I cannot tell you, of course, exactly what you ought to do, but here are a few suggestions to be going on with.

1. Contact Christian leaders in your neighbourhood and tell them about your experiences with the Jesus Army.
2. If you have had a particularly noteworthy/traumatic experience, write to your local newspaper.
3. Write to me with your own personal story. I have NEVER broken anyone's confidence and wouldn't disclose either the content of what I was told or your identity. But I would welcome being kept up to date with developments in the Jesus Army.
4. Write to me with information which I CAN make public, even if your identity is kept secret!
5. If you would be willing to help people who write to this website, then please will let me know.

I'm sure there are many other things you can think of to do as well. Please be active!

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