Welcome

We have survived the Jesus Fellowship Church in all its forms, and this association is another part of our story, we have many names, many faces and many personalities but what unites us as one is a shared experience of the control and abuse suffered over years. This suffering came in many forms; sexual abuse, rape, grooming, beatings, cruelty, slave labour, mind control, child molestation, emotional abuse, bullying, destruction of personality, neglect, spiritual abuse, control, forced marriage, poverty and financial abuse; the list is endless.  We believe that the path to justice doesn’t have to be similarly endless or in vain.  For evil cannot prosper when good people refuse to remain silent.

Our aims are:

  • To bring together and foster mutual support and understanding for ex members of the Jesus Fellowship Church/Jesus Army within a safe cohort and safe environment.
  • To lobby for an independent inquiry.
  • To provide access – and advice on access – to professional support and resources with members.
  • To seek redress and cause restorative action from, and by, the Jesus Fellowship to those affected by their current or historical association with the Jesus Fellowship Church/Jesus Army.
  • To seek – or aid the seeking of – financial and legal recompense from the Jesus Fellowship Church as appropriate on a group or individual basis.
  • To provide group meetings and activities to further the aims of the Jesus Fellowship Survivors.
  • To raise funds by donation as necessary to support the above aims.

Cult Recovery Workshop

Please see details below of a cult recovery workshop being facilitated by Hope Valley Counselling in November 2019. You can use your JFCT Counselling Scheme money towards it, even if Gillie is not currently providing you with counselling. You can either email Gillie direct on gillie@hopevalleycounselling.com or you can contact Karen Wesley on Therapyinfo@mail.com if… Continue reading Cult Recovery Workshop

I provide this statement to assist in the process of healing for myself and others. For me, the abuse was a one of experience, many others endured a variety of abuses for much longer. But abuse is abuse, no matter how long or short the experience, the consequences are often similar. Certainly, the empowerment of justice, be that a legal or therapeutic justice, or both, is crucial. 

Recent media reports have prompted me to contact you in order to share my experience of emotional, psychological and spiritual abuse. These abuses I experienced whilst a member of the Jesus Fellowship at Bugbrooke Chapel. In particular this account relates to one incident which occurred during the Christmas period of 1978.   I started to attend the Jesus Fellowship… Continue reading I provide this statement to assist in the process of healing for myself and others. For me, the abuse was a one of experience, many others endured a variety of abuses for much longer. But abuse is abuse, no matter how long or short the experience, the consequences are often similar. Certainly, the empowerment of justice, be that a legal or therapeutic justice, or both, is crucial. 

Wreckage

Unseen, unheard, forgettable and forgotten. We didn’t matter, we didn’t count. Invisible, irrelevant, nameless and noiseless. They didn’t look, they didn’t ask. Undiscovered, unimportant, muffled and mute. Not wanted, not needed, cast aside. Inconspicuous, inaudible, reserved and restrained. They gave us no thought, they gave us no voice. Unacknowledged, unsung, hidden and hushed. We were brushed aside,… Continue reading Wreckage

‘… Punches were landed in my ribs, carefully, so they couldn’t be seen.’ One woman’s violent encounter with the Jesus Army.

It was the mid-eighties. My partner and I had moved from Bradford to London. I was in Leicester Square. A small temporary stage had been set up – at that time of night – and a crowd was listening to a speaker. A silver-haired man was preaching to a bunch of street people and others… Continue reading ‘… Punches were landed in my ribs, carefully, so they couldn’t be seen.’ One woman’s violent encounter with the Jesus Army.

But I’ll confess to the fact that the idea that it was the church who was mostly wrong and not me is as a chink of light in an otherwise unending gloom. Time will tell.

Some of what I’ve read here is a big shock to me. I was involved with the Birmingham part of the church from 1984, on and off, more off than on, for 15+ years. I wanted very much to live in community, having longed for a communal way of life for some years prior to… Continue reading But I’ll confess to the fact that the idea that it was the church who was mostly wrong and not me is as a chink of light in an otherwise unending gloom. Time will tell.

Finding Freedom

I spent the early part of my childhood in community. My family moved out of community around age 9. It was an unstable situation in the community house, and whilst we lived a relatively ‘normal’ life compared to some others, it was still an unsafe environment. My family did normal things like visiting the coast,… Continue reading Finding Freedom

“I had given at least twelve years and all I had to this Church; my time, my will, my soul, my life – and for some unexplained reason I was to be found falling short of this high calling.”

My wife and I moved to Northampton in 1973, and were introduced to a Baptist Church in Bugbrooke.  We attended as visitors at first, but were soon encouraged to become more fully involved. From the early stages I was concerned about the level of pressure that was being placed upon people to commit themselves without… Continue reading “I had given at least twelve years and all I had to this Church; my time, my will, my soul, my life – and for some unexplained reason I was to be found falling short of this high calling.”

“I thought I had ‘got over’ the church, I had told myself that my upbringing was ‘not that bad’, I had told myself that ‘although I had been abused as a child this could happen in any walk of life’…”

Hi, not sure if this is of any use to you, I wrote this partly to try and help me understand my own feelings and to remind myself to carry on and not try to hide from it all again, as I find myself wanting to. Then I thought that if it does that for… Continue reading “I thought I had ‘got over’ the church, I had told myself that my upbringing was ‘not that bad’, I had told myself that ‘although I had been abused as a child this could happen in any walk of life’…”

A recent ‘change of heart’ that shows the tide is turning and people are slowly acknowledging the truth.

Hi. I just wanted to say thank you for the invite to members of the Jesus Fellowship to the meeting on June 2nd. I wanted to come but can’t, as my folks are over from Australia, but I did want to share with you about a recent ‘change of heart’ that I’ve had about you… Continue reading A recent ‘change of heart’ that shows the tide is turning and people are slowly acknowledging the truth.