What is Community?

One house on the Blackthorn Estate in Northampton was buzzing with the activity of more than 20 young people over the weekend. In the Jesus Fellowship we hosted a community weekend with the aim of having 1000 visitors staying in our community houses around the UK.

HoM (House of Miracles), one of the smaller houses in the Church, normally has 11 people staying. This weekend saw 24.





The weekend kicked off with a great meal cooked by Leyla, one of the domestic sisters living at HoM. With 24 gathered in the lounge and dinning room expectations of a great weekend were built.  The night's entertainment was when 15 lads marched through the estate to the local woods to play hide and seek (man-hunt). Did I mention that most of the lads where legally adults, and still playing hide and seek? After deciding it was in fact a little cold and dark we returned home for hot chocolate and cake.
Some would say Saturday morning was an epic fail! It was meant to be a work morning but after the fun and games of the night before most of us failed to climb out of bed before 11am. After some more fun and games nearly ended in someone getting a sore head, we headed of to Burton Dassett Country Park for a bite to eat and more fun and games. The (now proven to be) slightly immature lads proceeded to use one of the small valleys to play British bulldog. We certainly managed to attract some funny looks from the locals.


We then gathered back at HoM for a time of worship and exploring God in more depth. During this time some of the new lads responded to some of the words of knowledge brought by some of the permanent residents.


So what is Christian community all about, apart from allowing fully grown men to act like big kids? Here's a few quotes:


"Christian community is the closest expression to new testament Christianity around today." Neil, a Jesus Fellowship leader

"Christian community is living out the New Testament in the 21st Century" Nathan, living in Christian community

"Christian community is living and loving together in a Christian family" Michael, a Jesus Fellowship elder

"Being in a position to serve and love the local community as Jesus said" Richard King churchwithacamera

"Christian community is love with a mixture of food" Chris Gilbert, a fat Jesus Fellowship leader

"Loving Jesus Loving Each other" Richard King churchwithacamera

Well its been a while

Well its been a while.

In the last two months a lot has happened. I've said goodbye to some close friends, I've made some new friends, changed jobs, moved house and climbed a mountain (well, nearly)!
You may recall a recent post "holiday on an estate", written when I went and stayed in a community house on one of the estates in Northampton. I spent a month on this estate getting to know the locals and the residents and then returned to my house in the country, Anthem. I felt a strong call to pack my bags and move to House of Miracles for good.


I'm now coming to the end of my three month trial, and I'd be the first to admit that it's not been the easiest 3 months; having to get up an extra hour earlier to get to work on time really hurts, and arriving home an hour later too! however, I've made some great new friends; Chris who is one of the other leaders in the house has been a real lifeline. Since he has five years of experience and is of a similar age he has been able to offer some strong advice and has been a good listening ear. I'm pretty sure that I'll be choosing to make the permanent move to House of Miracles.

After the recent Jesus Army Action campaign three lads (all brothers) have decided to move in to one of our community houses, New Creation Farm.

At our recent community weekend we went from 11 in community to 24, more news and photos coming up soon!