SURVIVORS of abuse within the Jesus Fellowship/Jesus Army — described by its trustees as “widespread and systemic” — were the main target of a latest BBC documentary on the sect, broadcast on Sunday evening.
Among those that spoke to the makers of Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army was Philippa Barnes, whose family joined the organisation in 1984 when she was six years old. She went on to found the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association. She described her decision, aged 17, to tell the police concerning the abuse of her friend and to testify in court — despite the elders of the church praying against her — as “an abomination”.
Her friend had tried to take her own life. Most of her peers were abused, she told the filmmakers. At the age of seven, after drawing a stick figure with genitals, she was deemed to have an “unclean spirit”.
Magsy’s mother, Jane, had joined the Jesus Fellowship to flee the “stigma” of being a single mother and had been drawn to the thought of “living because the early Christians did”, she said. Magsy recalled being “rodded” each day from the age of two, accused of “defiance”. Crisps, sweets, packed lunches, and trendy clothes were denounced as “worldly” and “inviting the devil in”.
Sarah’s parents had each died by the point she joined the Jesus Army on the age of 17. She was abused by an elder, she said. Abigail was 14 when she was sexually assaulted, the programme reported, and Nathan was abused as a baby by a single man in his forties, who, the police discovered, had committed sexual offences previously.
The Jesus Fellowship was founded by Noel Stanton, a Baptist lay pastor, in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire, in 1969. Over 50 years, the documentary recounted, it amassed “tens of millions of kilos and 1000’s of converts”.
An earlier film, made in 1974 — The Lord took hold of Bugbrooke — described how a “local group of unorthodox Christians” had caused concern within the village. A television review within the Church Times described young people “convinced that their lives have been modified through the Holy Spirit” (28 June 1974).
BBC/ELLENA WOODSarah, a survivor, talks to the BBC
Throughout the BBC documentary shown on Sunday, clips were shown of Charismatic worship and prayer ministry; Stanton was shown pronouncing “You must bring yourself to a latest commitment and also you shall know what it’s to be on fire on your Lord” and “Now we give our genitals to Jesus.”
In 1974, a latest residential religious community formed with about 60 members, who bought a farm and a number of other large properties in Bugbrooke. Led by all-male elders under Stanton’s leadership, it was the UK’s largest “intentional Christian community” by 1984, with 600 members.
In 1986, each the Evangelical Alliance (EA) and the Baptist Union severed their links with it.
In 1997, the EA spoke of “the unwillingness of the Jesus Fellowship to work in cooperation with other local churches” (News, 31 January 1997). Ian Howarth, of the Cult Information Centre, spoke of his concerns to the Church Times. Celibacy was encouraged; Stanton preached that married couples should sleep in separate beds.
A former member of the community, John, described to the BBC memories of a room-mate, Stephen, whose habit of reading had been met with disapproval. In 1978, Stephen was found dead on a railway line near by. He was 19. The coroner who checked out the case had earlier ruled on the death of David Gavin Hooper, a 26-year-old member found dead in a field on the fellowship’s property. Exposure was put down because the reason for death.
In 1987, the Fellowship launched a latest campaigning arm: the Jesus Army. The BBC documentary featured a clip of the then Archdeacon of Northampton, the Ven. Bazil Marsh, who expressed concern: “I do see a cult and a closed cult which exists for itself. . . Frankly it disgusts me. These Rambo jackets. The uniform they’ve chosen is the uniform of force.” By the early 2000s, it had almost 3000 members.
Stanton died in 2009. A Guardian feature published last week, drawing on the documentary and featuring an interview with Ms Barnes, records that, in 2010, a volunteer gardener described by a judge as a “relentless paedophile” was found guilty of indecent assault against three young boys while living within the fellowship within the late Nineties. “He had previous child sexual-abuse convictions, and it became clear in the middle of the investigation that the fellowship had not been conducting proper background checks.”
In 2013, the corporate that insured the Fellowship and its businesses requested that the leadership ask its members for stories of abuse. In 2014, the police received two safeguarding referrals in regards to the organisation. At a gathering with the Fellowship’s leadership, the police got a file containing 133 responses sent in by members, which included allegations of serial sexual abuse.
BBC/JOHN ANGERSONBBC/JOHN ANGERSON
In 2015, Northamptonshire Police launched Operation Lifeboat. It led to the convictions of 5 members, two of whom went to prison.
In 2017, Ms Barnes created a Facebook group, which, she told the documentary, “opened the floodgates”. It led to the formation of the Jesus Fellowship Survivors Association, which was advised by a solicitor to hunt redress.
In 2018, the Fellowship was estimated to be value £58 million. A yr later, its leadership decided to shut the Fellowship down, and, in 2022, the trustees of the Jesus Fellowship Community Trust — established to dissolve the organisation and its assets — announced a compensation scheme for survivors of abuse (News, 30 September 2022).
The scheme closed on 31 December 2023. Of the 601 applicants, 96 per cent received an award of economic or non-financial redress. The final report of the scheme concluded that harm and abuse of people was “widespread and systemic” (News, 20 September 2024).
It is estimated that one in six children who lived locally were sexually abused. A complete of 539 alleged perpetrators of physical sexual and emotional abuse were identified, including Stanton himself — an alleged child abuser.
The BBC documentary showed a number of the survivors attending sessions led by a psychotherapist, Gillie Jenkinson, who was once in a spiritual cult herself.
Nathan told the group: “I still consider I’m going to hell.” Sarah, who was shown untangling ivy to symbolise release from oppression, reflected: “I’ve been on one other planet for 13 years. . . I don’t exist. I’m not there.”
A press release to the documentary-makers from “The Apostolic Five” — the elders who served because the Fellowship’s leadership — said: “We proceed to carry out an unreserved apology to anyone who has been affected by abuse and failings of any kind in Jesus Fellowship.”
One former senior leader, near tears and convinced, given the low variety of convictions, that the abuse was not institutional, spoke of his realisation that he must consider survivors.
