Noel Stanton

Noel Stanton
Church Bugbrooke Jesus Fellowship
Installed 1957
Term ended 2009
Successor Mick Haines
Other posts Leader of the Jesus Army
Personal details
Born (1926-12-25)25 December 1926
Died 20 May 2009(2009-05-20) (aged 82)
Nationality United Kingdom
Denomination Christianity
Residence Bugbrooke
Occupation Pastor

Noel Stanton (25 December 1926 – 20 May 2009) was the founder of the Jesus Army. He was born in Bedfordshire in the East of England[1] and educated at Bedford Modern School.[2] His parents were farmers.[3] When he was 18, he was conscripted into British military service with the Royal Navy.[4] The navy sent him to Sydney, Australia,[1] where he was approached by evangelist Frank Jenner, who asked him, "If you should die tonight, where would you go? Would it be heaven or hell?" Stanton felt convicted for several months afterwards and consequently converted to Christianity the next year.[5] When World War II ended, he attended a Bible college and then went into business.[6] In 1957, he became the pastor of a Baptist church in Bugbrooke, Northamptonshire.[7] Under Stanton's leadership, the church took on characteristics of the Charismatic Movement and then of the 1960s counterculture.[8] In 1973, he began turning the church into an intentional community modelled after early Christianity, and the resulting movement became the Jesus Army.[9] He wrote the book Your Baptism Into Jesus Christ and His Church, which was published in 1998.[10] Stanton remained the Jesus Army's leader until 2009, when he named Mick Haines the new leader before dying on 20 May.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "Noel Stanton (1926-2009)". Jesus Army. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  2. ↑ "School Of The Black And Red-A History Of Bedford Modern School" by Andrew Underwood (1981); reset and updated by Peter Boon, Paul Middleton and Richard Wildman (2010)
  3. ↑ George D. Chryssides (1999). Exploring New Religions. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 149. ISBN 0826438903.
  4. ↑ Cooper, Simon; Mike Farrant (1997). Fire in Our Hearts: The Story of the Jesus Fellowship/Jesus Army. Multiply Publications. p. 24. ISBN 1900878054.
  5. ↑ Wilson, Raymond (2000). Jenner of George Street: Sydney’s Soul-Winning Sailor. Hurstville, New South Wales: Southwood Press. p. 44. ISBN 0646408305.
  6. ↑ Peter Clarke, ed. (2004). Encyclopedia of New Religious Movements. Routledge. p. 315. ISBN 0203484339.
  7. ↑ George D. Chryssides (2011). Historical Dictionary of New Religious Movements (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 69. ISBN 0810879670.
  8. ↑ George D. Chryssides (2006). The A to Z of New Religious Movements. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 177. ISBN 0810855887.
  9. ↑ Fiona MacDonald-Smith (29 April 1995). "The Jesus Army Wants You". The Independent. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
  10. ↑ Noel Stanton (1998). Your Baptism Into Jesus Christ and His Church. Multiply Publications. ISBN 1900878062.
  11. ↑ "Funeral of Jesus Army founder to be screened". Northamptonshire Evening Telegraph. 23 May 2009. Retrieved 26 September 2013.
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