About Us Page 2
He is worth everything
I am a celibate because I have met THE most amazing person, and He has all my love. I want to do things with Him and for Him. I do not want to waste my life going after things that do not last. Heaven is going to be full of loving Jesus and I have started doing that now!
My celibate journey began in the summer of 1995 when I graduated from Nottingham University and moved into a Jesus Fellowship community house. I think I had known deep down when I was baptised and made covenant with the Jesus Fellowship in 1992 that community and celibacy would follow. I have always felt that either God is not real and worth nothing, or He is real and He is worth everything. This did not stop me falling for someone in the Christian Union at university.
In one of the big church meetings, quite out of the blue, I felt God asking me, 'What if I never gave you anyone especially for you?' God never said, 'I want you to be celibate', just 'What if... In October 1995 I went to the Jesus Fellowship's main celibates' meeting. At the end our senior pastor gave an invitation for those who wanted to receive the gift of celibacy to stand up. I thought, 'I can't, my spirit will explode if I do that.' Then I heard God saying (one of the few times I have heard His audible voice) 'Well, I'll bless you where you are then' and in that moment I received an anointing of laughter and shaking. It was a release of the Holy Spirit like I had never known before.
In August 1996 I made my celibate vow: I was TOTALLY in love with Jesus. About a month later I had a celebration (a bit like a wedding reception) to publicly confirm the vow.
The gift is not like a slot machine that when you post so much in you get so much out. The gift is a lifestyle thing, a tool or a path towards a fulfilled and blessed life, but not a guarantee or a free plane ticket to paradise.
I like to think of all the things that I am now doing that I would not be able to do if I was not a celibate. The biggest one is that I work in one of our church businesses and I have quite a responsible job. Working in a church business has been a big training ground for me. Not being someone who is mega outgoing, I do really appreciate the contact with people that I would not normally meet.
I dare to say that there is an intimacy in worship that a celibate person can reach into that is not the same for a married person. It is not that married people do not experience deep and intimate worship; yet when I sing, 'Jesus, You are my first love' or 'You are my passion,' I really do mean it.
When people make their marriage vows they are promising to love that person only, to be true to them, and to renounce all other loves. This is not that different to the celibate vow. We promise to be true to Jesus, to renounce any other relationship for the sake of having particular intimacy with Jesus. The celibate will raise spiritual children and build church family.
Having a wide range of wholesome friendships really is a lifeline to a celibate. Celibates are free to give themselves in a variety of friendships in a way that married people cannot. A celibate has chosen not to belong to one particular person, in order to belong to everyone.
I think the biggest battle that many celibates face is keeping the gift alive. We have made the sacrifice and chosen the life for a purpose, but it is so easy to let it slide into merely 'un-marriedness' and live an ineffective boring life.
The celibate life is meant to be a power source within. It is mean to spring out of passionate love for Jesus, and spur us into passionate acts of love, service and devotion to Him and the Church, for the Kingdom's sake. Celibacy is more than 'not being married and having sex' it is about being set apart for Jesus and being pure and holy in body, soul and spirit.
