Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army review – the eye-opening tale of a national shame
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Nobody wants to be in a cult. That includes the people who are in cults – which is why they tend to claim they’re nothing of the sort. Founded in 1970s Northamptonshire by lay pastor and self-anointed prophet Noel Stanton, the Jesus Fellowship – or the Jesus Army, as it came to be known in the late 1980s – was a case in point. And, for the 3,500 members it had accrued by the late 2000s, there was clearly something deeply appealing about the organisation unrelated to its ability to brainwash and control its followers (contraband included crisps and books). It served the needs of a certain kind of Christian: to have an accessible, welcoming church, to live communally with people who shared their values, to be given direction by a charismatic leader, to belong.
To outsiders, however, it always seemed inordinately sinister. Inside the Cult of the Jesus Army is crammed with half a century’s worth of British media to prove it: from tabloid articles (“Cult Crazy” ran one headline, which drew parallels with the recent Jonestown massacre) to news items (a 1970s report about the strange deaths of two members) to programmes such as 1998 talk show For The Love Of… in which Jon Ronson goggles as members explain their “virtue names” (one man is “watchman”; a young woman called Sarah is “submissive”). As late as 2014, we see Grayson Perry singing along wryly with their hymns in his Channel 4 series Who Are You?
The details that troubled the public imagination were myriad: for some it was the ecstatic singing and speaking in tongues; for the 1970s newsreader it was only natural to be suspicious of such a “highly committed” and “insular” group. Then there was Stanton, pantomime baddie-like with mad eyes, wispy grey hair and an extremely creepy smile. In footage spanning many decades, we see him preaching in an eerie whisper and spouting grotesque soundbites such as “now we give our genitals to Jesus”.
Embedded in this grim fascination was the hunch that something was seriously awry. It was. While the Jesus Army claimed to be a haven for Christians, it was actually a haven for paedophiles – including, allegedly, Stanton himself – giving them ample opportunity and permission to abuse children while making barely any effort to hide their actions.
This two-part documentary gives us some sense of why the Jesus Army attracted – and perhaps even created – abusers: it was a microcosm of a fastidiously patriarchal society, it attracted those already vulnerable (Sarah joined after losing both her parents), it deliberately courted teens, it weaponised the concept of sin, it demanded unquestioning loyalty and devotion. Yet the focus here is on the victims; the programme meshes a chronology of the movement with a group therapy session involving four adult survivors. Initially, these ex-members (the Jesus Army closed down in 2019) are encouraged to process the idea that they spent their formative years in a cult. It’s not until the middle of the second hour-long instalment that they discuss the abuse they suffered.
Content retrieved from: https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jul/27/inside-the-cult-of-the-jesus-army-review-bbc-two-iplayer.
