History

1990 – Present

just10 began in 2000. However, a number of key foundations were built prior to this which helped set the stage for just10.

In 1990, J.John wrote a book entitled Ten Steps to the Good Life, which was about the Ten Commandments. This was followed up by Back to God’s Basics which was published in 1995 and was more similar in format to the just10 series as we know it today. J.John sent 622 copies of this book to MPs in the Houses of Parliament, receiving many positive responses.

1998 – 1999

As the new millennium approached, J.John felt that teaching the Ten Commandments was not just a good idea, it was a God-idea. The first just10 series took place in St Andrew’s, Chorleywood and Emmanuel Church, Marsham Street. Series in Oxford, Twickenham, Chester and St Helen’s quickly followed.

From the earliest days of just10, amnesty bins provided a way for those that responded to J.John’s message to practically respond. In St Helen’s after the session on ‘How to Manage Your Anger’, so many weapons were put into amnesty bins that a police armoured vehicle had to come and collect them.

With the turn of the new millennium, the Ten Commandments series became known as just10, attracting large audiences across the UK. J.John said at the time:

“I can honestly say it was a ‘God idea’. In 1999 there was much discussion on how to mark the new millennium. I sensed God saying that we should go back to the basics – back to his ten principles of how to live life well.”

Series were held in Colchester, Beaconsfield, Bath, Cheam, Loughborough, St Albans and Coventry.

just10 in Coventry saw thousands of people cram into the cathedral each week. Following the final session, the majority of the audience (around 3,000 people) moved to the cathedral ruins to take part in what is believed to be one of the largest mass anointing in English history. 30,000 people attended the series in total. just10 had such an impact on the city that it received front-page news headlines in the local press, with the city council sponsoring advertising on the sides of buses using the slogan ‘Coventry Inspires Belief’.

‘The Ten Commandments are getting their biggest audiences since Cecil B. de Mille put Moses on the big screen’. The Times, 10th June 2000.

‘The Ten Commandments have, perhaps, never been better understood’. Sunday Mercury, June 25th 2000.

‘Preaching phenomenon J.John has been pulling in the crowds at Coventry Cathedral to hear his views on the Ten Commandments. Last night’s session was the most amazing of all.’ Coventry Evening Telegraph, Wednesday July 5th 2000.

As just10 grew in popularity, the series was taken all over the UK. Series were held in Liverpool, Luton, Norfolk and York.

In Liverpool, attendances grew week by week with approximately 40 coaches arriving at the Anglican cathedral each week. One church leader said, ‘In the first week of the mission our church filled a coach, in the second week we hired a double-decker bus and in the third week we had to hire a double-decker bus and a mini-bus!’

Someone else wrote, ‘At the end of Week 4 there were a number of couples leaving the cathedral holding hands having gone forward for prayer. It was obvious that the Holy Spirit had been restoring many people’s marriages’.

Right at the start of the millennium, it became clear that in order to reach as wide an audience as possible, the Ten Commandments series would need to be made into a resource that churches could use and so TEN was filmed at Capital Studios in London and released on VHS and later DVD.

In addition to being used by churches around the UK, this video resource was used by 102 UK prisons.

Other new resources produced around this time were Ten: Living the Ten Commandments in the 21st Century, 10+ Study Guide and 10+ Ten Service Outlines to help churches run their own Ten Commandments series.

Live just10 events continued through the 2000s with series taking place on Clapham Common, Bangor (Northern Ireland), Lincoln, Birmingham, Devon, Winchester, Tyneside, Teeside and Watford.

The Diocese of London described just10 on Clapham Common as ‘one of the UK’s biggest ever evangelistic events’. An incredible 175 partner churches joined forces to host the series in a 10,000-seater tent and the 10-weeks concluded with what was suggested to be the ‘biggest Alpha supper in the world’. (An Alpha supper is a meal to launch a new series of the Alpha Course.)

just10 in the North East (Tyneside and Teeside) were also large gatherings with a combined 278 partner churches and a combined attendance of 90,000 people over the 10-week series. 2,096 people came to faith or recommitted their lives to Jesus at just10 in the North East.

Many just10s took place in cathedrals across the UK, but in the summer of 2004, J.John brought just10 to the iconic St Paul’s Cathedral as part of ‘Soul in the City’, a mission in London where 20,000 young Christians shared the message of Christianity in word and action.

J.John has, so far, hosted two just10 series outside of the UK: New York (2010) and Sydney (2013). His Ten Commandments books have been translated into numerous languages, including Estonian, Korean and Swedish.

‘It is impossible to say, in just a few words, the impact J.John has had on our church, and in our city. It’s sometimes hard to remember who your Holy Father is when you are in a crazy city like New York, but J.John won’t let you forget.’