For children in particular, life in the cult’s many communal houses throughout central England was intense and fraught with danger.
About one in six was sexually abused, according to a review of the damages claims of some 600 individuals.
Children were separated from their parents and often slept in dorms with drifters and drug addicts.
Many were subjected to daily beatings and endured long worship sessions with exorcisms and the recanting of sins.
Listening to the survivors’ accounts took an emotional toll on Ellena.
“I had just become a mother and was having two- or three-hour detailed conversations about abuse, sometimes involving incest, and then my son would come in from nursery, and all these mental images would be in my head,” she says.
“You’re forming these relationships that involve a lot of contact, a lot of reassurance, and you’re trying to do the right thing by everyone, so it’s a lot to carry sometimes.”
After the Jesus Army disbanded, the BBC revealed its founder, Noel Stanton, along with his five so-called apostles, had covered up the abuse of women and children through their handling of complaints.
One former elder described the leader of the church as a “predatory paedophile” and handed me a file of disclosures, accusing him of rape and sexual assaults.
But Stanton died in 2009, before he could answer any of the claims.
Of Stanton, Ellena says “people were terrified of him and in awe of him in equal measure. Children, in particular, were utterly terrified.”