connectionsA FAMILY ON MISSION TOGETHER www.occ.org.uk

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strongertogether

CENTRAL REGIONAL CELEBRATION10 JULY | THE KING’S CENTRE OXFORD

south region

Refreshments will be served in the cafe area from 1030

Join us for a family picnic in the park after the service (with games)

Our offering today is for a fund to develop projects across the region

Our speaker today is Steve Jones, leader of Oxford Community Church

welcomeWelcome to our regional celebration, we hope that you enjoy our time together. We are part of a group of churches across Oxfordshire made up of three regions. Today the other regions are meeting for their celebrations too.

groups ...

TINT TOTSAges 0 - 3Vale Room

Ages 4-7Ridgeway Room

Ages 7-11Cotswold Hall

11-14sHinksey Room

15+Thames Hall

Today there are three celebrations happening across the county ...

SOUTH CELEBRATIONCelebrating God’s Goodness Releasing His Power

WEST CELEBRATIONTransforming Communities Together

CENTRE CELEBRATIONStronger Together

TRANSFORMINGCOMMUNITIES

TOGETHER

The theme of this Central Region Celebration is ‘Stronger Together’. We chose this phrase because those very words were foundational to the creation of Oxfordshire Community Churches – but also because it is true!

However, we don’t always feel that strong, especially when we think of all that is going on in the world around us. To be honest, we don’t even know what all the needs are in our communities, and it’s easy to feel overwhelmed. We might sometimes feel like rabbits caught in the headlights of powers much greater than our own, with the result that we dither endlessly about what exactly we should be doing. We want to make a difference for Jesus, but does that mean becoming a school governor or a local councillor? Do I campaign for social justice or raise money for the poor? Should I take the gospel to local kids, or to refugees, to some far flung country?

Jesus said that forceful people would advance his kingdom, but does that really mean us, if we sometimes feel weak and powerless?

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Well, the good news is that it’s not up to us to save the whole world. It is Jesus who is the Saviour of the World! He is not caught in anyone’s headlights. He is the Light of the World (John 8:12). He knows what needs doing and his light overpowers any darkness (John 1:5).

Then, quite incredibly, we read that Jesus also said to his followers, “You are the light of the world” (Matt 5:14). This is true for each one of us. As the Holy Spirit makes each of us more like Jesus, then we each “shine as stars in the kosmos” (Phil 2:15).

We see a foretaste of this particular miracle in the Old Testament, when Moses was allowed into God’s radiant presence and spoke with him face to face (Exod 33:11). When he came back from these special times with God, Moses’ face shone with so much radiance that people responded to him as they would have responded to the LORD. They were afraid to come near him and they placed a veil between themselves and Moses’ face (Exod 34:29-35).

Then, after Jesus lived on earth and died, the veil that had symbolised separation people

from God’s presence was torn apart (Mark 15:38). So, the way into God’s presence now stands open (Rev 4:1), and we can approach the one “who alone is immortal and lives in unapproachable light” (1 Tim 6:16), “the Father of the heavenly lights” (James 1:17). There, with unveiled faces, we may contemplate the Lord’s glory and there we are “transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory” (2 Cor 3:17). We begin to shine.

One of the most encouraging things anyone ever said to me came in a most unexpected setting. I was visiting a dear old saint in hospital. She was in dreadful pain from diverticulitis and frequently suffered debilitating asthma attacks, which meant ever more frequent stays in hospital, and she really hated going into hospital. She was a woman of powerful prayers and she prayed with all her heart that God would keep her out of hospital, but when it became clear that she had to go in for a while, she would say, “There must be something that God wants me to do for him in there.” Whilst in hospital, and despite her pain and weakness, she would meet someone who was backslidden

1970Cote and Witney

working together

EARLY

1980’SOCC formed

1981Kidlington Covenant

Community

1984The King’s

School begins

OCC is a growing family of 15+ churches, now forming 3 regions. The ‘Central Region’ is our family from Banbury, Bicester, Kidlington, Oxford and Thame. Why create new regions? To enable health and growth. Our leadership team is 40-50 strong including specialisms, which is rather unwieldy! God’s spoken about removing our complex house plumbing, and relighting fires in each room. This picture speaks of a fresh spiritual passion and ability to respond dynamically as God leads.

Why work together? The idea of churches working together may be somewhat strange! Why bother? Here are some of the reasons:• Everything healthy is part of something larger; for individuals recognising they’re part of the ‘body of Christ’ (a challenge to individualism) and for churches recognising they’re part of God’s ‘kingdom movement’.• God said if we surrendered our independence we’d see greater impact. We’ve witnessed this since, as God enabled two small churches to become a county-wide movement, with global vision!

A NEW REGION: MAN-MADE, OR FROM GOD’S HEART?

OCC & Central region timeline >

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and lead them back to Jesus or see someone healed through her prayers in Jesus’ name or share the good news about Jesus with someone who had never heard it before.

I walked into the ward where she was staying, wondering in what state I would find her. I had been praying earlier that day, but my prayers had been pretty feeble. I knew that I did not have much to offer to someone who had been walking with Jesus for nearly three times as long as I had been alive.

As I sat down next to her bed, this wonderful woman turned to me and said, “Oh Steve, it’s so good to see you. You always shine with the Lord’s presence and you’ve brought Him in with you. Thank you so much.” In that moment, I knew that this was true and that this was purely a miracle of God. The Father of lights was at work to make me like his radiant Son and she had seen it.

I am not the only Christian to have experienced this. It’s actually pretty common. David Hansen writes of something similar in his own experience as a pastor: “When I walk into a hospital room, the people seem to experience the coming of God. Just to say

1985 Oxford church

launched

1986 Oxford meets

at ABC cinema

1989 Bicester group

starts from Kidlington

1990 Bicester

meeting on Sundays with

Oxford support

1992 Oxford

meeting at Milham Ford

School

1994 First Alpha

Courses across OCC

1994 ‘Toronto’

blessing hits OCC’s ‘River of God’ meetings

1996 Oxford student

work begins

it sounds egotistical. But sometimes on hospital calls, it is as if I am not even there. God is there.”

This should not surprise us, nor is this reality limited to pastors. Jesus said to his disciples, “He who receives you receives me” (Mt 10:40), and this is true for all who follow Christ.

And what is true for us individually is also true for us together in our churches. We are not just individual ‘little lights’, but together we form a brilliant light that cannot be hidden (Matt 5:14-16).

We are not “stronger together” because a bigger crowd gives us ‘economy of scale’ or ‘safety in numbers’! It is rather that it pleases God when his children live together in unity, and he blesses such togetherness by causing his light and life to flow from one to another amongst us, so that we are all made even stronger and brighter. So, let’s come together in Christ, and let’s expect that together we will bring Jesus to our region!

• Our relational life is the envy of many other church leaders I’ve met, who feel lonely and ill-supported. These relationships are especially valued in tough times – friends who will stand with you throughout!• Serving God’s vision, not just our own preferences; Our modern world promotes self-centredness and consumerism. But God’s call is to be other-centred, serving His vision. Our relationships across OCC keep us on-track!

• It’s about mission in society. Our ‘new churches’ have moved from the fringe to the centre of public life, as God’s led us to be missional, entrepreneurial and risk-takers! Some of this could be termed ‘Big Society’ initiatives, but for us it’s not a trendy fad, but a call of God!

Andy O’ConnellThame

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1998 Steve J meets with Oxford leaders and

FUSION starts with students

1999 The Kabin’

community centre opened

in Bicester

2000Oxford start

‘The Ark’, ‘Kidz Klub’

2001OCC buys The King’s Centre!

2004Thames Hall completed

at The King’s Centre

2004Barrie and

Mary move to Banbury from

Bicester

2005Steve J leads

team in Oxford

2006 Andy and Ruth move to Thame

from Oxford

By the grace of God we have seen an increase in missional activity amongst all our churches, here are a few examples of what’s happening:

strongertogether

WHAT’S HAPPENING

[THAME] Community Church, ThameWe are a church-plant team based in East Oxfordshire, started in 2005 when the O’Connell family moved to Thame. We now have a solid core of people and have established good relationships with churches and the town community. Jeremy and Helen Smith now run a coffee shop on the High Street, we run a kidzklub regularly, attracting 40 kids, and are involved with Lighthouse, a major summer kids camp attracting over 700 kids. We’ve definitely established a ‘beachhead’ in Thame, but need reinforcement to move forwards, through God’s provision of fresh clarity of vision, more workers, more leadership and breakthrough!

[KIDLINGTON] Lifehouse Community ChurchWe are a church plant about to celebrate our official 2nd birthday in October. We began planting in 2007, gathering people living in the Kidlington area to pray, and then moved into meeting as a home group. We’ve run 2 Alpha courses and seen 7 people saved! We’re now meeting on Sundays as well as midweek. We are reaching out to the people in Kidlington through an event called Sunday Night Live and we’re about to take on youth work provision for the whole of Kidlington. Please pray for us to take more ground and see more people saved.

[BICESTER] The KabinWe have worked in the Keble Road housing estate for 10 years, where God’s provided over £110,000 to provide an excellent Community Centre. He spoke very clearly about developing the existing work further, and to be more intentional about leading people to Him. The Over 50’s especially have a new sense of life and purpose, with more regular prayer and planning, some Sunday morning meetings and a new Bible study group. The King’s Pre-school, which also runs from the centre, has a new supervisor and continues to reach many families, but we need to see September’s intake of students filled.

[BICESTER] King’s Meadow SchoolGod has said that He wants us to reach the large catchment of people around the school where we meet on Sundays. With parents and a parent governor amongst us, relationships are growing within the school community. We have a new leadership team who are praying and planning how to reach these people better. We’ve plans for door-knocking, a toddler group, ‘messy church’ Sundays and better communication to the school community about who we are. We have recently seen a daytime Alpha course start on the estate, which is attended by several mums.

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2008Oxford

commission team to start

school

2008Bicester starts

‘The King’s Pre-school’

2009OCC looks to develop ‘Regions’

2009/ 2010 Kidlington

house group develops into church plant

2010 OCC Central

Region formed

MAY

2011Regional

leaders 24 hours retreat

TODAY

2011First Central

Region Celebration!

2011+God has plans!

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[OXFORD] EdgeWe aim to connect with some of the homeless and vulnerable in Oxford. Our current focus is City Lunch, providing a monthly Sunday meal that helps us get to know individuals. We aim to add a Bible course or small group. Next is a bigger challenge; we’re preparing to launch a social enterprise to train and employ those without work, hoping to start this Autumn. Edge meets as a Missional Community most Wednesdays, with prayer, seeking God, study, planning and socialising. If your heart is for those on the edge, come join us at City Lunch or on a Wednesday.

[OXFORD] Stroke Survivors’ SupportWhy: 2 Corinthians 1:3,4 “Praise be to the God…& Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” What: Gather stroke survivors for support, hope and purpose in an atmosphere of God’s love and comfort, and offer a Journeys course. How: Starting in September, meeting fortnightly (mornings) in The King’s Centre for social interaction, crafts, speech & reading, gardening etc. Who: Volunteers with/without experience welcomed. Contact Lin & Mike at lincarter46@googlemail.com, Sue & Ed at edridge@uwclub.net

[OXFORD] Fusion Group DGod challenged us to put our faith into action by running an Alpha course and He’s been incredibly faithful; we’ve seen a number of students become Christians, be filled with the Spirit and have their lives transformed! Not only does this testify to His goodness, but we’ve also been greatly changed in this process of hearing God and acting on what He says. This term there’s a post-Alpha discipleship course running and we’re joining with Fusion Group E to bless our friends, pray, and seek His direction for the future He has planned!

[OXFORD] Rose HillWe are a group with the common goal of wanting to see the people of Rose Hill changed by God’s love and presence. We meet weekly to pray, worship, share life and plan activities and events. As a newly-formed group our current aim is to build relationships with local people. Adding to the progress that the Kids’ Club made, we have been involved with the family centre, football with young people, exercise classes and the local bingo! We also organised an Easter Egg Hunt and hope to put on more events soon. It’s fun, it’s exciting and we’re expectant.

[OXFORD] Alpha Course TeamAt the start of our first Alpha Course, a former Imam joined us along with two Muslim community leaders – talk about a steep learning curve for our brand new team in handling diverse world views! Towards the end of the course, we had a challenging and hugely rewarding time. Despite the initial humps and bumps in running such an event, our guests were very gracious and even protested when we didn’t meet up during half-term. We are now looking forward to an exciting Alpha Summer Energy Term, a stimulating programme designed to consolidate and strengthen our lives spiritually during summer.There are more groups! See http://bit.ly/OxfordMCs

DEVELOPMENT CHARACTER

FAITHTHEOLOGY

COMPETENCYSKILLS

COMMUNITYFLEXIBLE

IDENTIFYINGINVESTING

PARTNERINGBUILDINGLEARNING

LEADERSHIPEQUIPPINGPRACTICAL

MENTORINGLIFE LONG

DEVELOPMENT

Many of us will have heard the news of the appointment of Richard Colbrook as the new Principal at King’s Theological College, with effect from September 2011. Richard and Kate planted and lead our church in Blackbird Leys and are members of the Salt & Light UK Team, specialising in equipping Christians in missional leadership. This appointment will enable KTC to continue developing a training college for missional theologians. Rich will work part-time for KTC while continuing to do other missional equipping (particularly around Oxfordshire), in order to give us a greater connection between the college and missional equipping. Lizzie Green will continue to work at KTC as Academic Dean and become Vice Principal, leading the academic side of college life. Dave Perry will continue to work with KTC as ‘Theologian in Residence’. Mike Horswell will also be playing a key role in the college alongside Rich together with Beth Coghlan, Alison Bancroft and others. Rich and Kate will also continue to be in our Leys church and we have invited Chipper and Anna Betts from Walsall to become part of the leadership of the church with a view to the baton being passed to them for the Leys.

“Missional theologians – that’s what we want”. That was a desire repeatedly expressed as members of the UK Team of Salt and Light Ministries met a few weeks ago. We were talking about the vital importance of training for the future of our family of churches and, in particular, the key role our Bible College has. We have been fortunate enough to have the college here amongst us in Oxfordshire. You may know it as King’s Bible College (KBC – as it was known during the 80s and 90s) or

MISSIONAL THEOLOGIANS that’s what we want

King’s Bible College and Training Centre (the name for the last 10 years). If you’re really up-to-date with the name then you’ll know it’s now King’s Theological College or KTC! Through every stage and every name the overarching vision has been the same – to create a college open to all where a year can be spent to be transformed. The college has always been more than a place to study – it’s a place where you have the time to soak in the transforming power of the scriptures, be shaped for the future, be trained to minister to others and see lives changed and encounter God again and again and again. Whether it’s been based in Canada, the Scottish Boarders or in Oxford, people have come to the college to be shaped and equipped, to go deeper into and learn about the Bible and to deepen their relationship with God. It’s been about taking 10 months for God to work in you and prepare you for a lifetime.

The College has had an exciting few years. Under the leadership of Simon and Gaynor Shaw we have seen it develop to offer a university-validated course (the equivalent of the 1st year of a degree in theology). Simon and Gaynor have been involved with the College for 10 years, several of those with Simon as Principal. They have done a brilliant job. Over the last few months they feel that God has been loosening their roots and stirring them up about the next stage of their own journey. They feel God has spoken to them that they should release leading the college and move to Derby to become part of the team in the Community Church there. We’ll miss them but they’ll still be part of the Salt and Light family.

DEVELOPMENT CHARACTER

FAITHTHEOLOGY

COMPETENCYSKILLS

COMMUNITYFLEXIBLE

IDENTIFYINGINVESTING

PARTNERINGBUILDINGLEARNING

LEADERSHIPEQUIPPINGPRACTICAL

MENTORINGLIFE LONG

DEVELOPMENT

SALT & LIGHTUK TRAINING

equipping all of God’s people for all of God’s workSo, we asked Rich and Kate how they are finding the changes – “We’re hugely excited! There’s plenty of stuff to do, more meetings to go to and all that but the vision to have the training of missional theologians right at the heart of who we are as a family of churches working together in the UK (and in Oxfordshire!) is fantastic, isn’t it? How can you not get excited at the thought of not only getting to know God better and him transforming you but being part of seeing the lives of other people transformed in ways that will amaze us!”

Richard goes on to say, “As I’ve started to work with the college team I have been seriously impressed by the level of training, the educational environment and the real transformation and shaping the college offers. There’s nothing like it. It’s a greenhouse where growth is accelerated no end. Add to that even more of a focus on the college also being a greenhouse to grow in effective mission and we can’t help but be excited. The 2020 Vision for Salt and Light UK says that we aim to be a movement of healthy mission focussed churches that are growing. That, for us, sums up the desire of pretty well every church we know and the college is going to play a central role in training leaders for this aim. So, you can probably tell we’re excited! And we’d want to leave people with a challenge – how about you being part of this? We’re utterly convinced that God has a plan for each and every one of us to play our part in his big plan. Why not give 10 months which will catapult you into God’s plan? Why not, even, go for it this September rather than putting it off?”

These last few years have been very exciting in Salt and Light as God has shown us his 2020vision> for our UK family of churches. But as we all know, stating the vision is the easy bit, we must also ‘put our money where our mouth is’! For 2020vision> that means allowing God to reshape us, our churches and our priorities. A big part of this is training. As well as a new King’s School of Leadership there are now 4 routes to getting to a level of maturity in theological training.

Read more about Salt and Light training in their new brochure or online at www.saltlight.org/europe

01 KTC | COLLEGE BASEDFull time 10-month validated courseSpace for in-depth theological reflection & engagement with Scripture and the world

KING’S SCHOOL OFTHEOLOGY

KING’S THEOLOGICALCOLLEGE

02 KTC | HOME AND AWAYFull time 10-month course, weekly placements Same core teaching as KTC college-based, plus weekly 3-day placements in a UK training region

03 KTC | PART TIME10-month course, 3 days per weekEnables students to maintain some existing commitments, e.g. leadership

04 KST | PART TIMEPart time weekend-event course over 3 yearsThe pace allows students to participate in other 2020vision training courses during the 3 years of KST

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The highlight of the term was the success of our Primary Choir at Kingham Hill’s School’s inaugural Junior Choir competition. They came away with the first prize of £1,000, following a heartfelt rendition of ‘Saints go Marching in’ (arranged by Peter Hunt), and ‘This is our World’ (Joanna Forbes and Alexander l’Estrange). Under the expert direction of Cathy Young, they were praised for the conviction of their singing. The lead judge of the competition said, “One of the things that struck us was communication, and the texts you sang about. You were so committed to those texts…whether or not we were in sympathy with the sentiment, you really convinced us that we really ought to believe in what you were singing about.” As a school committed to teaching our pupils a love of the Word, this was a very encouraging comment and testament to the work all their teachers do day in, day out.

The Primary classes have been out and about this term on a variety of trips. Our Infant class enjoyed a day out at The Cotswold Wildlife Park, and loved the penguins! Years 3 and 4 have been studying the Romans this term, so visited the Roman Museum in Cirencester and enjoyed a Roman Banquet in school, with togas in all directions. Our Years 5 and 6 have contributed to the four hundredth

A SWEET SOUNDOF SUCCESS

anniversary of the publication of the King James Authorised Version of the Bible by producing lovely manuscript versions of parts of Matthew 13. They also went to see Creative Theatre’s highly inventive production of ‘Tales from King James’ in Oxford.

Our Secondary pupils have been studying hard for exams this term, but are looking forward to an end of term of Sports Days, Service in the Community and a day with Adventure Plus. We bid a fond farewell to our year 11s at a sumptuous Leavers’ Banquet and their leavers’ assembly, and will be praying hard for nine members of the class currently visiting a school and Bible College in Kerala, South India. Our Year 9s enjoyed an excellent week in Reichenbach polishing their German, trying to understand the vagaries of the German education system, and making new friends!

A fortnight ago, our Year 10 pupils led a delightful assembly based on the story of Mary and Martha’s encounter with Jesus , and reminded us that, though lots of frantic activity may look convincing, the cultivation of our relationship with Jesus is to be faithfully guarded, for , ‘Mary has chosen what is better’. Perhaps this was a timely reminder for us at a busy season of the year.

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Sometimes you leave a place and know that you are different as a result of being there. Living in Oxford for the last seven years and leading the student work there for the last three has left an indelible mark on us. There are at least two ways in which we find ourselves different because of God’s work - two watermarks:

01| The watermark of fatherhood. Students arrive at university with a wide variety of experiences of having a father. From those who have absentee fathers to those whose dads have been really close and supportive. As students leave their natural family, it is absolutely vital that they find a spiritual family, and especially relationships with spiritual parents, in which they can continue their journeys surrounded by unconditional love, vision and encouragement. The absence of these basic needs often results in searching for them in ways that are ultimately dead ends. Even in the church, we can resort to building around things other than godly relationships. Our doctrines form boundaries, but our relationships form bonds. In an ‘intellectually strong’ city where everyone has their own opinion, the vitality of these bonds has been especially evident.

WATERMARKED ...RUSS, JOSIE & IMOGEN

02| The watermark of vision. As I mentioned above, I think that family is the best context within which to live. But an important decision must be continuously made by the members of the family and the question is this: what kind of family will it be? Answering this question clearly has proven essential to the student work. To paraphrase a well-known bible verse, without vision, the people perish/cast off restraint/try to do many things individually but not really achieve anything/do what was required of the previous generation and not what God has for them now. Some important words for us have been ‘innovation’, and ‘creativity’ as we have sought to hold in tension the valuable lessons of the past with hearing God lead us into the new things that He has for our future. Our fusion groups are nothing more than attempts to connect and communicate the eternal good news with the students of Oxford in 2011. But they must never settle! If we get to a point where we think we’ve ‘cracked it’ and can relax and write a few books about what we’ve learnt, surely this will be the point at which we choose to put a ceiling on God’s work with us.

As we pass the baton of the student work on to others and look forward with excitement to moving to Henley this Summer, our prayer is that they never stop innovating, whilst holding onto these watermarks and seeing the students discover them too.

BEYOND OURSELVES

david freemanWe believe in going beyond our own borders, fighting

against a spirit of parochialism and seeing God’s kingdom extend. So we go to the nations and share,

encourage, train, equip, resource, impart, minister and time and time again we too are blessed in return. This is a

report of David Freeman’s recent trip to East Africa.

Launch of Teacher’s Manual in Uganda left to right: Monica Kiwanuka; Annie

Crowe; Pastor Dan Nya; Pastor John Yawe; David Freeman

UGANDAA MIRACLE? Plans for a 4 day

conference for 60 Heads, Deputies and Directors of studies of D e l i v e r a n c e Church schools seemed to be in jeopardy when, a few days before it was to start in Kampala, there were political riots. The opposition

leader who caused the riots was badly injured and hospitalised in Kenya for the complete week of our conference, which went forward as planned. Head teacher, John Wesley, from Kenya was planning to join me in teaching but he didn’t make it so the schedule was a pretty heavy one. However, perhaps because there had been no such conference for about 7 years, the delegates were hungry and responsive. A major breakthrough was the printing of the Teachers’ Manual which contains a synopsis of the material we have taught in past years, compiled and illustrated superbly by Annie Crowe and providing examples for African teachers from her many years’ experience. Everyone was thrilled to get it and we sense it will be a major discipling tool for in-school training of Christian teachers. After the teaching on the Holy Spirit many were impacted and refreshed.

BURUNDI & DR CONGO

KEEP RIGHT ON TO THE END OF THE ROADThe two main purposes of this visit to work with Ray and Mary Anne Bale were to help them with the New Hope school which opened in their home for 19 Congolese orphans and to visit the Emmanuel Project, which includes a school of 53 more orphans in the village of Marungu in the mountains of Congo.

The New Hope School operates five mornings a week and Mary Anne is leading the work. I observed some teaching and the children have learned much English and much about God: they love to worship. Mary Anne has several teacher-helpers as the age range is wide and the emotional needs are many. An English teacher is planning to join the work soon.

The village of Marungu is 9,000 ft up in the mountains and is at the very end of the road (‘road’ = muddy track of one vehicle width). The 30+ mile journey to Marungu was supposed to take 7 hours – it took 2 days! We got repeatedly stuck in mud craters and spent the night at a base on the way. The second day the vehicle got stuck fast in the mud and a rock face for 4 hours about 20 miles from Marungu; it looked as though were going to sleep the night (all 8 pastors etc.) in the bus. However, God answered prayers and the ‘cavalry’ arrived to rescue us in the form of a ‘Medecin Sans Frontiers’ doctor who heard of our plight. Like the day before, we had only a few ground nuts and

BEYOND OURSELVES

david freeman

EAST AFRICA

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water so the chicken and rice at 10pm was welcome!

The proposed 3 day education seminar, reduced now to 2 days, was, by reports, well received by the 73 delegates. Apparently, unlike former seminars on Aids or Reconciliation they felt this was very different and the teaching about Kingdom of God aims and grace in

discipline gave them vision and practical keys to work with.

The Emmanuel Project, situated on spacious land donated by the government, is Ray’s vision, serving the children and people of Pastor Ruben in his home village. There are many plans to build a new school and extend the project which aims to be self-sufficient with farming, a flour mill, brick-making and a guest house.

Continual danger from bands of rebels threatens the area and we had armed guards even when we went for a short stroll. The 53 orphans were joyful in their singing, welcome and being wonderfully restored from the past traumas afflicting their lives. Ray has great favour here and is greatly loved by all, especially youth and children. He and Mary Anne sense God’s call to re-focus on working into the Congo situation. The trip ended with the decision to walk the 20 miles back to the hill station

due to the roads. We did 5 hours over the mountain and 15000 ft down a near vertical mud path. Just before we were met by the vehicle we were suddenly faced with a band of about 10 armed and wild-looking soldiers. It turned out that they were rebels but, fortunately for us, this band had recently made peace with the government army!!

Mary-Anne Bale’s school for Congolese orphans in Burundi

Murungu, 9000ft up in the High Plateau, DR Congo

Through relationships formed over the past few years I was joined by Steve Thomas and Pastor Titus Oundo, leader of our related churches in Uganda, Deliverance Churches, to work with two different leadership teams who are looking to learn about apostolic teams. One week was with Pastor James Buyinza of Revival Place Church, and the second week was with Pastor Ananie Bagaragaza of Church of Faith, Rwanda (part of our Salt and Light ministries, and his national team). We had an excellent time with both teams as we studied the book of Ephesians, answering their questions and praying with them. It was a privilege and we were blessed by their hunger and enthusiasm. The thing that struck them most was that Steve and I and Titus have been in relationship for 30 plus years! That is highly unusual in Rwanda!

RWANDAWORKING WITH CHURCH TEAMS

Teaching seminar in Murungu for 70 educators and pastors

OXFORDSHIRE COMMUNITY CHURCHES VACANCIESThe following job vacancy is available at The King’s Centre in Oxford:

DEPUTY CENTRE MANAGER3 Days a week.

Are you flexible and reliable?Can you host an event, organise a team and manage detail?Do you want to welcome outsiders into the church building?

Start date 1st AugustTalk to Stuart Waddington or Anna Pearson to find out more. For application details e-mail stuartw@kingscentre.co.uk

It is a genuine occupational requirement that the job-holders must be committed Christians, willing to work with others in the context of Oxfordshire Community Churches ethos. General IT skills and a willingness to serve and be part of a team are also essential.

Full application details and job descriptions are available upon request. Either phone 01865 297400 or contact the individuals above directly.

Equip is a new social enterprise with a Christian ethos, planning to launch in Oxford in Autumn 2011. Our aim is to provide experience and personal development opportunities to the long-term unemployed. It is likely we will have the following vacancies from September.

Team Leaders: facilitate the day-to-day running of a small business and model a Christian way of life. This will involve offering supervision, on-the-job support and mentoring to team members and setting a professional and enthusiastic tone. These are full time positions, but job shares will be considered.

Advice Worker: you will provide Equip team members with relevant advice concerning areas such as housing, benefits and legal matters. This position is one day per week, full training will be provided.

All vacancies are subject to Equip’s legal status and funding. Please email equipoxford@gmail.com to register your interest and receive updates about the development of Equip over the summer.

FOOD SAFETY TRAININGwith Sue Edridge

CIEH QUALIFIED TRAINER

24th September9.30 - 4.30pm

The King’s Centre The course is suitable for

anyone who is responsible for the catering at an event,

for example, organising or overseeing a catering

team for the Alpha Course, Marriage Course, family fun

days etc.

The course will be led by Sue Edridge who is CIEH qualified and on passing a short exam at the end

of the day, attendees will receive a Chartered Institute

of Environmental Health certificate in Food Safety,

award level 2. The course will cost £16pp and this includes

the certificate.

To register, please contact The King’s Centre by calling

01865 297400 or email office@occ.org.uk

1514

G’Day mate! Are you ready to visit the Outback and go sheep

shearing?!

Join us for a fun-filled, action-packed weekend. If you are in Year 2 - Year 6 come for two nights, and if you

are in Year 1, you are invited for the Saturday, open to all OCC children. We will be learning about God and sheep and the Bible and err more sheep and how they are related. There will be lots going on: crafts, messy games, Mamma Annetta’s

bush tucker, sheep, campfire, woodland shelters and much more

(sheep).

Kids Camp 2011 will run from Friday evening 26 August to Sunday lunch 28 August 2011 at the Court Hill Centre on the Ridgeway near Wantage. Kids Camp is run by The King’s Church, Didcot (part of OCC) and is open to all children from Year 1 – Year 6 from OCC churches. Weekend Campers: £53.00. There is an early bird discount (£47.00) if you pay by 15 July 2011. Day Campers: £18.00 (Early bird discount is £17.00). Contact Richard and Tessa Case from The King’s Church on 01235 821276 or email richard@casebase.net for more details and an application form.

AD

VER

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CELE

BRAT

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GET

HER

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STROKE SURVIVORS SUPPORT GROUP

Motivation: 2 Cor 1:3,4 Praise be to the God…& father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Mission: Gather stroke survivors for support, hope and purpose in an atmosphere of God’s love and comfort. Offer of a Journeys course.

Method: Starting in September, meeting fortnightly (mornings) in The King’s Centre for social interaction, crafts, speech & reading, gardening etc

More: Volunteers with/without experience welcomed. Contact: - Lin & Mike at lincarter46@googlemail.comSue & Ed at edridge@uwclub.net

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