Pastors Letters

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ there are few important things that I would like to communicate to you for information, prayer, consideration and action.

Christmas Food and Toys

Thank you everyone who helped with the Food and Toy Project. People’s generosity and acts of kindness provided food for over 500 people and brand new toys for over 276 children. Our Redditch community has been truly blessed by this.

Corporate study on James

On Sunday mornings we are going to be studying the book of James in a 14 part series.

Please make it a priority to take time to personally study this amazing book. Sermons will be available on the website.

We will then continue with an eight part series of 2 Peter after the summer holidays.

Supporting Elim Missions

Throughout January there will be the opportunity to support Elim Missions by buying various items provided by Elim Missions. All these proceeds will go to helping people rebuild their lives in other countries.

There are also Elim Missions globes that can be brought in on the first Sunday of the month and placed in the missions bucket. We encourage every household to have one. Please ask John Hill for one if you don’t have one already.

Stratford Upon Avon

David Cunliffe the Elder at SuA has asked our regional leader Gordon Neale if Oasis Christian Centre can once again take Pastoral responsibility for the church.

From the 11^th of January I will become the official senior pastor to support John and Cara who will be leading the church. There will be no change to my ministry as Senior Pastor at Redditch

John Martin is currently studying Theology at the Elim Bible College as well as working for Elim Missions and will be applying to become an Elim Pastor.

Please pray for them as a family as they transition into this ministry and pray for SuA in this new season for them.

It would be good if at times you are able to support John, Cara and SuA.  Please let John or myself know. The Sunday service is at 4:00pm – 5:30pm.

Home Groups

We will continue to study the book of Mark and use the material by Keith Warrington.

We will need another house group leader and venue on a Wednesday night. If you would like to be considered for this then please let me know.

Elim Celebrates 100 years

Elim celebrates its 100^th anniversary on January 7^th 2015. On this day all Elim ministers will attend a special service at Birmingham Christian Centre where we will meet at the beginning of the year to rededicate our lives and ministries to God.  Please will you take time to pray for us. I would personally value your prayers for me as we enter this amazing season in history.

On September the 19^th we will be joining with other Elim Churches in our region in a special centenary celebration service in Birmingham. Please put this in your diary today. We will be hiring a coach that will be free of charge to you. However advance booking will be £5.00 per head to help finance the day as Elim will be hiring the Town Hall that holds1200 people. There will be special events for the children and youth as well.  If you would like to volunteer to take bookings for this then please see me as soon as possible.

Stay and Play

One Saturday every month we a stay and play event for parents with young children. This is an opportunity for the children to play together and for the parents to support each other in the challenges and responsibilities of parenthood.

The next one will be held on Saturday the 10^th of January, 10:00am till noon at OCC.

Finally…

The building work should commence in the first quarter of this year. We have experienced some delays waiting for permissions and various reports but God willing before Christmas we should be in our new building.

Our next financial milestone is that we would like to raise another £20,000 by the end of March and a further £30,000 by the end of July. This will enable us to have nearly two years mortgage payments once the building is complete. Please join with us in prayer. Thank you again for all your sacrificial giving so far.

It is vitally important now that we pray, fellowship and work closely together to nurture unity. We cannot allow the enemy to destroy, steal or rob us of what we have waited for, for so long. I want to ask every person to:

Get to know at least seven people at OCC and have regular fellowship together.

Look out for new people, make them feel welcome, valued and wanted.  Look out for those who miss fellowshipping with us and make contact with them.

Pray, meet for prayer with us and with others as often as you can. We cannot underestimate the power and necessity of prayer.

Every Blessing

Pastor Robin

Greetings, in the precious and wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are few important things that I would like to communicate to you for prayer, consideration and action.

Christmas food and Toys
Again this year we are going to be doing a food and distribution project in our community. You can help in a number of ways.
1. Donate finance to Christmas project in order to buy food and toys. Please place all donations in an envelope and mark as Christmas Project.
2. Help pack food and toys. We will start to pack up food w/c 9th Please see me if you can help with this.
3. Help wrap toys w/c 16thof December. Bernie Stewart and Cathy Cartwight will be organising this so please speak to them.
4. Buy food and new toys, wrapping paper, cellotape, batteries. These need to be at OCC by the 12th of December.
5. Help deliver toys and Food on 18th and 19th December.

Oasis Minibus
We will have our 9 seater minibus with Wheelchair access in January. We have about £3500 towards the cost of £6,000, If you wish to donate please put donation in an envelope marked MINIBUS.
We will need drivers aged over 28 with a driving licence with no more than 6 points. If you can volunteer as a driver then please let me know.
Foodbank Co-ordinator
We are looking for a volunteer to co-ordinate the Redditch Foodbank.
It will take about 12-15 hours a week and you will need to be a practical, compassionate, hands on person that is able to manage, recruit and motivate a number of volunteers and to report back to the AOK trustees.
You will need your own transport and have a current driving licence.
If you would like to know more about this crucial role then please speak to me before the end of November.

Christmas Services

• Sunday 15th December 6:00pm. Carol Service at Birchensale School. Please invite family and friends. A special collection for Hope and Kindness will be taken.
• Sunday 22nd December Morning Service 10:30am at OCC.
• Tue 24th December 11:00pm at OCC.
• Wed 25th December 10:30am at OCC
• Sunday 29th December Morning Service 10:30am at OCC.

Eldership Election
Jerry has faithfully served OCC for the last three years as an elder and
I am pleased to announce that he will be re-standing for Eldership in January 2014 for a further three year period.

The process for electing are:

Elders are nominated by the Pastor and Church leadership team. OCC are then given notice at least 28 days prior to the election date. Should there be any objections these should be made in writing to myself, marked for the personal attention of Pastor Robin Baker.

A special meeting will be called and all members that are present for that meeting may vote. This is done by secret ballot and the person standing will need to obtain 60% or more of those people present and eligible to vote. An Elder is appointed for a period of three years.

The vote will take place on January the 12th 2014 in the morning service. If you are a church member then please try to attend that service.

Missions Giving
This year we have continued to support Hope and Kindness in Kenya and given £3000 from our general funds. In the carol service we will be taking a special offering for them. I have brought back with me some jewellery that some of the Kenyan widows have made. These will be available from Hazel Withey at then end of each Sunday morning
Service.

We are supporting Elim Missions via our mission globes, which are collected on the first Sunday of the month, If you need a globe please ask John Hill or me for one. It would be great if every household had one.

Elim National Day of Prayer
The Elim movement celebrates it’s 99 anniversary on January 7th 2014. On this day we are asking all the church to come together to pray. The church will be available in the day for prayer and we will be having a
special prayer meeting at 7:30pm at OCC. There will also be a time of worship.
Sunday Mornings
I would like to take the opportunity to personally thank everyone who works so hard on a Sunday to make the services run so well.

While we continue to use Birchensale School I do need to ask EVERYONE to consider how they can help. At the end of each service whilst we have refreshments can I please ask that you do not congregate by the double doors as we need to move equipment through them safely. We need to vacate the building and car park by 1:20pm please.

Bring and Share
Every second Sunday of the month we will be having a bring and share at OCC at 1:30pm. Please take the time to come along and get to know the OCC family better.

Finally…
From January 2014 we will be meeting together at OCC every Wednesday now for Bible Study, Prayer and Fellowship and so evening house groups will be suspended for a season. We would like every church member to consider attending please as this is a pivotal time in the History of OCC.

Every Blessing
Pastor Robin

Dear Church

Just to confirm that Esther and I will be away from 4th to 24th September. We will be taking a holiday aboard as a belated celebration of our 25th Wedding Anniversary.
During this time I have arranged for Rev Bob McDonald to be with us from 4th to 19th September. Bob will be available for pastoral appointments Monday to Friday. Should you need to make an appointment with him please ring 07530964503 or email admin@oasisredditch.church Alternatively you can contact our church elders; John Hill 07984525171, Jerry Judson 07923492770 or Diane Tolson ditolson@yahoo.co.uk

If I could remind you of the following:

Prayer Meeting
There will be a prayer meeting on Mon 5th Sept, 7:30pm at OCC, please make every effort to attend this. We will be focusing on praying for those that need a healing touch from God, including Sharon Curtis and June Waldron. We will also be continuing to pray for Terry and Judy and Hope and Kindness, the state of our nation, and unity and breakthrough for the church. It would also be good to pray for Bob and the work that he does in Romania.

Normal prayer requests should go to prayer@oasisredditch.church

Back to Church Sunday
On Sunday 25th Sept there is a national Back to Church Sunday campaign, where we have the opportunity to invite people to our church service. Please take time to pray for who you can invite and for divine appointments where you can invite people to this service. I will be talking about what it means to be born again, looking at the account of Nicodemus and Jesus, in John 3.

Please also pray that many people will come to know Jesus in our nation and in our town.

The Oasis at Winyates
With regard to The Oasis at Winyates shop, I want to encourage you to visit, where you are able and see the excellent outreach that is happening there. In just a short time a number of people have been really blessed and impacted in the Winyates, Matchborough and Church Hill communities, as people are travelling regularly now from communities outside Winyates.

We also need some help moving the Rag Bag materials from the shop to church Rag Bag bin, if you are able to help please see Katrina Youster.

CAP Money
We will be advertising over the next few weeks a free budgeting course run by CAP, Christians Against Poverty. The ‘CAP Money’ course will run Wed 5th, 12th and 19th October, 7pm at OCC, it is free, confidential and extremely helpful. In the course you will learn how to make a budget, however high or low your income, and stick to it, and you will rapidly see the benefits of doing so.

Please take this great opportunity to register on the course if you need help or know of anyone who needs help in this area, please encourage them to register too.
To register on the course please either phone Graham Clark 01527 892470, email admin@oasisredditch.church or register online www.capmoney.org

Notices
If you have a notice that you would like to go in to the church notice sheet or be announced on a Sunday please can you email admin@oasisredditch.church or give it to Sarah O’Rourke in writing. The notice sheets are printed bi-weekly on a Thursday, any new notices need to given to Sarah by the Monday.

Sunday Services
Could I ask that on Sundays everyone helps as much as possible with the tidy up at the end of the service please.

Gift Day
Every year we have an annual gift day for our building project and I would like to personally thank you for all the sacrificial giving that you have made so far.

At the moment we still need to raise £68,177 and on Sunday 9th October we will be taking a special gift day offering. If you are new to the fellowship and not sure how to support this project we take a special collection using envelopes provided for the building project, where you can place your building fund offering.

If you are a tax payer and you don’t already gift aid to Oasis Christian Centre then this is a great way of adding to the amount you give, as we are able to claim tax back on your offering. Alternatively, as a number of people do already you could set up a monthly standing order; information on how to do this can be obtained from Diane Tolson, Chief Finance Officer.

A few people have also loaned OCC amounts of money from £1000 to £5000 for a period of 1 to 3 years. If you feel you would like to do this please see me on my return from holidays to arrange for a legal document to be drafted. This money is underwritten by Elim International Offices, so that your money is completely safe.

Also with your regular giving it would be helpful if you are able to set up a monthly standing order to reduce the amount of money being taken weekly to the bank. This does not preclude you from giving extra in your envelopes. Once again if you pay tax please consider using the gift aid scheme.
All giving to the church is kept in complete confidence.

In writing this letter I would like to take the opportunity to thank you personally for faithfully and sacrificially serving the Master at Oasis Christian Centre. There are many unseen things done by so many of you that have made Oasis Christian Centre the place it is today, a place where people matter!

It is wonderful to see new faces within the church family and we hope that you will find a spiritual home here and many good friends to help you mature and grow in your walk with Jesus Christ.

We are currently studying the life of Jesus – the greatest life of all. During this season I pray that each of us will encounter Jesus in a much deeper and more powerful measure than we have ever done so before; that our encounters with Jesus will radically transform our whole life and that through it many lives will be touched with the love of Jesus and that many people will come to know Jesus as their personal Saviour and Lord.

As the return of Jesus comes ever closer can I encourage you to seek after Him, trust Him and serve Him, as He calls us to in His Living Word.

Together, let us keep our eyes fixed upon Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. Expect the unexpected and miraculous and be united together to see the kingdom of God grow in our town and experience heaven touching earth.

Watch this space on our church website www.oasisredditch.church for 100 daily bible readings focusing on Jesus.

Every Blessing

Pastor Robin

Greetings

. . in the precious and wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ to all members and regular attendees of Oasis Christian Centre. A warm welcome to all of you that have joined Oasis CC on our exciting journey.

I would like to personally thank you for all your love and support and for all that you have done to serve this local body of people.

This year has gone so quickly and as I reflect on this I truly believe that we have turned a spiritual corner. Something is wonderfully different at Oasis CC.

We have been looking at the subject throughout the year of Mark 12:30-31 And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. 31 And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

I trust that on a personal level you have been encouraged and challenged by what has been taught and that you are closer to God now because you have applied the Word of God to your life.

Our theme for 2008 is found in Matthew 28:18 -20: And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

This year we are concentrating on the Great Commission; focusing on the lost in 2008.

I was given this wonderful prophetic scripture by one of our congregation the other month. Amos 9:13 “Behold, the days are coming,” says the LORD, “When the plowman shall overtake the reaper, I want to ask you all to join with the leadership here to believe together for wonderful and amazing things in 2008.

Birchensdale School

The feedback from the taster day has been extremely positive. Many people have expressed how much they enjoyed being at the school.

This is a major step for us and we are going to commence our meetings there in February 2008.

Thank you to all of you who helped make that day a success. In the next few weeks you will see some rotas on the board at the back of the church. Please fill in how you are able to serve Oasis CC in the school move. Many hands make light work!

The move, however, is so much more than just about moving location. It is a cultural and spiritual stepping stone for Oasis CC. In our new adventure we must focus on our community and on their needs. Please also pray for the finance needed for this step of faith.

Prophecy given by Mrs Hazel Reeves on Sunday the 29th April, 1990.

A portrayal was given of a large and roomy castle standing in beautiful and spacious grounds waiting to be explored.

However, a deep moat surrounded the grounds which prevented a group of people standing on the opposite bank from crossing over as the moat was too wide to jump.

On the edge of the water in the castle grounds was a man calling out ‘if you want to come across there is a way. Look closely at the water and you will see, just below the surface, stepping stones leading to where I am standing. You will get your feet wet in crossing, but do not be afraid, but do not be afraid, for these stones are firmly embedded in solid rock and you cannot sink. Just keep your eyes upon me, and you will come safely across’.

It was impressed upon the spirit of the one giving the prophecy that the Lord Himself is the One who has prepared a large place which has not yet been explored, which is greater than any experience that has been known to us, and He is calling to those who want to enter into this place to ‘come across the water’.

However, this cannot be reached by one single stride. Each circumstance through which we are to pass is to be seen as a stepping stone leading to greater things the Lord has prepared for us. We are not to look, at our present difficult circumstances and become discouraged, but to fix our eyes upon Him and the vision before us. This will require an exercising of faith, for we shall ‘get our feet wet’, but He is reminding us that our faith will not fail, for it is resting firmly on solid ground. We shall not sink or be submerged beneath the circumstance of life through which we are passing and the waves will not overwhelm us. We need only to keep our eyes on the goal before us, and step by step we shall be led into that larger place which the Lord desires us to occupy and explore.

Batchley Strategy

During the next few weeks as we move forward with our plans to relocate the Sunday morning meetings to Birchensale School, we want to put strategies in place that enable us to make the most of the openings God is giving to us as a church at this time and we need your help! You can:

Adopt a road in Batchley, pray for the people in it (guidelines to be issued later) and be willing so far as you are able to deliver any publicity leaflets to your road as and when required.

Be available to have a visitor or visitors for Sunday lunch

Be willing to have spare seats next to you for visitors and make them really welcome

As the community of Oasis Christian Centre, we have an incredible opportunity here of working together in partnership with the Holy Spirit to see people won for Jesus, it’s time for each one of us to “seize the day”.

The house next door

At the last meeting we discussed purchasing the house next door. As the majority of people voted for this the Leadership have decided that we will continue on the process to purchase the House subject to a structural survey.

In order to fund the repayments we will need to use some of the money that has been allocated to the building fund and will be writing to all members personally with further details about costs, mortgages, etc.

Every Blessing

Pastor Robin

Pastor’s Letter 2006

Greetings

Greetings, in the precious and wonderful name of our Lord Jesus Christ to all members and regular worshippers of Oasis Christian Centre.
We thank God that our church is regularly full and we need a larger place to worship together now. As I explained in our last business meeting we have been looking at various options to allow further growth until we rebuild. We are currently exploring the option of having multiple services on Sunday mornings and will be speaking with you further on this very shortly. I believe that we can look forward to an amazing year and as we step out in Faith for our new building.

‘Christology’

We have just finished part two of this six week series. This week Rev Gordon Neale, will be preaching on Palm Sunday, we will then be looking at the themes on the Death and Resurrection, Prophet, Priest and King, and then at the second coming.

‘Building’ for the Future

In May we are starting a six week series on Nehemiah. We are looking at why and how God used this man and the social, moral and spiritual reforms he made, many of which lasted until the time of Christ centuries later.
My desire is that we leave a legacy at Oasis Christian Centre that will be handed down to our Children and Grand Children.

Our 30 Year Celebrations

On Saturday June 10th we are having another international food evening, where we can taste foods from the different nations represented at Oasis Christian Centre.
On Sunday June 18th we are having a family service and a BBQ in the garden.
On Sunday June 25th we are having a special 30 -year,–Celebration in the morning and evening and Rev Denis Phillips will be ministering at both of those services.

‘Believing’ for the Miracles

Following our 30 years celebrations we will be looking at various miracles of Jesus Christ in the gospels and believing for miraculous signs and wonders following the preaching of the Word.
The Elim Church in Redditch was planted following a crusade where many people were saved and many miracles were experienced. Join with us to believe that once again Oasis Christian Centre and Redditch will experience the miraculous power of God daily. All things are possible with God!

‘Believing’ for the Promise

In the autumn we will be looking at the heroes of the faith.
Heb 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Faith and Hope go hand in hand together. Expect God to perform what he has promised us in Christ Jesus. Faith demonstrates to the eye of the mind the reality of those things that cannot be discerned by the eye of the body.
What we believe and trust God for today will determine the future of Oasis Christian Centre.

Project Oasis

We have now submitted our plans to Redditch council for planning approval. Please pray for favour with them. I have also spoken to our immediate neighbour about our new building, and she has said that she has no problems with the plans as they are. Please also pray for favour with our other neighbours that there will be no objections.
From today we now have the official Oasis Building Fund that will come under the banner of “Project Oasis”.
Before we can start the building stage we will need to raise somewhere in the region of £120,000. I am pleased to inform you that we have already received gifts of £5,100 last week towards this.
Diane Tolson, our treasurer shared our strategy on how we can help raise the £120,000 required. I have summarised this below:
If a person gave an extra amount each year we could raise £70,460.
10 people £0.50p a week= £260.00
25 people £1.00 a week = £1,300.00
25 people £5.00 a week = £6,500.00
25 people £10.00 a week = £13,000.00
20 people £15.00 a week = £15,600.00
20 people £20.00 a week = £20,800.00
10 people £25.00 a week = £13,000.00
Plus we can get back the Gift Aid too!

A pledge form is available today for you to take away and fill in. Please be so kind as to return to Diane Tolson by the end of April after you have sought God’s wisdom on this, so that we can plan finances for this exciting project.

Please do not pledge finances if you are not going to honour it.
If you are going to pay monthly our preference is by Standing order but if you prefer we will give you an envelope with a unique number on it that you can use on a monthly basis.
There will also be a gift day in June in which you may want to give a one-off donation to the project.
You can of course give at any time to the building project as you feel led, but please use the building envelope designated for this and remember to gift aid it!
If you gift aid the money Oasis Christian Centre will receive an extra 28p in the pound. So, for example, if you give£100 we will get an extra £28.00 back from the government.
By breaking down the figures like this I hope that you can see that this can be done. As we do our part God will do the rest.
I know that this will mean a sacrifice for all of us. We may well need to give up something to make this happen. In the scriptures we find that King David wanted to build an altar to the Lord and he saw a field where he wanted to do it. He could have taken the land for nothing because he was the King. Indeed Araunah, the owner of the land, would have give him it to him but David said in 2 Samuel 24:24 No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.