The Ark, The Camp & The Cloud

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

JANUARY 2011

THE ARK,THE CAMP&THE CLOUD

[MIKE BEAUMONT]

CHURCHUPDATES[PAGE 08]

HELPINGHANDS[PAGE 06]

EXPRESSINGMERCY[PAGE 12]

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welcomeWelcome to the celebration, we hope that you enjoy our time together. Below are some useful bits of information about our meeting. If you have any questions, please ask one of the stewards.

THE KING’S CENTREROOMSCrèche(Ages 0-crawling)Toddlers(Ages walking-2 yrs)Early Years(Ages 3 - 4)Infants(School Years 1-2)Juniors(School Years 3-5)Youth(School Years 6 - 13)

Vale Room

Cherwell Room

Ridgeway & Wytham RoomsHinksey Room

West Oxford Primary School

Cotswold Hall

where?

ENTRANCEENTRANCE

ENTRANCE

CHERWELL

ROOM

THAMESHALL

COTSWOLDHALL

KITCHEN

OFFICES

THE VALE

ROOM

WYTHAMROOM

RIDGEWAY

ROOM

BOARD

ROOM

HINKSEY

ROOM

THE KING’S CENTRE GROUND FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

FIRST FLOOR

LIFT

LIFT

CAFÉ

LIFT

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MEN’STOILET

LADIES’TOILET

ACCESSIBLETOILET

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cuppaRefreshments are served in the café area at the end of the meeting.

busesBuses will return to Seacourt Park & Ride until 1.40pm.

offeringToday’s offering will be for the New Yatt Road Development.


EMBRACING CHANGE IN A TIME OF ADVANCE


Mike BeaumontOxfordshire Community Churches

Change – you love it or hate it. Some thrive on change, finding God’s adventure in it, while others thrive on things staying the same, finding God’s faithfulness in it.

Neither attitude is ‘more spiritual’ than the other, just different; for God’s plans embrace both times of change and times of stability. So change-lovers have to love and live with non-change-lovers, and vice-versa – and both have to live with God and whatever he is doing at that particular time.

That was certainly true for Israel on its journey to the Promised Land. When they fled Egypt on Passover night, I don’t imagine it was a very orderly affair. They probably just grabbed their bags and ran. And crossing the Red Sea probably wasn’t much different, especially with Pharaoh’s army on their tail. It was probably more chaos than co-ordination! But then, when they reached Mt Sinai, something happened: God transformed this rag-tag bunch of people into ‘a holy nation’ (Exodus 19:6) and began to bring order into their lives through the laws he gave them.

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I recently found myself staring at two diagrams like this in my Study Bible when suddenly I felt God speak to me. I’ve still got the scrap of paper I wrote on at the time. It says: ‘There is a pattern of life that is appropriate for a time of peace and gathering; but there is a pattern of life that is appropriate for a time of advance and progress.’ It spoke at the time to issues facing some of us as we gathered for the Salt & Light International Consultation; but I believe there’s something God wants to say to OCC through it too.

The truth is, all of us get comfortable. We all like to know where we ‘fit’ and where our friends are, just like the Israelites when they were camped around the Tabernacle. But when it was time to advance, they had to be ready to be unsettled, to move, to change. Look at the drawings again: people at the front suddenly found themselves at the back; people at the back had to move forward; people on the right flank had to move to the left – it must all have felt very unsettling, especially at first. But it was a key aspect of following the cloud towards the inheritance God had promised them. And yet, though they were in different positions, they were still the same nation, the same tribes, the same clans, the same families, with the same God – and in that lay their security.

>After a year or so at Sinai, it was time for change. What had been an escaping rabble needed to become an ordered army; ‘divisions’ (as the NIV translates the Hebrew word for ‘a mass of people’ or ‘a host’) needed to become battalions. And so Numbers begins with God bringing organisation into Israel’s life, telling them how they should camp from now on, with the 12 tribes gathered around the Tabernacle containing the Ark of the Covenant, representing God’s presence. Here’s a diagram of how things looked (Numbers 2:1-34) ->

Mike is the Author of The One Stop Bible Guide now translated into 15 languages and over a 125,000 copies sold worldwide. One Amazon reviewer commented “The One-Stop Bible Guide is unparalleled as a tool to help Christians new and old get


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God also said that, when it was time to move on, they weren’t free to rush off however they wanted to any more. He gave them precise instructions on what was to happen and how they were to reorganise themselves (change!) for moving on. Here’s how things then looked (Numbers 10:11-33):

I believe God wants us too to understand this principle: that there is a pattern for a time of peace and gathering, and a pattern for a time of advance and progress. And that means all of us need to be ready to change and move and, yes, even be uncomfortable for a time. Some who’ve been ‘up front’ may need to move back for a season; some who’ve been sitting comfortably at the back may need to move forward; some who’ve comfortably worked in one area of church life and mission may need to move to another area. Change, for the purpose of advance and following the cloud. Of course, we

also need times to stop and re-gather, like Israel did, to ensure fellowship is real and robust, for that is what helps us move on again. But as surely as the cloud by day and fire by night were there whether Israel was on the move or was camped, so the Holy Spirit is there for us, whether at rest or on the move. With him, we never ‘lose’ anything by moving, and we never ‘keep’ anything by staying. We only win by doing what he says, when he says it. And that, for all of us, means change.

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into the word of God. Few guide books will compete with this in terms of simplicity, looks and accessibility.” Last year Mike’s second book in the series ‘The One Stop Guide to Jesus’ was published and in 2012 Lion Publishing will be publishing his Bible Encyclopedia.


Twenty hands and a lot of energy boarded a plane a couple of months ago! It was always going to be good taking six youngsters to Uganda but we had no idea how amazing it would be to see God in action and how much fun we’d have together. As well as encouraging the team out there, we somehow managed to spend time with just under 3,000 children! I was delighted to see our youngsters throw themselves into everything (except the Nile!) with such love and faith and so valued Cathie Jones and Adrian and Andrea Colbrook who co-led the team with me.

We played and prayed with lots of children, led assemblies, visited AIDS orphans and ran a Jesus shop where everything is free! It was wonderful to watch British and Ugandan youngsters stepping out in faith together, wanting to see a loving and powerful God in action. It was, therefore, an incredible highlight for me to see God heal so many children of toothache when there were no dentists around. The heart of God was being expressed in all sorts of ways and our youngsters were being “infected” by his love and allowing God to use every last drop of energy they had.

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HELPING HANDSLOTS OF HELPING HANDS IN UGANDA!


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Beth, our youngest team member at ten years of age, raves,

“I loved going to Uganda and want to go back again soon! It is really hard to think of a favourite bit but my favourite bit has to be on the last day. We went to Lwanyama which is one of the schools Helping Hands works in. When we first got there we did an assembly on how special the children there were. Afterwards we did a Jesus shop, which is when we spread a big tarpaulin down and got out of bags all the Teddies, clothes, blankets and stationery items we had brought. As we opened a suitcase full of teddies all the children squealed! We gave everyone a gift and it was brilliant, trying different clothes on people and giving them the freedom to pick whatever they wanted.”

Debbie Newman, Helping HandsTo find out more look at helpinghands-uk.org

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[BICESTERwww.occ.org.uk/bicester ]

[MORETON-IN-MARSHwww.occ.org.uk/moreton ]

[WANTAGEwww.occ.org.uk/wantage ]

Those old enough to remember the 80’s may also remember Rolf’s Cartoon Club; a programme in which Rolf Harris sits at a drawing board sketching out cartoon characters and we all sat waiting for the inimitable phrase “Can you see what it is yet?”That’s probably a good question to ask the church in Moreton at the moment. We are making steady progress having set a pattern of meeting monthly on Sundays since September and plans that will see us meeting fortnightly by the summer. We have had a few visitors already, great times worshipping and space for everyone to be a functioning part of the body.

We have seen a great turn around in our venue: at the beginning of 2010 the price for using the building was going up and up, and the other (less good) venues in town were matching their prices. A more visible presence in the town was one of our prayer themes for the year and by December, we had been granted full control of the building, all day, on Sunday, for a very good price. We continue to pray for a presence that allows us to express the compassion of God more and more visibly in our region.

Bicester! Wow! What a town! The third largest in Oxfordshire and soon to have all sorts of new building developments. New housing estates, new shops, new cinema, £70 million of investment! And… Bicester Community Church! Wow! What a great community to be part of. There is always so much happening, a wonderful family atmosphere and a real sense of God’s presence. God has done great things over the last 20 years, but we want to see more!!! Our community centre is being really well used. We have a great Over 50’s club; thirty attended our Christmas lunch at the local pub, and there have been reports of healings as


[BICESTERwww.occ.org.uk/bicester ]

[MORETON-IN-MARSHwww.occ.org.uk/moreton ]

[WANTAGEwww.occ.org.uk/wantage ]

and demonstration that God was with us. Ron, with support from Alan Jenkins has also been getting going with some door-to-door work in the town.Pre-Christmas efforts to engage with our streets had mixed success, 18 inches of snow prevented us from going ahead with Carols in the Street, but John & Jen had a really successful open house for their street.Next week we kick off with our first Sunday of 2011, beginning our teaching series on The Gathering, exploring what it means to be church. Hopefully we will soon be able to sit back and say “Can you see what it is now?”

We said goodbye to John and Pat as they moved to Swindon, a sad moment after nearly 30 years of being part of the church. We pray the God would prosper them there! It’s been a joy to say hello as well, it’s been great to see individuals and families discovering WCC and joining with us, a couple getting saved along the way. Bring it on!

have re-jigged our small groups into men’s and women’s activities. Going bowling with the guys has really taken off and is helping us to deepen relationship. Out of all of this we are praying for much salvation!But we need more workers. We have a faithful and hard working core of people in BCC, but we do need some new people to come and join the harvesting, pioneering and serving. If you think God may have a new season for you and your family, why not pray about moving North? Maybe there’s a new wineskin for you to discover as part of Bicester Community Church?

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If everyone who has been in one of those meetings over the autumn makes it on the same day we would be seriously struggling for space; and certainly to sit everyone down for lunch as we do on Moreton Sundays.Much of the effort is still directed in building bridges into the community and a really successful parenting course run by Kerstin & Margaret Biddlecombe (West Witney) in the local school was a key part of the effort over the autumn. The school has received the idea cautiously pointing out that it was very unlikely that anyone would attend, so when 10 mums arrived for the course it was a real answer to prayer

God also challenged us over the year about setting up a food bank, and in particular spoke to Helen Margetts. Working with a small team and the other churches, the food bank has been up and running since September. We have been stunned at the demand, far more than we expected. God clearly knew what he was doing when he spoke about the idea! It’s a delight to see people involved in so many compassion ministries in the church.

the leaders have courageously offered prayers in faith! Our Toddler’s group and Pre-school groups are going well; we have more in the pre-school at this stage of the year than ever, and are welcoming a new supervisor! Returning to homes that we have ‘doorknocked’ has revealed that God answers prayer! From praying for a father to be healed from cancer, to a grandson to come home safely from Afghanistan, every prayer had been answered. Praise God!!!We also have a HUGE fringe! Up to 100 people who are connected but are not saved, or not yet part of the core of the BCC community. So under God’s prophetic guiding we

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On 8th September, as Coopers, our builders, moved out, staff and pupils moved in, and our long awaited start as an all-age school began! Since then we have enjoyed being on a single site with Primary and Secondary pupils getting used to seeing more of one another and interacting well together. SOME OF OUR HIGHLIGHTS IN OUR NEW PREMISES HAVE BEEN: • Enjoying the use of our new Sports Hall, with football, handball, hockey and badminton all being played with great enthusiasm. • Seeing a new IT suite gradually take shape, despite some early difficulties. • Getting used to new, recently decorated classrooms, many fitted with projectors. • Having the use of a new, superbly lit, Art Room.

LAST TERM SAW PUPILS ENGAGED IN A WIDE RANGE OF ACTIVITIES;

Y3 AND Y4 GO TO SPACE! Y3/4 enjoyed a great ‘Space Evening’, dressing up as planets (!) and building rockets, space modules and satellites to celebrate God’s wonderful planetary system...and all on a bright night, ideal for star gazing through telescopes.

POLITICS IN ACTIONSix year 10 pupils represented the school in an annual ‘Politics in Action’ day in Witney. Their idea for improving civic life was to propose free bus passes for all school children. They made their case persuasively, and were praised for their efforts by none other than the Prime Minister who attended for part of the day. As one or our pupils, Melody Wilkinson, said, ‘It was exciting to talk to him, ask questions, hear what he had to say, and we all really enjoyed it.’

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PRIMARY CHRISTMAS PRODUCTIONSMrs Cathie Young worked hard with all the Primary pupils to stage two excellent musical productions. The Infants enchanted everyone by taking the audience on a musical global tour called ‘Christmas around the World’, with American cowboys, Spanish dancers and other nationalities featuring. This was followed by a very polished performance of a medley of Christmas songs by Years 3 to 6 called ‘Bells Ring Out’, with some outstanding solos and duets in amongst the choral contributions.

‘YOUTH SPEAKS’This year we entered two teams to a local public speaking competition, ‘Youth Speaks’, both of which performed very creditably to a packed Witney Corn Exchange. Barney Howard and Stephen Colbrook were our main speakers – their carefully crafted speeches, with a political flavour, were of a high standard – budding politicians in the making?

CHRISTMAS FAYREOur annual Christmas Fayre raised £2,300 towards IT equipment for the school, with 10% going to ‘The Besom in Witney’, a charity aiming to provide a variety of resources to those in need locally.

WORSHIP TOGETHERThis term we have enjoyed some special times of worship, both in our separate departments and as a whole school. Between our First Assembly in September and our Carol Service in December, we have encountered the presence of God in a very real way on a number of occasions. As we embark on a new calendar year, we pray that this may only increase, and that we continue to enjoy not only God’s provision in our new premises but His presence amongst us as we seek to live according to His ways. 11


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One of our student team, Debbie writes: The start of this academic year saw the students hitting the ground running with loads of expectation for what God is doing in Oxford! The LoveYourUni day was a resounding success as the students came together with others from different churches to bless the universities and city as a whole. There was loads going on - busking (for free!) and juggling classes, giving out hot drinks and 300 homemade brownies, bike-fixing, treasure-hunting and a flash mob involving 800 Crème Eggs! There were many powerful testimonies from the day, both of God moving in our

“Express my mercy. That is the key to the next stage!” These words impacted my mind like an arrow bursting into my head. The second “arrow” within a month! I had been teaching at the King’s School in Witney for nineteen years and imagined I’d be there “forever”. Not so. The first “arrow” had said, “This is your sunset season at the School”. It began to dawn on me: express God’s mercy to the bereaved. I had so often told God that I loved teaching in the School, but if one day He could move me from the “monastery” to the “market place” I’d love to discover if I could express His love effectively to people outside of the church.

After an ordination service in August 2008, I introduced myself to Oxfordshire funeral directors, offering to take funeral services, especially for people with no direct church connections or families who didn’t want a traditional religious service.

The Holy Spirit has to be at the heart of the ministry. As I visit families to prepare services He often tells me the sort of situation I will face: how to serve the family best. Counselling training has taught me a lot about listening and sensitivity. The Holy Spirit is so creative! Countless times

He has given me innovative ideas to turn a solemn service into a precious appreciation of a loved one. A forlorn family said the highlight of their Mum’s day had been the Daily Mail crossword puzzle. God prompted me to suggest we put the newspaper and Mum’s reading glasses on the top of the coffin with the flowers. It made all the difference to them! At wakes, people often open up to talk more freely about life issues. A lady was terrified that her husband would explode if he saw her receiving my business card for further contact. She slipped open her diary just a fraction for me to discreetly pop it in. I felt like a secret agent! I love to befriend and encourage the kind-hearted people who work in the funeral business each day.

A family wanted a contemporary Christian song. I felt God prompt me to offer to lead it on guitar. To my astonishment, in the service, the widow and all three adult daughters spontaneously came up to sing with me which lifted everyone’s spirits enormously! A lady asked for a humanist funeral for her father. Me do that? I felt God say firmly, “Just get involved, express my mercy and see what I’ll do”. Humanist funerals are rarer, but God always marks those services with His blessing in some way. After a humanist service I went

EXPRESSING MERCYCOLIN GREEN WEST WITNEY COMMUNITYY CHURCH

lives and in the lives of the people we met.Other events over the term included helping with Cafe Life, stocking out carol services with our non-Christian friends, more treasure-hunting, and giving out bacon sarnies on Sunday mornings to homeless people. We’ve also had powerful and precious times coming together to ‘soak’ in God’s presence. All this has been spurred on even more by our Immerse meetings, where all the students come together to worship, have some input from a speaker and pray into all that is going on.And as the universities were packing up and heading home


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to the wake. I felt God say I must chat with a younger person. As I walked up to the house I felt the Spirit show me saw a huge angel on the roof! None of the younger people wanted to talk much. Had I heard God wrong? I gave up, prepared to leave and took my plate to the kitchen. There I found another crowd who had been in there all the time including a young teacher, wanted to ask lots of questions about talking to Infant school children about death! Many elderly people have some faith in God that has dwindled over the years. It has been exciting to see God use some funeral services to rekindle their faith. Several former clients have now established on-going links with churches.

So many hurting people around us: brokenness behind closed doors. “Express My mercy. That’s the key to the next stage” Is God asking you to assist this ministry in some way? For example, many former clients would appreciate being befriended, especially in Oxford, Bicester and Witney. Perhaps together we can help when a family you know has a bereavement. Discover more at www.chaplaincolingreen.co.uk

for the holidays the finest OCC student voices joined together and headed over to Créteil. They sang fourteen sets of carols in the town centre, hospital wards and community centres to advertise the fete for the Salt & Light church plant, CCE - led by the old student pastors John and Nom Bilson (who have a year team this year comprising two recent Oxford graduates!). The singing both strengthened the links to community which the church had already formed and made new ones.So what’s next? This term we have our weekend away in

Witney and we’re also expecting more opportunities to share new life with our friends, while still seeking to bless the universities in weird and wonderful ways! The different mission initiatives of each of the fusion groups continue and another big thing on the horizon is Student Alpha which we’ll be running from 1st February. Please be praying that we would be doing all this in His strength (not ours!) and that we would see the fruit in the lives of our friends and all the students of the city.


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MONSTER TURKEY

TRIES TO GO ON TOUR AGAIN!

NEW DATE!9th APRIL

OLD TICKETS STILL VALID - FIND OUT MORE AT www.occ.org.

uk/youthor contact

[email protected] 07841404535

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Join us for our next Open Morning

on

Saturday 5th March 9.30 - 12.00

Take a guided tour, see the school in action,

view the new building and refurbished rooms,

hear the Principal’s address, meet pupils,

staff and parents, find out more about Christian education,

enjoy the welcome and refreshments

For more information, contact 01993 778463,

[email protected] or visit

www.tkswitney.org.uk

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NEW YATT ROAD Official Opening Weekend

25 - 27 March 2011

Come along to New Yatt Road, Witney over this special opening weekend to see for yourself what developments have taken place and to celebrate God’s continuing provision to us!

Civic Opening Evening >Friday 25 March - 6.00pmFormal opening of facilities to invited guests, including local politicians and community representatives.

TKS Alumni Evening >Saturday 26 March - 7.30pmA time to meet up with old friends, reminisce and enjoy a buffet meal together. Invitations and more information will be sent soon. Contact Lesley West for more info on [email protected].

OCC Celebrations @ NYR >Sunday 27 March - 10.30am & 7.30pmWe will be having two celebration services at New Yatt Road, a morning service and a repeat evening service. There will be a full programme of children and youth work in the morning.Full details to follow.


COMMUNITY CHURCH, MORTON-IN-MARSH Dan & Kerstin Campsall | 01608 812445 | [email protected]

churchesABINGDON COMMUNITY CHURCH Ed & Kate Evans | 01235 521622 | [email protected]

contactsCONNECTIONS is published by Oxfordshire Community Churches – an apostolic family of churches with a vision for the region. It includes a number of churches that operate as part of the OCC charity and a few others...

amt [apostolic ministry team]

PATHWAYS CHURCH BANBURY Barrie & Mary Wood | 01295 279268 | [email protected]

CARTERTON COMMUNITY CHURCH Matt & Anna Biddlecombe | 01993 846510 | [email protected]

CIRENCESTER COMMUNITY CHURCH Keith & Wendy Hasler | 01285 651572 | [email protected]

BICESTER COMMUNITY CHURCH Steve & Tammi Beegoo | 01869 240651 | [email protected]

CHIPPING NORTON COMMUNITY CHURCH Paul & Lottie Meathrel | 01608 646127 | [email protected]

COTE BAPTIST CHURCH Graham & Shirley Sparrowhawk | 01993 850713 | [email protected]

FAIRFORD Paul & Carrie Boden | 01285 712043 | [email protected] BAPTIST CHURCH Roger & Di Cole | 01491 576883 | [email protected]

THE KING’S CHURCH, DIDCOT Robin & Lisa Howard | 01235 848422 | [email protected]

OXFORD COMMUNITY CHURCH Stephen & Beverley Jones | 01865 402141 | [email protected] CHURCH OFFICE 01865 297420 | [email protected] COMMUNITY CHURCH John & Gail Reeve | 01793 870916 | [email protected] LEYS COMMUNITY CHURCH Richard & Kate Colbrook | 01865 714153 | [email protected] CHURCH, THAME Andy & Ruth O’Connell | 01844 215331 | [email protected] WANTAGE COMMUNITY CHURCH Neil & Denise Townsend | 01235 771152 | [email protected]

WEST WITNEY COMMUNITY CHURCH Jason & Jennifer Huffadine | 01993 702979 | [email protected]

NORTH WITNEY COMMUNITY CHURCH Gary & Jackie Pizzey | 01993 702615 | [email protected]

STEVE & LORRAINE THOMAS 01993 850990 | [email protected] & LIZ BEAUMONT 01865 864253 | [email protected]

BRYN & DOROTHY FRANKLIN [email protected]

CEDRIC & AUDREY HOBBS 01993 700295 | [email protected]

ROGER & DI COLE 01491 576883 | [email protected]

DAVID & ROSIE FREEMAN 01865 751474 | [email protected]

GEOFF & MARY NORRIDGE 01993 772375 | [email protected]

also ...THE KING’S SCHOOLNew Yatt Road, Witney, OX29 6TA 01993 778463 | www.occ.org.uk/tks

Oxfordshire Community ChurchesA Family On Mission TogetherRegistered Charity 1056921www.occ.org.uk

STEPPING STONES FOUNDATION UNITwww.occ.org.uk/steppingstones

THE KING’S CENTREOsney Mead, Oxford, OX2 0ES01865 297400 | [email protected]

THE KING’S PRESCHOOL, BICESTERwww.occ.org.uk/bicester

LIFEHOUSE COMMUNITY CHURCH, KIDLINGTON Mark & Katherine Eley | 01865848659 | [email protected]

WYCHWOOD HOUSE CHURCHESTony & Charlotte Osborn | 01993 878169 | [email protected]


Documents

The Ark, The Camp & The Cloud