The title is borrowed from 1 Corinthians 3, where Paul says, of the church in Corinth, which he planted: “I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God has been making it grow.”
We planted the seed
As this article from the time notes, Abingdon Community Church was planted by Oxford Community Church in 1992: “In the late 1980s, Oxford Community Church had been going for about 4 or 5 years and had a group of about 30 people in Botley. As the Botley housegroups met regularly to pray both for Botley and Oxford, God widened our sights and led us to pray for Abingdon. A number of young married couples started to look beyond the boundaries of Oxford for cheaper housing [in 2024, this remains a key challenge!] and Abingdon was a clear choice. … We started as a housegroup of the Oxford church, but we grew fairly quickly and in January 1992 we started ‘properly’ as a church. [We] were coming to grips with a small church where everybody needed to play a part. So church life [for the author] went from being a fairly comfortable member of Oxford to feeling (sometimes) that I was swimming out of my depth!”
God made it grow
Over the next few years, different senior staff leadership couples supported and led the church through several different seasons of church life. Despite sometimes feeling out of their depth (like the author above!), church members grew personally, and the church as whole grew and thrived, playing an increasing role in the life of the town: For a season the ACC Pastor chaired ‘CiA’ (Church in Abingdon) and led a townwide Alpha course. There was regular outreach in the market square. A part-time schools and youth worker was supporting by funds, mostly from the generosity of ACC members. Later, ACC partnered with Innovista to run Thrive Abingdon, a youth ministry in the deprived community in South Abingdon.
Geographically, and socially, Abingdon has a north-south divide, compounded by the River Ock, which has only 2 crossing points, leaving south Abingdon somewhat isolated, and, at the same time, lacking senior schools and other community facilities. South Abingdon Caldecott ward is in the bottom 20% IMD (Index of Multiple Deprivation) for the whole of England (one index, ‘education, training and skills’, is in the bottom 10%), while north Abingdon, by contrast, is affluent and well-resourced. Recognising this social need, and having met in north Abingdon schools for years, in 2002/2003 ACC moved to meet in Thameside School, in the centre of Caldecott ward.
A challenging season
Following the sudden and untimely death in 2019 of ACC's Pastor, Ed (a former Oxford student), Covid soon arrived. The new Assistant Pastor Michael found himself serving alone, leading a grieving church through one of the most challenging seasons in memory. ACC emerged from the pandemic, and now finds itself in another season of change, as Michael moves onto a new role in USA.
God has led Andy O’Connell, one of our staff elders (Assistant Pastors), and who also serves our S&L Advance family of churches in various roles, to help ACC, as a sister church within our family of churches, in this challenging moment. For the next 12-18 months, Andy is going to be leading a support team serving ACC through an ‘interregnum’, while the the church reassesses, refocuses and seeks God for future leadership. Andy will spend 1 day/week working with ACC, including every other Sunday, so will be less visible in Oxford for a while, although he will continue as an Oxford Elder and as part of the Oxford staff team, with an adjusted role.
How can you help?
Please do pray! There are lots of needs and opportunities in the community in and around Abingdon, and we're asking God to help ACC thrive again, so it can play its part: for a "rebuilding of the walls" of the church community. Ask Andy for current prayer needs.
Please get involved! Talk to Andy about opportunities to serve what God is doing in ACC, either while remaining fully part of OCC (e.g. helping with larger events), or as a temporary 'secondment' to help build the church (whatever your gift, we can find a place for you!), or even longer term.
Especially if you live in a South Oxfordshire village or town, we'd love to talk. 50% of ACC don't live in the town, so you too can get involved while living in a neighbouring community.
