Where and when are your Bible study groups? This is one of the most common questions we get asked by Christians new to OCC! 

Recently I came across this tweet, which could sum up pretty much all that needs saying on this topic: "Church is a Spirit-filled family, not a weekly experience."

Assistant Pastor Sanjay Mahtani often puts it this way: "OCC: Community is our middle name!" And I can sometimes be heard to complain, "We don't go to church, we are the church!"

A couple of weeks ago I was talking to one of the leaders in our sister church Lifehouse (Bicester and Banbury) about the opportunities presented in Bicester as the town undergoes planned growth from 30,000 to 80,000 people, with 18,500 new jobs, by 2031.

We were talking about the sort of church we needed to be to respond to what God was doing in the town. In our conversation one phrase stood out starkly: "A church for those not yet there." 

At the church news and prayer evening this week, one of the things Steve Jones explained was some of the dynamics affecting our church finances. Below, and to respond to your questions, Andy unpacks that a little more, so if you have any more questions please ask him!

At this stage in the year students often ask us: What is important in choosing a church when I move on? How do I keep growing as a Christian after uni? How can I use my life and work in God's kingdom?

I've just come back from 10 days in Africa, where I was serving in my role as 'Operations Director' for our international Salt & Light family of churches, at our biannual conference, this time in Nairobi, Kenya. I've seen again the value of diversity, which is what this blog is about! For more on what I learned from the conference, read my blog a few days ago.

I have just returned from Kenya, where it was a great privilege to be part of a contingent of UK delegates attending the International Leaders Conference 2018 for the Salt & Light International family of churches.

This is the second blog in a short series exploring what the elders believe God is saying to the church at the moment. A few days ago Steve wrote about faith for growth. Having had the privilege of sitting with the elders recently, I'm looking at how we can engage with the Summer of Mission 2018 because (unlike the Blues Brothers) we really are on a mission from God!

What comes to mind when you think about mission? Moving overseas? Crowds listening to a speaker in a stadium? Or your neighbour who you talk to about Jesus from time to time?

My name is Andy and I'm a Physicist. Confession over. Well, I was. In what now seems like a former life, I read Physics at Teddy Hall (Oxford) and then did a DPhil thesis in something that I now struggle to even understand the title of!

One of the prophetic images I've been carrying for the student ministry at OCC, is that of a flywheel. I mentioned this recently, and someone (maybe a humanities student?!) said 'What is a flywheel?', so I thought I needed to explain what I saw and what I think God is saying.

We can easily get into a tangle with words. HMRC famously did battle with McVities over whether Jaffa Cakes were indeed cakes, and on a more serious note some are finding the label 'evangelical' problematic as a result of its association with the Trump administration.