Pastors Letter 2006
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.