OASIS AT 25
CELEBRATING 25 YEARS OF OASIS CHURCH BIRMINGHAM
PART ONE
THE JOURNEY BEGINS!
In January 1999, 18 adults gathered in a lounge in Moseley to begin the story of what would become Oasis Church.
We gathered both those already in Birmingham, and those who had moved here to help begin the journey, united by a deep desire to reach people with the wonder of Jesus. The city seemed very big, and we felt very small, but we knew we needed to give ourselves to loving God and loving people.
Over time, the ‘South Birmingham Church Plant’, felt God lead us to the name ‘Oasis’ - that we were to be a place of refreshment and restoration in the city.
By September 1999, having outgrown both the home in Moseley and meetings across a number of homes, a gathering was launched on a Sunday morning at Selly Park Girls School, with invitations sent out for others to come and join in.
From the start of Oasis, we had a deep desire to reveal God’s heart for justice; quickly establishing a Friday Night meal for those needing food.
From there, we were able to start our first residential house caring for those in need of supported housing
KEY PROPHETIC WORDS
A COMMUNITY OF GRACE
“Build an accepting, all embracing community that will be characterised by God’s love”
A COMMUNITY WITH A HEART FOR THE NATIONS
“Live with three areas on our heart, Birmingham, the nation and the nations. It’s like a drum beat that we are to march in time to”
A COMMUNITY OF FAITH
“As you moved here by faith, so you will accomplish everything in this City by faith as well. Therefore, we have never said ‘Is it possible’ but rather ‘Is this what God is asking us to do?’”
MEMORIES
Below are some assorted memories from people who were part of the Oasis journey at this point! They were collected during the various displays of the 25th Birthday Exhibition across 2024:
“Andy Gordon leading amazing worship in the Strouds massive wooden-panelled lounge.”
“Using old over-head projectors and acetates for song words and preaching notes. Some great typos...”
“I came, I saw, I liked, I stayed. DITTO!”
“I remember the buzz and excitement as a few of us met for the first time to start Oasis – Birmingham felt so big – and we were so small and few in number.”
“10,000 Direct Mail Out inviting people to Oasis.”
“Being healthy environment. Healing Place.”
“The church minibus picking us up from university.”
“Baptisms in the girls’ school swimming pool”
“Zoe becoming ill with very rare skin condition –people loving and caring for us in so many practical ways.”
“PRE-SAT NAV. Navigating home from small group in Bournbrooke back to Moseley using an A-Z and it taking 45 mins in the car. Map reading fail.”
“I got a flyer through my door advertising a new church at Selly Oak Girls’ School – glad we went to check it out ”
“Quantity of meals shared…most people share how they visited on a Sunday were invited for a meal and stuck.”
“Competitive small group announcements and behaviour trying to tempt people to ‘the best small group ever’.”
PART TWO
GROWTH & MULTIPLICATION
After outgrowing Selly Park, we moved in 2001 to the more-spacious King Edward VI Camp Hill School.
We also began to multiply - sending church planting teams to London (ChristChurch) in 2004 and Bromsgrove (Grace Church) in 2006.
The work of Oasis itself was also multiplying, as we helped establish a debt advice centre and a Stay & Play in partnership with another local church.
During this period, we also ran multiple Alpha Courses; always launched with an ‘Alpha Banquet’, which became large events and a highlight in many people’s calendars.
We also saw the start of one of the longest running initiatives of Oasis: Monday Night Football. Every week, those from both within and outside the church community gather to play football under the banner of ‘play hard and play fair’.
During this season, a continual desire to express God’s heart for the most marginalised saw Street Teams established, seeking to take much needed resources to rough sleepers in the city.
At the start of 2007, God brought two significant words to the community; both of which would need incredible moves of His Spirit to see them brought to reality. One was whether we would we dare to believe Him for five hundred people, and the other was a call to move to a place of visibility. These would then help to define the next phase of Oasis...
KEY PROPHETIC WORDS
A COMMUNITY OF VISIBILITY
“I am calling you to a place of visibility - a place that is about you, but will bring courage to other churches too”
A COMMUNITY THAT IS A RESOURCE BASE
“We are to live knowing ‘that is more blessed to give than receive’ and that ‘God will prune us to make us more fruitful’”
A COMMUNITY THAT IS GROWING
“You have believed me for pounds. Now, would you believe me for people? Would you dare to believe me for 500 people?”
MEMORIES
Below are some assorted memories from people who were part of the Oasis journey at this point! They were collected during the various displays of the 25th Birthday Exhibition across 2024:
“DOUGHNUTS”
“Church weekend away where it snowed as we were travelling there, and we all had to find shelter.”
“Doing Lego stop motion animation at the OKC weekend away.”
“Bucking-Bronco”
“Benchball with Jamie Whitehouse!! Red Card.”
“Signs... ...if you know you know!”
“Awesome Impact Nights”
“Remember fun days at Edgbaston. Community. Setting up and excitement of 1st Sunday at MAC. Small groups in our home whilst renovating. Making trifles and crumbles for Sunday outreach dinners. Stranded in the snow for weekend away!”
“Prayer meeting for Zac after a serious head injury. A real sense of unity and purpose.”
“Set-up at the MAC – wheeling everything from the trailer!”
PART THREE PLACES OF VISIBILITY
Through a prophetic encouragement from a bus advert that read ‘It’s just not Cricket’ and then God adding the words ‘Oasis Church: live at Edgbaston Stadium’, we began to explore the possibility of Oasis meeting at the Cricket Ground.
We had been warned they didn’t negotiate on price, didn’t allow regular bookings, and didn’t allow religious organisations to meet...and yet God made a way! Oasis started meeting weekly at Edgbaston with a nearly 80% reduction in fees. God had taken us to a place that was highly visible and internationally known!
During this period, a second addictions recovery house was started under The Bridge, and through the two houses a recovery program was established. We also began to partner with Edgbaston at their annual Family Fun Day, as well as helping support runners for the
the Birmingham Half Marathon as they passed the Ground.
Development work then saw us move across the road to the MACanother venue where we were visibly seen.
Our time there expanded our creativity as a community in both what we did and how we did things. This included the establishment of Impact, which sought to celebrate the good in the vibrant music scene of our city through gig nights and, eventually, a residency program.
KEY PROPHETIC WORDS
A COMMUNITY THAT ENJOYS THE JOURNEY
“You are called to enjoy the journey, knowing that whatever happens: God is with you”
A COMMUNITY OF RESCUE
“We are here to be a lifeboat. We’re not here to compare or compete with the other lifeboats - we are here to rescue”
A COMMUNITY OF ONGOING VISIBILITY
“It’s not enough to be visible in rescue together on a Sunday. We are called to a venue that acts like a lighthouse throughout the week”
MEMORIES
Below are some assorted memories from people who were part of the Oasis journey at this point! They were collected during the various displays of the 25th Birthday Exhibition across 2024:
“The fun factor and authenticity of the church and it’s congregation. Big fan of ‘Not taking ourselves seriously but taking God very seriously’.”
“Being found out I wasn’t a vegetarian even though I had gone along with it at a dinner party – rumbled by eating pepperoni pizza at a Christmas carol rehearsal!”
“Church in a cinema – very different to anything I had ever experienced!”
“My first Sunday at the MAC – great sense of welcom
After the first phase of redevelopment work was finished at Edgbaston, we saw some
PART FOUR OUR SPACE
some now-unused space and, on the back of the prophetic call to be a lighthouse, cheekily asked if we could move in there.
After an initial ‘no’, the Ground came back to us and offered us the rooms at an unexpectedly low rent. For the first time, we had permanent space to use throughout the week as well as on a Sunday: The Oasis Suite was born!
God revealed through this time that who we are as a church is both gathered together on a Sunday, but also scattered throughout the week in our various locations, workplaces, studies, recoveries and retirements. In both we were called to be salt and light, revealing God’s Kingdom flavours and colours.
The Bridge’s addictions recovery program moved from strength to strength, and the project saw a third residential house open. We continued to gather many Students around us, who were then sent out to other places in the city, nation and nations, and also tasted success at the National Christian Football Festival with teams from Monday Night Football attending regularly.
We continued to work closely with the Edgbaston team, partnering with them to run family activities at Test Matches, and featuring within their quarterly magazine where they described us as ‘The Church at the Ground’.
As we spent time in our new space, we began to imagine what would it look like to one day have a ‘home’ of our own. In 2017, due to the next phase of redevelopments at the Ground, the time came to move out - though Edgbaston generously blessed us
KEY PROPHETIC WORDS
A COMMUNITY OF PIONEER INHABITORS
“We need to ensure we don’t become settlers; keeping on going into new ground even though we are still living and transforming the ground we have taken”
A COMMUNITY WHO ARE EXPECTANT FOR THE FUTURE
“A MAC employee had a dream that we would have our own building...right at the moment we were in a series looking at the life of Joseph, who interpreted dreams to reveal what God was saying.
Her response was: ’That is what I had, a dream God has given me for you!’”
A COMMUNITY WHO DARE TO BELIEVE GOD
“Would you dare to believe me for a home? A place where all are welcome, and where you continually remember to be still and let God be God?”
A COMMUNITY OF HOPE
“You are a community of hope. It is a mark of your authenticity. The hope you know causes you to bring faith and love into the City and beyond”
MEMORIES
Below are some assorted memories from people who were part of the Oasis journey at this point! They were collected during the various displays of the 25th Birthday Exhibition across 2024:
“The ‘Wendy Mann’ weekend, and the ‘Jackie Pullinger’ weekend!! Challenging ”
“Arriving as a nervous, shy student and just feeling immediately at ease in the community”
“Andy Gordon’s worship leading was anointed, such a blessing – still miss it”
“Saturday night takeaway. Easter Sunday Service –best seats in the house”
“National Christian Football Festival: The ‘B’ team beating the ‘A’ team!”
“The ‘goldfish bowl’ in the Oasis Suite”
“Thirst meetings on Sunday Nights...ace community”
PART FIVE HOME
We began the search for a place to call home, and God surprised us by providing a Grade 2 listed, 150-year-old, historic former Methodist Church in Harborne. It was in a brand new location for us, and was definitely a fixerupper!
As we began to restore and define the building on South Street, we found that it also started to shape us. A building with such rich history caused us to start to imagine what it means to build in a way that outlives ourselves.
South Street also helped us to understand more of the culture of the home we were seeking to build together, as well as being able to welcome and invite many others to come and enjoy home with us.
It also continued the theme of being highly visiblewith an iconic and unmistakeable frontage located just a few short steps from one of the busiest high streets in Birmingham.
Our home was a lifeline when we couldn’t gather during the COVID pandemic; allowing us an anchor point to broadcast from. It then became a place of safety as we slowly gathered back together, welcomed in many new faces, and began a whole range of new community initatives.
That season gave us a fresh perspective on the value of gathering, of building a home where everyone is welcome, and most importantly of celebrating what it means to be living centred on Jesus, and inviting others to do the same.
Now, at 25 years old, we are so excited for all that God will do in the years to come.
KEY PROPHETIC WORDS
A COMMUNITY THAT BUILDS
“You’re not to look to how others build, with fancy equipment. You build with kindness, like a gardener who is handson, gently caring for each plant”
A COMMUNITY OF JOY
“We are moving from a season of mourning to a season of joy, gladness and celebration”
A COMMUNITY THAT RESOURCES OTHERS
“You are to build a war chest that will be a resource of finance and people, for Kingdom advance”
A COMMUNITY OF PERSPECTIVE
“You are called to live with legacy in mind, to build and to live in a way that will cause fruit that will outlive you”
MEMORIES
Below are some assorted memories from people who were part of the Oasis journey at this point! They were collected during the various displays of the 25th Birthday Exhibition across 2024:
“Adrian got the keys in September. Told us he wanted all the building/refurb work done by Christmas, so we could have a Christmas service. I thought he was mad! No, he was just a man of faith.”
“Memories of the 4.30pm meeting in our first year of transition into Oasis. Smaller, easier to be an “everyone has” type of meeting, easier to be friendly and for others to be friendly.”
“Having been part of the youth team for over a decade - I feel I’m collecting sibling sets (!) and it’s both an accomplishment and a privilege to see them grow and flourish!”
“Oasis has led the way in showing that God is interested in all of the emotions we have. He wants to heal all of us.”
“Moving to the UK and ending up in Birmingham not knowing why until I joined this family =)”
“Young professionals Sunday pub lunches! Centre Parcs and great fellowship”
“Our memories of Oasis are joining in lockdown. Multiple break out rooms after the Sunday meeting. Easter egg hunt online with Julez dressing up as a rabbit. Matt’s magic before the meeting started. ‘Cat or mat, dog or log’ with Becky & Lucy. Lots of mad giggles from Hope, Susie & Alice.”
“Coming here every Sunday and loving worshipping the Lord with everyone”
“Leaving my previous church and coming to Oasis on a whim one Sunday. Feeling an immediate sense of peace, warmth and welcome. Still here 5 years on!”
“Helping set up for the Catalyst Festival - a crazy and knackering couple of days getting everything ready but so good to be part of a team together on a
