Oasis Church Bath

Did Jesus really walk on water? Amanda Higgin helps us look at this baffling story of when Jesus broke physics, and one of his friends tried to join in. We’ll think about what miraculous stories can mean to us, and what we might learn today from this quick stroll across a lake.

Our guest speaker is Dr Chris Southgate, poet and Professor of Christian Theodicy at the University of Exeter. Chris will be exploring with us how Christian faith and theology might help or hinder us in responding to the environmental crisis, and how different theological approaches might help us to tackle this challenge to human wellbeing.

Jonny Baker joins us on our sofa. Jonny is Mission Director at the Church Mission Society and is also an advocate for pioneers, a lover of all things creative, a photographer, and a writer. He’ll also be talking about his new book ‘Fringe Dweller’, which is a book with 40 stories about Jesus interacting with people on the fringes of society.

At Oasis Church Bath we are going Back to (Sunday) School again, and our curriculum has moved on to stories from the New Testament part of the bible. Jo Dolby will be helping us to reflect on a familiar tale of friendship, determination, and the destruction of property, and what it might mean for us today.

Kevin Durrant joins us on the sofa. Kevin experienced a "climate conversion" in 2010, and in 2015 spent 2 weeks alongside other Christians walking 200 miles from London to the climate change summit in Paris. He is now the minister at Keynsham Baptist Church, which has become a Silver award eco-church. Kevin has published two books which use stories from the bible to help Christians reflect on livi...

Brave, beautiful, and the subject of many inspirational devotionals on biblical womanhood, Queen Esther was much more badass than she is sometimes given credit for. Amanda Higgin shares how she was far more than a beauty queen; she risked everything to avert a genocide and bring clever justice to corrupt power.

We return to our Back to Sunday School series this week. Rob Trickey will help to reflect on the dramatic life of the biblical character of 'Samson'. For years, Tate & Lyle golden syrup has commemorated the story of this long haired strongman – unfortunately a rebrand means that we are no longer reminded ‘from the strong shall come forth sweetness’ when preparing our pancakes!

Oasis Church Bath hosts Steve Chalke, the founder of Oasis! Steve founded Oasis in 1985, and has been instrumental ever since in growing it from a community project in London to a thriving multinational organisation that runs academies, community hubs, housing projects, a secure school and of course churches like ours.

In the Back to (Sunday) School series, we've been re-reading Sunday School stories together, and through this, we've built up a range of tools to help us see things from new perspectives in our adult faith. Amanda Higgin will help us identify what these tools are and where we can use them, so we can be equipped to reimagine reading our wonderfully complicated ancient texts.

Stephen Natt will reflect on the story of Daniel, who is both a challenging example of what it means to have integrity in times of empire and a strong contender for the patron saint of zookeepers! We will wonder about how to look beyond simple answers, and what we might learn from Daniel about faith in exile.

Our Community Director Jo Dolby revisits the story of Jonah (the one with the whale even though the story doesn't actually mention a whale). It’s a classic tale with a simple moral: if you run away, you’ll be eaten by a fish. We think there might be more to it than that though!

Paul Revill is a pilgrimage guide for Pilgrim Pathways, who lead groups between sacred sites in the South West of England. He will share with us what pilgrimage means for him, and his reflections on the spirituality of being in touch with the earth.

In this talk we'll be revisiting the classic story of David and Goliath. Jo Dolby will be reflecting on what we can learn from this ancient military match-up, what it might have meant to us when we were younger in faith, and what it might mean for us now with attention to its original context, and the 'Goliaths' we experience in our world today.

In this podcast we'll be revisiting the story of Joseph and his multicoloured coat! Join us to dive into this epic tale of dreams, tricks, slavery, and political intrigue, meeting a range of weird and wonderful characters across the whole range of human nature. Our Associate Minister, Amanda Higgin, will talk about why we tell stories and how to find meaning in them, and wonder how a family drama...

On Sofa Sunday, we were joined on the sofa by LUX Youth Project! Lux works with young people in and around Bath, and partners with us in delivering Oasis Pantry at Roundhill. They provide groups and services, including Mentoring, Youth Work, and Faith Exploration, which aim to journey with young people and support them through the complexities of life. Join us in conversation with Luke Brightwell,...

The story of Noah’s Ark is a staple of Sunday School toy sets and colouring sheets, but when we look again at the narrative it can be difficult to understand. Amanda Higgin will help us reflect on this story in its ancient context, and how we might integrate it into our adult faith in all its complexity.

We headed back to Sunday School together as Amanda Higgin shared the story of Zacchaeus, who climbed a tree to see Jesus and his life transformed as a result.

We kick off our new Back to (Sunday) School series with one of the stories we know and love best – the Nativity! Amanda will tell the familiar stories of the different guests who came to the manger, and encourage us to wonder what we might find if we explore these stories with new eyes.

As we draw our ‘Trajectories’ speaking series to a close, it’s time to Dream Big together! Can we imagine a brave, proactive, sustainable community, where people feel a sense of ownership and are reimagining their faith? Come and be part of the conversation, and dream with us.

Due to our constantly changing world we need to explore ways of making ourselves more sustainable and secure for the future, ensuring we have the resources and people we need to fulfil our vision and be mature followers of Jesus who can hold reliance and sustainability in tension. At Oasis Church Bath this Sunday, Gaynor Williams shares some thoughts that can help us navigate this tension, as part...

We’re joined on the sofa by three wonderful creative people from Oasis Church Bath for a panel discussion on creativity and spirituality. Claire Shelswell chats to Julia Trickey (botanical artist), James Otto (composer) and Jo Rich (designer and all round creative genius!) about how their faith impacts their art, and vice versa.

Reprising this topic from before the summer, Jo Dolby explores what it looks like for the Oasis community and for each of us as individuals to move from being a safe space, to a brave space.

We welcome Jill Rowe, the Director of Ethos and Formation for Oasis UK, to discuss the next in our series of Trajectories - 'from reactive to proactive'. While we always have to respond to changing circumstances, constant fire-fighting gets in the way of us progressing towards being the community, people, and world that we dream of. Jill helps us to reflect on what it means to proactively move tow...

Sometimes it feels like our church and our community work can exist in different worlds, but for Jesus it was just as important to feed the hungry and help the vulnerable as it was to teach people how to live. In this conversation, our Community Work Manager Claire Henwood and our Associate Minister Amanda talk about what we do in our community projects and why, working through some of the jargon...

We start a new speaking series, where we take some time to reflect on the trajectories from our new Hub Plan. What are they, why are they important, and what difference might they make? Expect phrases like ‘the priesthood of all believers’ as Amanda Higgin talks about taking agency and responsibility for the things we care about, and how the Baptist Church tradition of church membership puts power...