Oasis Church Bath

Our culture celebrates success and achievement, and in a workplace environment there is an expectation that everyone will ‘climb the ladder’. But of course, places at the top are limited! How do we respond when we don’t get that promotion? Or what if we’re quite happy where we are? Rob Trickey explores how we can simply ‘be’ at work.

Oasis Church Bath invited Phil Mader-Grayson to the sofa. Phil shares his own journey of faith through the army, the evangelical church, ordained ministry, and membership of the Northumbria Community. Most recently, along with his wife Rosie, Phil ran a retreat centre called Bridge House which welcomed, in his words, “people on their way into the church and people on their way out”.

Oasis Church Bath welcomes a special guest Jill Rowe, who is the Ethos and Formation Director for Oasis UK, and part of Oasis Church Waterloo. Jill is speaking, as part of our 'How to be Ordinary' series, on being at home in ourselves. Whilst we might see home as defined by the bricks and mortar buildings we live in, our body is the primary place we live in and inhabit. It is through this body tha...

Jo Dolby kicks off a brand new speaking series by thinking about what it means to ‘Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering’ (Romans 12:1, The Bible).

September often feels like a new beginning, or the start of a new year, where we prepare for a new season or different rhythm of life. As we start a brand new speaking series we take some time to reflect on the roles, relationships and contexts we find ourselves in at the moment, recommissioning one another to be light seekers and love bringers wherever we go and whatever we do.

In this podcast we explore the story of Susanna Wesley. Best known as the mother of two exceptional children, John and Charles, Susanna Wesley was a principled and committed Christian who took her faith into her own hands. She was a mother to 8 surviving children out of 19 births, often parenting them alone and through multiple hardships, and assumed responsibility for both their traditional and s...

It may be frowned upon for religion to interfere with politics, but faith cannot avoid being involved in public life. Rob Trickey tells the stories of Rosa Parks and Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who, inspired by their faith, stood against oppressive systems and suffered the consequences. Rosa Parks was imprisoned for refusing to adhere to racial segregation. Bonhoeffer, a German Reformed pastor and theolo...

Oasis Church Bath, were excited to be joined on the sofa by Lou Bisset, Church Leader at the recently launched Oasis Church Reading. She tells us about the messy table Lou and her team have been creating in Reading, and who she might invite to her own metaphorical messy table!

Amanda Higgin tells the story of Vicky Beeching – a Christian pop star who dropped a bomb on the conservative evangelical church when she came out as gay. Vicky had known she was gay since the age of 13 and had suffered the internal conflict familiar to young, gay evangelicals, including seeking out conversion therapy and even exorcism. Beeching hoped that by coming out she could show not only you...

Jo Dolby speaks about the life of Bartolomé de las Casas as part of our Messy Table series. De las Casas believed that as a Christian he had a right and duty to participate in Spanish colonialism in the Indies. He came to realise, however, that the natives were human beings who ought to be treated with respect, and began to oppose colonial practices both politically and theologically. De las Casas...

Special guest speaker and the founder of Oasis, Steve Chalke will be talking about 'the virtue of stubbornness', as shown through the life and example of Violet Hedger. Violet was the first woman in the Baptist Union to formally train for ministry. She was recognised as a minister by her local community but faced social and institutional discrimination when she tried to gain training and recogniti...

Amanda Higgin begins a brand new speaking series. If you could host a dinner party of historical people of faith, who would you invite? As a church we are part of a long history of people who wrestled with their faith in what felt like confusing and uncertain times. Over the next few weeks we'll be presenting stories and imperfect personalities that challenge us to live more like Jesus. We hope th...

We're joined on the sofa this month by Anna Robinson as we explore ‘faith evolution as formation’. Anna is a nature lover, nomad, sojourner and spiritual seeker. She is passionate about growing, learning, awakening and making meaningful connections for a better world. She is a host on the popular faith deconstruction podcast ‘Nomad’, for the curious and questioning listener. She also writes and re...

How can we make sure we're not totally reliant on church gatherings or leaders for our spiritual health and development? How can we find 'food' to nourish us, and what are the metaphorical places we can 'forage' for goodness that will sustain and help us in our spiritual lives? Jo Dolby shares her thoughts about this.

Jesus operated within a Jewish Rabbi and disciple system, where his disciples weren’t just trying to do what their Rabbi taught them, but actually become as much like him as possible. Through his teachings and their relationship with him they were ‘formed’ into his likeness and this process continues with us today. Rob Trickey explores how a deeper knowledge of this can help us understand what it...

Jo Dolby presents an honest and transparent picture of the conflicts, ethical dilemmas, and tensions a church leader holds in relation to giving. Jo deliberately aims to talk about aspects of church giving that perhaps aren’t usually talked about, such as the over-spiritualisation of giving, traditional ideas about giving that perhaps need to be reimagined and how we avoid pressuring or manipulati...

We continue our ‘Hands In’ series, having a look at giving from 'Behind the Scenes'. We hear from our church treasurer Dave Vernalls about what it takes to fund a church and community hub and some of his reflections on giving from his general experience within finance and as our Oasis Church Bath treasurer!

Our Sofa Sunday guest is Annie Trembling. Annie is a Deacon at Bath Methodist Church and the co-ordinator of the Southdown and Whiteway Church and Community Partnership, as well as a good friend of Oasis! Annie has been involved in a wide range of church and community work for many years and is one of our key partners in delivering Roundhill Pantry in Southdown.

So often the church is known for burning people out or asking too much of us when life is already busy and demanding. Jo Dolby explores how we can strike a healthy balance in being involved, and contributing as we participate in the life of the church, as well as not forgetting to rest and look after ourselves.

Why does the bible often use metaphors for talking about what our participation in community should look like, and what can we learn from those metaphors? Continuing our ‘Hands In’ speaking series, Amanda Higgin unpacks some of those metaphors, and helps us work out what they might say about the part we can play.

As part of our Partnership Sunday our minister in training, Amanda Higgin, shares her thoughts about what 'The Body of Christ' may mean.

Jo Dolby speaks on ‘What is this church?’ What is Oasis Church Bath all about, how does it differ from other churches and why is that important? What might we need to focus on in the year ahead?

Rob Trickey asks the question what is The Church? (big C!) What’s the purpose of the church, and why does it exist? Why is it so important to Christian faith and how should we understand and define it?

If we’re born good and we don’t need saving or rescuing because of original sin, why did Jesus come? This Sunday at Oasis Church Bath, Rob Trickey asks how can we reframe our understanding of Jesus and his purpose on earth in the light of original blessing?

We’ve spent the last few months exploring how we’re ‘already good’, in contrary to the traditional view of original sin. Jo Dolby brings this all together and asks – what now? How can our lives look different and how can we put into practice all we’ve learned through this series?