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Praying Together
Praying Together With his mouth half-full and chocolate crumbs on his cheeks, my son mumbled to me “It’s yum, but it tastes a bit weird.” I’d made a batch of delicious (in my opinion) brownies for the kid’s afternoon tea. The secret was, they were, in fact, sweet potato brownies. Vegetables, of course, are important for my kid’s physical health, so if I can sneak extra vegetables into their diet through an innocent snack, I’ll do it! Thankfully, as adults our understanding of the importance of healthy foods in our diet means we don’t need to be tricked into eating them in a brownie slice (mind you, they really are delicious)! Similarly, prayer is incredibly important to our spiritual health. But I’m not sure we always recognise that in
Jesus Would Have Picked Up a Toilet Brush
Jesus Would Have Picked Up a Toilet Brush The toilet brush. It’s a disgusting but necessary tool in every home. No one likes to use it, but it’s a necessary part of life if you want to have a clean toilet and have visitors over! I must confess, I am a recovering ‘germaphobe’ so maybe it’s worse in my mind. I remember a good toilet brush story from when I used to work as a removalist. Most of the homes we moved were high-end homes and quite clean. But I remember one job where the house was very off-putting. Things were pretty disgusting and icky to handle. And to top it off, the client actually asked me to pack their toilet brush into the back of our truck! I
When Church and Family Collide
When Church and Family Collide A few years ago, I read a book called ‘Think Orange’ by Reggie Joiner. It’s all about the church and the family partnering together to raise kids who love and follow God. The ‘orange’ concept comes from seeing the church represented by the colour yellow (bright lights) and the family as the colour red (warm hearts). And we all know what happens when we mix red and yellow. That’s right, we get orange. In his book, Reggie shares his dreams and passion for seeing the influence of church and family working together for greater impact. He also explores this idea further and gives some practical ways we can do this. The book has 261 pages, so I’m not going to attempt to share everything
Oasis Youth is here!
Oasis Youth is here! Term 1 2022 is here, which means that Oasis Youth is kicking off next Friday (11th)! I’m excited for what the year has in store as we head into this new season as Oasis, so I thought I’d share with you a bit about what is going on. Our Friday nights will look similar to what they have in the past, as a welcoming, engaging space for youth to connect in a Jesus-focused environment. Each Friday is different, but every week there will be games, activities, space to hang out with friends, and a simple gospel message. Some weeks we have big activities or themes, others we have time in growth groups chats or have a featured guest. Check out the term card for what
Reflecting on Our New Logo
Reflecting on Our New Logo This Sunday we officially change our name to Oasis Church after a long, prayerful process that began all the way back at the end of 2019. Of course, with a new name comes a new visual identity including a new logo. I would like to share with you the thinking and the meaning behind our new logo. As you know, we have a number of different ministries and programs through which we engage our church family and also the wider community, including Kids, Youth, Men, Women, Care Ministry, and more. To clearly and consistently communicate with such a diverse and multi-faceted audience can sometimes prove difficult. For this reason, our design philosophy was to keep our branding simple and understated, so that it can
Worship in Song
Worship in Song I don’t know if I have a favourite song… I mean, there are so many to pick from! There are definitely tunes which I instinctively turn up the volume for on the radio. Like U2’s ‘All I want is You’, because it was Troy and my first dance on our wedding day, or ‘You are my Sunshine’, which I sang to my children when they were babies. I also love worshiping to ‘How Great Thou Art’ because of the rich lyrics, the powerful story behind it! But a single favourite? Nope, I couldn’t pick just one. Do you have a favourite? Do you think God has a favourite song? I don’t. I do, however, believe he loves when we worship him in song. More than that,
Laughing at the Days to Come
Laughing at the Days to Come Imagine being a child on holidays. Camping in beautiful weather, visiting the beach every day, your parents ignoring their usual sugar limits. Then, imagine coming back home to find out you've got two extra weeks of holidays! You'd be laughing at the days to come! For some children though, who perhaps live remotely or have had to stay at home over the holidays, you're not so joy filled. Then there are us adults- when life happens, often laughing at the days to come is our least likely reaction. While my children celebrated an extra few weeks of holidays, I felt some dread about how I'd handle work with kids at home for another two weeks. At the same time, one of my dearest
Salt and Light
Salt and Light The early days of the Christian church were exciting, but at the same time dramatic and dangerous as Christ’s message went out into all the known world. The world was turned upside down (Acts 17:6). Attention was focused on the brave men and women who put their lives on the line for the gospel. They were the “influencers” of that era to use the modern jargon, unlike the “influencers” of today—the celebrities, the politicians, the media moguls. Two characteristics of the early church stood out: their unity of purpose and the love they had for one another. How does the ordinary person view the Christian church today? The media certainly plays a part in influencing the views of the average person in the street, and the
