Oasis Church

Oasis Church was planted from the Assemblies Of God Christian denomination in 2004. The Chippenham-based church was started by Pastors Ralph and Heather Burden, who had previously planted the Oasis Church in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire.

History
Background

Ralph Burden (Pastor) was trained at Mattersey Hall Bible College and ordained into the Assemblies of God in the UK in 1993. He has and Masters degrees in English, Theology and Church History from the University of Wales and Sheffield University.
He and his wife, Heather, previously planted the Oasis Christian Centre in South Elmsall in 1993, and after ten years felt strongly that God was directing them to Wiltshire to plant a new church that would have a regional impact. The Church was then planted through Assemblies of God Church Planting with the name of Oasis Church Chippenham.

Venues
The Oasis Church started meeting in April 2004 in the home of the pastor, with his wife and children providing the only initial congregation. Within weeks they had gained the interest of others and started public meetings on Saturday nights in Ivy Lane School, Chippenham. The church grew rapidly during the first 18 months and moved to The Bridge Centre in January 2006, also joining the Chippenham Churches Together group in that year. Since then, Oasis Church have held public meetings in The Olympiad Leisure Centre, and currently meet in Hardenhuish School in Chippenham.

Style
Saturday Nights
The decision to meet on Saturday nights was part of the vision of Pastor Ralph Burden, who writes, “The people we want to reach are in bed with a hangover on Sunday mornings. This is not a church for religious people.” The style of music and the town centre locations helps the church compete with Night Clubs and Bars.
Oasis Church holds regular out reach events in the Town Centre, using celebrities such as Shane Lynch from "Boyzone"
, Paul Jones from "Manfred Mann", Russell Boulter from "The Bill" and Dave Morgan from the "Electric Light Orchestra" .
Congregation
A member of the Hillsong network, the church currently attracts mostly families with a large proportion of young people. The congregation is largely under the age of 50. The church draws its congregation from across North Wiltshire, including a sizeable group from local Royal Air Force and MOD bases. The church works closely with the local army base, Buckley Barracks, by holding midweek prayer groups and outreach events inside the camp. Oasis claims that the average attendees represent over 14 nationalities (correct on 12th November 2007), which explains their title as Oasis International Church.

Life Groups
Similar to Home Groups or Cells, the church meets together midweek to "live life to the full". The Life Groups are based in homes across the region, including Chippenham, Calne, Buckley Barracks and Hullavington. New christians and couples meet together to study the church's 'Christian Life Course', 'Church Life Course' and 'Marriage Life Course', written and published by Pastors Ralph and Heather Burden.

Music
Much of the appeal of Oasis Church comes from their strong emphasis on rock-style worship and Christian lifestyle teaching. The church use mainly Hillsong Music together with their own songs and compositions.

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