Our Vision & Mission
We are a new church starting in Oxford to reach out and serve a diverse population with the message of Jesus. Oxford as an urban city is made up of residents whether working professionals or students from diverse backgrounds.
Our dream is to start a multiethnic church and build an authentic community beyond our cultural enclaves that is inspired and passionate about living under God’s grace and goodness.
They key to building this community is to live with the mentality of a third culture individual. The concept of 3rd culture refers to people who have grown up in a culture different to that of their parents and end up developing a new culture, a third culture. A third culture contains aspects of both their parents’ as well as their host’s culture. This helps 3rd culture individuals to connect easily with a wide array of people by being resilient, authentic and adaptable.
These experiences are the building blocks of Access Church. We want to develop a 3rd culture that can connect God’s message of love and hope to a diverse population.
Our Values
The name Access is derived from Ephesians 2:18 – “For through Him (Christ), we (Jews and Greeks) both have Access to the Father by one Spirit.” This verse boldly declares that Christ has not only abolished old divisions that existed between communities but that He has also provided access to the resources of the Godhead for all humanity irrespective of their backgrounds. This good news stands in sharp contrast to the message of division and privilege that can be evident in our society. As an international city attracting people from all over the world to study, live and work in, we believe God has called us to proclaim the richness of friendship with Jesus explored and lived out among the people of Oxford city.
In line with this, God has called us to be:
Radical. By this, we do not mean being fanatical and fundamentalist. It means taking Jesus seriously and Loving Him with all our hearts, soul s and mind. For Access, Jesus is the sole foundation and the sole reason for existence and therefore, we take his message, his lifestyle, and his challenge to his followers seriously. We do not seek to dilute, underplay any of his teachings. We seek to love Him and please Him and obey everything that He asks us to. We believe that the Spirit helps us in achieving all of this.
Real. We take life seriously. Access seeks to meet a hurting and broken world with the wonderful news of Jesus. We take the issues that people face in this world and our city seriously and seek to find ways to respond to them in whichever way we can guided by our radical commitment to Jesus. We are confident that only a life lived fully and passionately committed to Jesus can touch and transform a world and a city so desperately in need of healing and restoration.
Relational.We take people seriously. Jesus took people seriously. He made friendships with people. He visited and took people to heart. He was touched by what they went through. He gave himself to a close knit group of men who took up his mission. It is clear that God’s mission is transmitted to others in the context of an intentional discipleship in relationship. Christianity without discipleship is Christianity without Christ. At Access, we would like to take people and their circles of friendships and relationships seriously and make efforts to encourage people in their circles to nurture and creatively identify ways and means to invite and get church happen in their circles.
Our Story
Even though Jacqui and I were born in Kenya, we have lived in Oxford since 2001. During that time, we have witnessed Oxford, similar to most cities in the UK, become more diverse. We are, therefore convinced of the need to plant churches that reflect that diversity and are confident in working with people from a diverse array of backgrounds.
We are excited about this challenge and are confident that this is God’s plan for his church and humanity. We invite you to join us in this venture. Please contact us to find out more. We look forward to talking to you about this exciting venture!
We need launchers!
We need people who will support us to launch Access Church in Oxford. We are extremely grateful for people who have already made contributions to make Access Church a reality.
We need you:
- To pray for Access. Please pray that God may give us success.
- To give to Access Please consider giving financially to support us either a one time gift or a consistent giving over a period of time. This will contribute towards ministry expenses.
- To join Access. We need members who can support with planning and hands on help.