Q. What will be the set up for Youth.  At one time you said you were going to employ a youth leader.  Is that still going to be case or are you going to leave it to parents as mentioned on Thursday night?

In reality we will most likely end up with some form of youth group – however I wonder at the notion of handing the role of nurturing our children in their youth years to someone else. Imagine a group of families who hang out together because they have kids the same age and the kids grow up together almost as cousins. And then we have a friend from school who’s kids are the same age as ours and so we invite their family into our group so that their kids can hang together whilst we as adults hang out together doing fun stuff. So we all go bowling the kids in one lane and the parents in another?

Why not?

This might be counter cultural but at the same time may save a lot of families from breakup? This might be a kingdom living experience to which we can invite our unsaved friends into. I would like to employ a youth pastor – but if we do it will not be to the sole provider of entertainment and spiritual guidance to our teenagers. It would more likely have a role description that says help our teens engage their world for Jesus, help our families with teens to know what it is to live according to Kingdom principles in their world as a family as individuals and most importantly as a believer and follower of Jesus Christ.

I believe that it is a myth that parents cannot hang out with their kids. We hang out with Bonnie and her boyfriend all the time – we do stuff together all the time. Be it playing scrabble through to dinning out in a Southbank restaurant or watching a movie. I believe that this is healthy family and healthy kingdom living.

We buy the lie that kids want a crowd of young people who will hype each other up – when Kids really just want to know they are loved and valued for who they are. Who better to do this than mum and dad? Many large mega churches are now moving away from the crowd driven youth ministry model and searching for a more transformational and relational model of ministry to teens. This may include some form of training for our teens so that they can impact their world and those within it especially other teens.

Q. From what I read on missional churches they're not big on having stuff running for within the current congregation, as in ladies/men's type stuff, or really anything to any great degree. Is this how the Oasis will operate?  Are you able at this stage to give a clear picture?

You are correct to some extent – missional church is not so concerned with running high impact attractional programs – but they are more interested in doing normal life with one another in an open and transparent way. In a missional church model the emphasis will always be on how can I be a Jesus follower in my world? What behaviours, values, attitudes and actions should I have as a Jesus follower? How can I engage my world with the life changing message of Jesus Christ? How can I be real and let down my guard so that people who the real me?

We will and do run activities such as a our:

• seniors bus trip to Toowoomba which saw 100 seniors last Wednesday travel on two coaches to the Carnival of Flowers
• Picnics in the park
• Kids Hope Aus mentoring
• Gleaners, Etc etc

Our emphasis is on how will these activities help to transform our community? How can bring God’s Kingdom principles to our world? How can we as the people of God serve our community as an expression of God’s overflowing love in our lives?
In terms of our own people or those who decide to join The Oasis in our mission of moving beyond Be-lieving to Be-living we will train and equip, motivate and empower for the mission. We believe that when we live according to God’s Kingdom principles then the mission naturally follows. We attend church and life groups as a part of the transformation process for us as a person. Church for the believer is like a gym for the athlete – it is to build muscle and increase our fitness level so that we can compete in our sport of choice. Ours happens to be participating in God’s Mission to our world.

Q. Do you see Search for Life being an on-going ministry to be offered within the Oasis?

Yes we see the CareForce Life Keys ministry as providing specialist care for those who come into our church family with previous experiences that needs to be processed biblically so that they can move beyond the consequences of these experiences and into the fullness of God’s call on their lives. We see this particular aspect of The Oasis’ ministry as an integral part of our Healing & Restoration Ministry. A ministry which seeks to release people into their part in God’s Mission

Q. What if any future minstries to you see the Oasis offering?

This is probably the wrong question to be asking – a better question would be – what criteria would we use when deciding if a ministry idea or missional activity is worthy of further exploration?

At face value I would say that we would explore the potential of an activity further if it would assist to achieve these things:

• Brings ongoing relational connection
• Brings transformational change to a person or the community at large
• Is consistent with God’s Mission (this will need further explanation as to what God’s Mission is?)
• Is sustainable within the resources (people, financial, material, etc) of The Oasis or a partnership we have with other/s organisation
• Allows us to model and/or share the life changing message of Jesus Christ
• Brings glory to God
• Allows us to shape the culture or our world with God’s mould

Q. What is the leadership structure/team set up going to be.  Is this going to be an overall structure for Bundamba/Sprinfield.  Or individual to each Hub?  I'm particularly keen to know this one.

You need to have a read of our Hub Strategy Document which can be found on this website under the heading of Our DNA

Q. Will a new pastor be taken on for Bundamba or are you going to oversee them both.  How long would you anticipate that running if you were to do them both?

Yes, we are waiting on some other financial outcomes to be resolved before we can action this one. Eg the sale of our Springfield facility. We have had some conversations with prospective Hub Pastors and are confident that we can fill this position as soon as we resolve our financial issues.

Q. If the Hub(s) are going to be teams, how is the accountability structure to be set up.  If not teams, how is the accountability/reporting structure to be set up?

The Oasis will be one church meeting in several locations – with a mixture of set staff and key volunteers for each Hub as well as some staff and key volunteers that will have oversight across the numerous Hubs.

Eg

• each Hub will have its own Hub Pastor
• We will run one main church office
• We will have one Team Leader that has oversight across all the Hubs
• A Youth Pastor could have oversight across the Hubs and we could even have one central Youth Worship Gathering to which all the Hub feed their young people – as time goes on each Hub could have their own Youth Pastor
• Our Healing & Restoration ministry would work across the Hubs
• Small Group leadership training would work across the Hubs
• Each Hub may end up with its own unique worship style – initially however I would envisage the Worship Team jamming together at the one location
• Each Hub will follow the same teaching content which will be delivered via a combination of their respective Hub Pastors teaching live, the Team Leader visiting the various Hubs and some video/web cast sessions