Reprinted with permission from OASE's newsletter for New West
On 4 September 2022, I was officially confirmed as pastor of Oasis and the Source. Nice to share my first impressions after six months. I did so earlier with the church council of Oasis and the Well. Let me start by saying that I haven't regretted a single day coming to work here. I am very grateful that I get to join others in what God is doing. I enjoy the dynamics of the city and in the church, the liveliness in and around the building also during the week and especially all the different people with their faith, their stories, gifts, possibilities and find it special that I am also allowed to sympathise with the difficulties they experience.
Loss and faith
Thus, Oasis and the Source are both dealing with loss. Loss of congregation members and visitors. Loss of activity and some dreams and ideals. What happens in and around the congregations has to be done by a smaller group of people. For some, this has led to fatigue, exhaustion and sometimes a feeling of separation. It is good to speak honestly with each other about this also from the belief that God often works precisely through our pain.
And there is much of that faith, much hope, much expectation in the Source and Oasis. I see that in the attention to prayer and the gratitude expressed in the process. In by far the most introductory visits both in Oasis and the Source that I did, to my surprise, the other(s) also prayed for me!
At the Source, the group is small, but the bond between them is felt to be close. Looking after church services, looking after each other, caring for each other, keeping the building clean, the community meal and the church administration and whatever else needs to be done are cheerfully kept up. There is a clear structure with a clear division of tasks and even though it depends on a small group of people, so far it manages to keep going. The question that keeps cropping up is: how long will that last?
I myself suffered a great loss in my personal life last year. My mother passed away after a long illness. I am grateful for the space and time I was given to grieve and for the compassion I received from Oasis and the Source.
Lots of space
Almost always when I see new visitors in Oasis, I ask how they experienced it. The answer is always the same: they felt welcome and at ease. I also see that new visitors are indeed almost always welcomed and engage in conversation with various people at Oasis. It is also the experience of Philadelphia and others in and around our building: they feel warmly welcomed. There is plenty of room for diverse people, input and ideas.
This also has another side: a lot of space sometimes means a lack of frameworks. Various structures/activities/projects do not function, hardly function or function too restrictively, and it is unclear whether this will remain so or whether it is temporary. Think: connect groups, the community garden, 'helping people', musical accompaniment in meetings, pastoral care. The number of people taking responsibility for such things has diminished due to moving, leaving Oasis or choosing to engage less than before. That makes it exciting - how do we move forward?
There is a desire for more clarity, more focus, and mutual connection and peace. We are looking for that this year by focusing on the question "what is God doing and how can we participate in it? So we want to start from what we have already been given rather than at what should be done.
Around the building
I enjoy the bustle around and in the building. Three days there is Philadelphia's - start-up - day care. But there are also weekly language lessons, a language café, a meal by Stichting Gave for refugees, and food distribution by the Groene Kans (against food waste). Funnily enough, all this hustle and bustle helps me to stay on task myself and provides many opportunities for low-threshold contact for people from the neighbourhood and community workers. I try to have good contact with the neighbourhood, for example also by taking part in paper-picking in the neighbourhood and organising a coffee morning together with Philadelphia, local residents and church members.
What I do
Getting to know people in and around Oasis and the Source has been a big part of my work recently. I have visited a lot of people and participated in various activities. Added to this are the 'normal' duties of a pastor:
- pray,
- (with others) prepare, lead and (s)preach meetings and church services there,
- speaking and encouraging people personally,
- helping with the Alpha course,
- leading with the core teams and the church council,
- Coaching church members in tasks they have,
Much of that work is similar to the work I did before as a pastor. And at the same time, it is also new with new people and in a different situation. Let me give one example: I want to start every working day with time for prayer and Bible reading. Because I work from the church building, I do that there. To my surprise, at almost every morning prayer there are people from the Source and Oasis who pray with me. Very encouraging!
And further...
I am looking forward to going into the next six months. I have not yet been able to speak to everyone personally, so I will continue with introductory talks for a while. The annual theme 'joining God together' and especially the reflection that goes with it still needs to be worked out. And that is bound to lead to new discoveries of what God and what we together and I may do personally. To be continued.
