Hosts and speakers ▪ Children and youth ▪ Timetable ▪ Offering ▪ Travel, volunteering and food ▪ Info for churches
Join us in a new season for our Salt & Light Advance family of churches! At our Celebration on Sunday 5 November 2023, 10.30am-3.30pm we will commission Rich and Anna Ellwood as they step into leading the Advance team. With guest speaker Colin Baron’s help, find your place in God’s purpose for us as a family of churches moving forward with common vision and purpose.
The day will include worship, preaching, children and youth activities, prayer ministry, and shared lunch. We’ll have a fun-packed afternoon with activities for all ages, including Adventure+ bringing their climbing wall and other activities, alongside a wide range of other options and seminars.
What is a Celebration
Celebrations are key once-a-year opportunities for our whole family of churches to gather (in a joint service with several hundred people) to enjoy (‘celebrate’!) a greater level of worship, preaching, prophetic and prayer ministry, and find partnership in vision and purpose. We warmly encourage you to make it a priority. If you’ve not been before, come and meet your wider/extended family in God!
Hosts and speakers
The event will be hosted by Rich and Anna Ellwood, and the Advance team.
Rich and Anna are the new leaders of Salt & Light Advance. After leading a flourishing church in Brussels, Belgium for many years, Rich and Anna now live with their four children in Witney, Oxfordshire. We will introduce them more fully at the Celebration!
We are delighted that Colin Baron has agreed to be our main speaker.
Colin founded multi-site church Christ Church Manchester, The Broadcast Network and is part of the Newfrontiers Together apostolic team. (Colin was booked originally for our Multiply Conference in February 2023, but was unable to be with us at that time.)
Children and youth
We are planning for 6 different age groups:
0-2 - stay-and-play hosted by Bec Quinnell, Oxford Tiny Tots+ team [Vale Room]
2-4 (pre-school) - hosted by Bec Quinnell, Oxford Tiny Tots+ team [Vale Room]
Reception to Y2 (age 5-7) - led by Jo Self, Children’s Ministry Leader at Witney church [Ridgeway Room]
Y3-Y6 (age 8-11) - led by Adventure+ and hosted by Claire Bessant, Chipping Norton [Cotswold Hall]
Y7-Y9 (younger youth) - led by Ali Rice and Relentless team [Hinksey Room]
Y10-Y13 (older youth) - led by Ali Rice and Relentless team [Cherwell Room]
To help us plan well and safely, please pre-register your children and young people.
Pre-registration for children and youth is now closed. Please do not fill in the form as your child's name will not be on the register on Sunday. There will be paper sign up forms to register on Sunday morning, please ask the welcome team and take your form to the children's registration desk in the foyer.
The event safeguarding lead is Carol Byrne (Witney).
Celebration offering
Our Celebration offering this morning is an opportunity to give into a fresh initiative in Europe. The fund will allow us to invest in sending teams to Europe, to support Steve and Lorraine as they take the lead in a fresh gathering of the churches in Europe, and strengthen our wider Salt and Light family as we heed God’s call to invest beyond ourselves.
Timetable
10:00am Doors open and refreshments
10:30am Morning Celebration [Thames Hall] - after starting all-together, around 11am 0-18s go to their own activities, after which Colin Baron will speak to the adults.
12:30pm Lunch - bring your own food - see below!)
20s/30s lunch - Chris and Stephanie Neal (Lifehouse, Bicester) are gathering 20s/30s, to get to know one another better and build connections over lunch.
1:30pm Afternoon activities and seminars
Activities for all ages include
indoor archery and circus skills [Cotswold Hall]
outdoor climbing wall [Courtyard]
stay and play room for toddlers [Vale Room]
crafting [Atrium/Cafe]
youth games and chill space [Cherwell and Hinksey Rooms]
prayer room [Prayer Room, next to Hinksey Room]
cafe [Atrium/Cafe]
Two short (35 min, Thames Hall) seminars will explore two topics in more depth, with Colin Baron:
1:30pm Why should I care about church planting?
2:15pm How do I play my part in mission and evangelism?
3:00pm Closing all-together session [Thames Hall], including worship, updates from the day and closing comments.
3:30pm End
Travel, volunteering and food
The day is free, including refreshments (drinks). Please bring your own packed lunch.
There is some on-site/on-street parking at/near The King’s Centre, as well as option to park at the Seacourt Park-and-Ride, a short walk from The King’s Centre. There will not be shuttle buses to and from Seacourt and there are only occasional public P&R buses on a Sunday. We will reserve some on-site parking for the elderly, those with small children or with physical disabilities.
Please note there will be a weekend closure on the A34 southbound from Peartree to Botley interchange, as well as the ongoing closure of Botley Road by the rail station. We recommend you check the route on Google Maps before you travel.
Further information for local churches
Click here for the ‘local church comms package’ to help you promote the event. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram for event updates that you can reshare.
For those unable to join on-site, the morning service will be livestreamed on our Youtube channel.