To reposition and replant the church to better serve the whole town and its environs, increasing our profile and accessibility, and helping us grow.

Yes! Compared with the rest of Oxford and surrounding communities (Kennington, Kidlington, Abingdon, Cumnor, Botley), the ‘surroundings’ all need more thriving and lively evangelical churches. For example, while Oxford city has 1 evangelical church for every 2,000 people, Abingdon has only 1 thriving evangelical church per 8,000.

Yes! 80% of people in Abingdon live north of the town centre, and this will increase as homes for 10,000 more people are built in this area, while no substantial new housing is planned for South Abingdon because of rivers and other constraints. Many Christians in North Abingdon and surrounding villages currently commute to Oxford to one of various churches, leading to less missional and prayerful presence locally.

Yes! The largest population centre in South Oxon, Wallingford, has 2 evangelical churches, leaving most Christians to commute to one of Henley, Didcot, Abingdon or Oxford, depriving local communities of thriving and praying Christian communities. One estimate is that of 150,000 people in South Oxon, 50% live rurally, far from a thriving evangelical church.

There are also new opportunities coming up: Berinsfield will grow from 3,000 to 9,000 people in the coming years, making it a similar size to Wallingford. The new ‘HIF1’ road from the A34 will massively open up access to central South Oxon, changing local dynamics significantly.

God is calling us to be better located to serve the whole of Abingdon (and beyond), not just North or South Abingdon. One prophetic word speaks of us being a ‘bridge between the communities’, reminding us of the importance of the gospel bridging different demographic, socio-economic and ethnic peoples.

Also, our Sunday venue is literally ‘just up the road’ from that of Vineyard, the church in Abingdon most like ACC, which is also very well-placed to serve the South Abingdon community and its needs, especially with their custodianship of the Preston Road Community Centre, and hosting the South Abingdon Foodbank.

We value and weigh prophetic words share to help guide decision-making. Here are selected relevant words from over 100 contributions that have been shared with ACC since 2023:

• A crochet pattern starting in the centre (April 2024)

• A bridge of the Spirit, bridging parts of Abingdon (June 2024)

• A hollowed-out centre – “could God be calling you to a geographical move to the centre of town?” (Sept 2024)

• ‘Go North or Be Eaten’ – the title of fantasy novel (August 2025)

• Mark Eley, whose discernment we trust, has felt, since 2024, a move is needed

• Steve Jones (in his then role as leader of S&L Advance) and previous ACC pastor Ed Evans were talking about a move to North Abingdon ~10 years ago. The need to move  has been known for a long time.

Practically, we’ve also heard from several people that our current venue is hard to find.

Since 2024, God has been speaking about the need for refreshing and reinvigoration in ACC; a refresh of church culture, moving on from the difficulties and challenges of the last several years, to be positioned effectively missionally to reach and serve all kinds of people in Abingdon and its environs.

We want to see a church that is freshly alive; living shared lives as a Spirit-filled Bible-following family-community of disciples; serving as a hub for a network of smaller communities across South Oxfordshire; thereby bringing hope to all kinds of people across the town and beyond. We believe that requires more than a move – it calls for a reinvigorated culture and vision in ACC, which we’re calling ‘a replant’.

Rather like a pot plant that will thrive again once re-potted into a new pot and new soil, we sense that ACC needs not only a ‘new pot’ (venue), but some ongoing replenishing of its soil (people) and nutrients (culture).

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Reaching out to people who don’t yet know Jesus requires people who will go to their friends, neighbours and work colleagues, who will go to make new friends in new places, and who have the time to journey with people on their pathway to faith. Evangelical Alliance’s recent Finding Jesus research shows that 2/3 of people take more than 6 months to come to faith. Another EA report, Changing Church, shows that UK evangelical churches currently grow by adult new birth at ~3%, which for ACC would only be 1 adult/year.

To reach out afresh, we first need to grow our team, especially people who live ‘on the ground’ in the area, with time and local presence to lead people to Jesus.

We will continue to meet for Sunday services in Abingdon, even as we develop ways of better resourcing Christians living in rural areas.

We will continue to refresh our Sunday services, paying further attention to how we lead them, including worship, preaching, prophetic and prayer ministry.

We will continue to work on connecting new people into community more effectively, including developing the vital role of Community Groups in welcome, discipleship and prayer.

We pray that all our current ACC people will feel led by God to join in this exciting new phase for ACC. They will be joined by other Christians from OCC and other churches as they respond to the call of God.

Many of our current leaders (staff, leadership team and other volunteers) will continue to serve, with a fresh sense of support and mentoring, as well as connection to our wider family of churches, S&L Advance.

With all that we’ve said above, about a relocation, a fresh vision for the whole town and beyond, and a rejuvenated culture, a new name seems appropriate! Prophetically, God changes peoples’ names when he does something new. Practically, we need a name that doesn’t limit perceptions of who we are and where we work, especially given that our current demographic and our vision both extend beyond Abingdon to the surrounding area.

As well as church family meetings, we will take as much time as necessary with individuals to help them process any specific concerns or hopes for the move.

We know that ACC has been through some hard times, and needs to be strengthened in size and culture. ACC, we’ve done well to simply stand! In 2Sa 23:10 Eleazar is noted for simply standing his ground, so much that “his hand grew weary and froze to his sword! Yet, the Lord brought about a great victory that day.”

However, change is part of God’s good purposes for his people, as they pioneer. As Lisa quoted in the November 2025 Community Sunday, co-founder of Salvation Army (which was a pioneering movement in its day) Catherine Booth said: “To better the future one must disturb the present.”

We’re called to be a pioneer people, not settling – the Bible regularly shows us God unsettling and moving his people in order for them to get into a better place. As we often say, church is the people not a place – we’re supposed to be a ‘covenant community’, a movement, defined by relationship not location. Like a natural family, whose relationships and core identity endures, despite changes over time resulting from adoption, birth, marriage, jobs, moves, as well as griefs and joys.

OCC will help us spread the word and invite people to play their part. They are well placed to do this, as quite a few OCC people live in Abingdon and South Oxon. OCC will encourage OCC people living in South Oxon and Abingdon to consider how they might play a part in this exciting initiative, while remaining strongly part of and supported by OCC.

We will also benefit from training and coaching opportunities, to help us learn from OCC as a thriving multigenerational and intercultural church. Leaders from OCC, as well as others from S&L Advance, will continue to help us in ACC, as they have done for several months.

A bit like workplace discussions comparing WFH (working from home) and RTO (return to office), both options work but present different pros and cons:

Church nearby provides church community closer to where we live, and significant opportunities to build relationships and see Jesus impact others. But smaller churches need everyone playing their part, and need to make choices about what they do and don’t focus on.

Larger churches in the city provide a broader range of opportunities for specific life stages, types of people or ministry interests, and training and support in a way that smaller churches can’t sustain. They offer a bigger crowd where people can be more anonymous; but being in a larger crowd can make it difficult to feel part of real community and to play a part. This can lead to ‘watching’ rather than ‘joining in’; consuming rather than contributing.

S&L Advance is our wider family of churches. It provides ‘apostolic support’ for all our churches, and has been providing a ‘support team’ for ACC for the last 2 years, since the previous Pastor moved on. The Advance Church Oversight team are overseeing the replant, bringing strategic support and wisdom, but working closely with the leadership of Oxford Community Church.

Since 2021 Lifehouse Community Church (Bicester and Banbury) have seen several new people successfully join in as weight-bearers/leaders, gradually over a period of months, through prayer, attention and conversation, so we are confident it can be done.

New people take initiative to get to know existing people, and existing people take initiative to get to know new people. We value and honour the fresh energy, ideas and perspectives that new people bring, while continuing to honour and appreciate those who have been in the church for longer. Working this through carefully and well has helped us build refreshed hope, a renewed missional outlook and an intergenerational culture in Lifehouse. We can expect and pray for the same in ACC!

We feel an urgency from the Lord to make this move, and are already starting to explore venues. Ideally, we’d move venue around Easter 2026, with Oxford CC and S&L Advance geared up to help us from January 2026. Following a move, and the ‘comms splash’ we will create, we may run an Alpha course in summer term 2026.

God spoke that even though David was not the one to build the temple, he didn’t hold back from preparing all the materials for Solomon. As we have prayerfully considered this proposal there has been a sense of urgency to respond in 2026, through prophetic encouragements, because of what God is reviving in the nation already, and because of fast-growing new housing around Abingdon.

Also, God has spoken further to Andy and Ruth about offering longer-term support during 2026, and mentoring new leadership beyond. Al and Caroline are also supporting ACC closely in this season. So, we believe it’s the right time to “launch the boat!”

We don’t know yet. This is a matter for faith and prayer. But we trust that as God has spoken about a move, he will provide a suitable open door as well as suitable financial provision, as we respond in faith! Some other churches in S&L Advance have made similar moves, leading to significant growth as well as helping with a reset of culture.