OAKWOOD BAPTIST CHURCH

Church Profile

Welcome

Oakwood Baptist Church is a welcoming evangelical fellowship in suburban North London with ministries to all ages in the local community and a strong commitment to overseas Missions. Our ministry includes a range of activities and Home Groups, as well as Sunday Worship.

Family

Some of our church family have been members for many years, and we have also seen growth with new members joining in the last few years. Friends and visitors as well as most of our membership of around 60 come regularly to worship. Five members are currently serving in world mission.
The leadership of the church comprises our recently appointed Pastor, two Elders and eight Deacons.

Pastor - Gordon Penman (Pictured)

Elders - Isabel Bowman, Richard Brookes (Secretary)

Deacons - Eileen Bourn, Doris Hakansson, Rod Lisk, Norma Oliver-Davis (Treasurer), Jackie Sibuns, Marlies Thomas, Richard Ward, Karen Palmer

Future

We want to honour the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and aim together to show:

Vital worship and prayer
Faithful Bible preaching
Fruitful local evangelism
Practical service to the community

We want to share a strong life together which encourages personal spiritual growth. Oakwood continues a lively Bible-based Baptist tradition, and a conservative but contemporary approach to worship.

We are looking ahead and praying for growth, working to develop our vision for mission and outreach together with our new Pastor.

Worship

We meet together on Sundays at 10.30am and 6.30pm each week. These services incorporate Communion on the first Sunday evening and third Sunday morning of the month. The second Sunday morning is a Family service when all ages share the whole service together. Preaching ministry is brought regularly by the Pastor, and sometimes by church members. We are accompanied by a number of musicians mostly using the grand piano, and we like to include other participation. Our style is fairly traditional but relaxed and includes hymns, songs, prayer, Bible reading and preaching. We sing many Mission Praise songs and use data projection for these as well as other material.

Home Groups meet on two Wednesdays each month for Bible study, prayer and fellowship. On the third Wednesday every month we have a Members’ meeting to share our life together.

Young People

Our work for young people follows the theme of Oakwood Adventure, which provides groups catering for all ages to 18. These weekly activities include fun and teaching aspects within each group. We have implemented a child protection policy based on Safe to Grow which covers all these groups, and two children’s advocates have been appointed.

Sunday - Adventurers is a Sunday School for children aged 3 to 16

Weekdays - Squirrels is for ages 5 to 7
Acorns is for ages 7 to 12
Teenage Bible study

Activities

We have recently begun our first course of Christianity Explored and hope to make this available.
Crossroads is an open group looking at a different aspect of the Christian Faith each Tuesday evening.
A weekly Luncheon Club is organized jointly with two other local churches on our premises.
The Women’s Fellowship meets on Thursday afternoons.
A Congolese Church has use of the main building on Sunday afternoons.
The halls are regularly hired for other activities not directly organized by the Church which include Tumble Tots, dance classes and polling station.

Premises

The church can accommodate 250 people in the main worship area which is entered through a spacious lobby, and several rooms lead off with toilets, vestry, office, Sunday School and utility rooms. Linked to this is a large hall, with a lounge and kitchen.

Dating from 1935, the premises have been extended and improved over the years, with the addition of carpeting, comfortable seating and contemporary sound and projection facilities. Access for people with disabilities has been provided with ramped wheelchair access to the main church, an adapted toilet and an induction loop system.

The buildings are set in open grounds of grass and trees extending to more than 2 acres belonging to the church, including a large car park with space for around 50 cars. A corner plot has been leased to English Churches Housing and used to build a block of 14 flats for the elderly.

History

Oakwood is part of Southgate, which in turn is situated in the London Borough of Enfield. Southgate originated as a tiny hamlet which grew up in the northwestern corner of Edmonton parish, along the southern boundary of Enfield Chase. The name derived from the South Gate of the Chase, which stood roughly where Chase Road now joins Winchmore Hill Road. The first attempt at suburban development in Southgate dates from 1853. The area is now a mixture of differing suburban housing and wooded parkland, and Oakwood is served with a variety of local retail premises.

The Baptist Church is situated within half a mile of Oakwood Underground Station, near the end of the Cockfosters branch of the Piccadilly Line. The Church began its life in 1884, originally at Chase Road Chapel, and then in Chase Side, Southgate. In November 1935 the move took place to new purpose built premises on the current site and the estate around the church began to be developed. There was considerable growth in the early years, reaching almost 300 members by 1957, with a gradual decline in numbers since then. Many members have gone into the pastoral ministry or missionary service.

Since 1935 the church has been served by five Pastors, the last two both for periods of twenty years. In March 2000 Rev Robert Davey moved on, and after a time of interregnum, the present Pastor, Rev Gordon Penman, began his ministry in January 2007.

The church is affiliated to the Baptist Union of Great Britain and the London Baptist Association, our trustees are the London Baptist Property Board, and we are members of the Evangelical Alliance