“What is the Oasis purpose statement?”
In accordance with and submission to the purpose statement of Sylvania Church (“Sylvania exists to magnify God through worship, nurture, and outreach”), “The Oasis exists to be a unified body of students (Eph. 4, Phil. 1-2) who express love for God (Jn. 4:24, Mt. 22:37), love for people (Mt. 22:39), and seek to make followers of Christ throughout the world” (Mt. 28:16-20).
“What is the Oasis philosophy of ministry?”
Our philosophy of ministry shapes the way we approach fulfilling our purpose statement. The following explanation of our philosophy of ministry comes largely from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians. Please call or email me if you have questions or concerns about any of what you read here.
1) Loving the God of Truth Necessitates Learning the Truth (Word) of God.
Following His greeting to the church at Ephesus, Paul writes:
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. I love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and on earth. In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, so that we who were first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.”
Ephesians 1:3-14
What is Paul doing here? He’s teaching. Why? Because he knows that people will not love what they do not know. He knows the Ephesians will not praise God and glory in Him if they know nothing about Him. So, Paul spends 3 chapters explaining the beauty and wonder of who God is and what He has done in Christ, and concludes the section in Ephesians 3:14-21 by praying for the people of the church at Ephesus to “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19). Matthew Mead describes beautifully the necessary connection between learning the truth of God and loving the God of truth:
“To make a man altogether a Christian, there must be light in the head—and heat in the heart; knowledge in the understanding—and zeal in the affections. Some have zeal and no knowledge; that is, blind devotion. Some have knowledge and no zeal; that is, fruitless speculation. But where knowledge is joined with zeal, that makes a true Christian” (Matthew Mead, The Almost Christian Discovered, p.39, pub. 1824).
Now, in the same way that Paul knows people will not love what they don’t know, He also understands that people often know things they do not love (otherwise he wouldn’t be writing these things!). For example, I know information about the Texas Longhorn, Texas A&M Aggie, Texas Tech Red Raider, and Oklahoma Sooner football, but I do not love those programs. Roll Tide! Obviously, football is trivial, but loving God is paramount. So, how do we respond when our knowledge of Him does not produce love for Him? We do what Paul did. He, 1) reiterates and speaks and affirms truth (Eph. 1:3-14), and also 2) acknowledges unceasingly in prayer his need for God to drive that truth into the Ephesian hearts, to cause the Ephesians to love Him (Eph. 1:16-18).
To make the connection to our purpose statement, we must see that we will not love a God we don’t know, and neither does knowing facts about God mean that we genuinely love Him. So, to “express love for God,” the Oasis must be devoted to knowing and glorying in and reveling in the truth of God while depending on the God of truth to “give [us] a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of our hearts enlightened” (Eph. 1:17-18) to love Him.
2) Devotion & Submission to the Truth of God Is the Foundation of Loving, Unified, Biblical Community.
Notice Paul’s instruction to the church at Ephesus. He writes:
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”
Ephesians 4:11-14
Do you see what Paul says leads to the spiritual unity God designed His church to attain? Growing together in the knowledge of the truth of God’s Word. Consider the common ground between the gifting of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers—they all teach the truth. You also see foundation of truth embedded into God’s purpose for the church to “attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God,” so that they, “may they may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness and deceitful schemes.” Rather, God’s desire for the church is that they would know and, as result, speak the truth in love. What we find in Scripture is that the Spirit of God works through the Word (truth) of God to unify the people of God. Therefore, for the Oasis to be “a unified body of students,” the truth of God’s Word must be on center stage, both corporately and individually.
3) The Primary Context for Loving, Unified, Biblical Community is the Local Church.
It may be rightly argued that those at Sylvania should love all believers everywhere. It may also be rightly argued that we are to love our brothers and sisters in persecuted churches. One may also rightly argue that we are to love our brothers and sisters in our workplaces, schools, dance classes, etc.
These arguments may be made in part because the word “church” in Scripture is sometimes used in reference to the universal body of believers, which encompasses all believers in every place throughout all time. That said, the predominant use of the word in the New Testament refers to a group of believers at a specific place during a specific time who “do life” together under the leadership and teaching of a specific group of elders. This second use of the word is a reference to what is sometimes called the “local church.”
In light of this, I will contend that the primary context for loving, unified, biblical community is the local church. Admittedly, I do not have a definitive “proof” verse for this, but I will attempt to portray this reality by demonstrating its implicitness throughout the New Testament. In other words, my argument is that the evidence that the local church is the primary context for loving, unified, biblical community is not found in an explicit command, but in the fact that an explicit command wasn’t needed because it was all ready assumed.
- The elders of the exiled believers to whom Peter wrote, for example, were not directly responsible for all believers, but for “the flock of God that [was] among [them]” (1 Pet. 5:2). If there is no specific group of people regularly gathering under the authority of the elders, then how could the elders possibly fulfill this command. The very issuance of this command seems to imply that there are specific people who are to gather under a specific group of elders.
- Not surprisingly, the opposite is also true, so that believers are not to submit to every elder everywhere; rather, they are to “submit to [their own] elders” (1 Pet. 5:5, cf. Heb. 13:17). Since it is obvious that the Hebrews 10:25 command not to neglect meeting together with one another does place the responsibility upon individual believers to meet together with every other believer everywhere, it follows, then, that those who are to gather regularly together (chapter 10) are those in submission to the same eldership (chapter 13).
- Paul told those in the church at Corinth that God gives gifts to them individually for the good of all believers in Corinth (1 Cor. 12). Similarly, those in the church at Rome are told to use their gifts to build up one another (Rom. 12). Is it reasonable to assume that the believers in Corinth are primarily responsible to utilize their gifts toward those gathered in Laodicea? Of course not. Both of these churches had major relational issues, and it seems that the point of both chapters is to encourage them to stop allowing factions among them, and to devote themselves instead to loving one another within the context of their local congregations.
- Etc.
The result is that for the Roman church, the primary context of loving, unified, biblical community was the believers who were part of the church at Rome. For the Ephesian church, it was those in Ephesus. For the Galatian church, it was those in Galatia. For the Thessalonian church, it was those in Thessalonica. And for Sylvania Church, it is those at Sylvania.
The questions we must ask ourselves, then, should include:
- Do I have genuine, brotherly affection for the people here at Sylvania?
- Does my genuine, brotherly affection express itself the way it should? Is my membership at Sylvania largely limited to attending worship services or am I putting effort into fulfilling the “one another” commands to those sitting next to me in the pews?
Our love for one another should be deeply genuine, and it should express itself outwardly primarily within the context of this local church.
Practically speaking, as we devote ourselves to the Word of God, the Oasis must become an increasingly unified body that carries each other’s burdens, prays for each other, corrects each other, rebukes each other, encourages each another, spurs one another on toward loving God and people, and completes the good works together that God has planned in advance for us to do. What opportunities exist for these things to be lived out? Oasis students will do everything from sharing meals together to bowling together to praying together to serving together to studying the Word together to swimming together, etc. I’ve been encouraged to see God sweetening and deepening our fellowship not only in the Oasis, but at Sylvania as a whole, so I hope you’ll commit yourself to being a consistent part of it!
