This Celebration is a morning only: 10.00 for 10.30 start; ending by 1.00pm.
We are gathering with many others from our family of churches on 8th June at The King’s Centre, Oxford for our next Celebration. This is Pentecost Sunday, a day when the Church traditionally celebrates the gift of the Holy Spirit, God’s living and transformative presence given to his people 2000 years ago but still very much active in our lives today. We’re delighted to be able to welcome Ele Mumford as our guest speaker. Ele an her husband John were leaders of the Vineyard group of churches in the UK for many years. She’s a great speaker, full of fun and joy and has been a key voice in the UK church for several decades.
Life in the Holy Spirit has been a key characteristic of the Vineyard since its beginning and has also been at the heart of our own family of churches for many, many years and so we’re thrilled to be able to welcome Ele on Pentecost Sunday to stir us up again to be a people full of the Spirit.
Children and Youth
All children age 0-18 (up to end of Y13) need to be pre-registered to enable us to prepare well, get large enough teams of leaders in place and enough resources. We also need a big team of volunteers to support our children’s and youth work, so please help if you are able.
Sensory and Additional needs
We are aware that Celebrations are a different environment, which can be challenging for our children and we want to be as inclusive of different needs and sensitivities as possible. Our desire is for Celebrations to be times in which all of our children, and their parents can be spiritually fed. With that in mind we are working on increasing our SEN provision. In order to do this we need parents to share information with us in the pre-registration forms - this allows us to plan and prepare for the right number of volunteers and resources.
We will have quiet spaces available, with sensory resources and activities. We have a couple of pairs of ear defenders available in group, but encourage you to bring these with you if they are helpful for your child.
Pre-registration closed on Wednesday 4th June. - please arrive in plenty of time to register children on Sunday morning.
Volunteering
Our celebrations cannot run without a team of volunteers serving in a variety of roles. Please use the links below to sign up and offer your help! As well as welcome, refreshments and car parking we’ve added a site team, to be available from 8am for general helping particularly moving boxes of toys around and setting up tables, so please sign up if you are able!
Volunteers supporting children and youth will need to have a suitable DBS check and Safeguarding training.
Volunteer registration is now closed. Please contact Carol or Rachel if needed.
Offering
We will be taking an offering during our morning together - an opportunity for generosity! We believe God has ushered a new season into our family of churches - one characterised by renewed vision, fresh clarity and sharper missional purpose. During the morning Celebration we will be speaking into this and the offering will be a chance to sow into this new season. Please pray and ask God how you can participate in this.
You can donate online at anytime on our giving page.
Travel and parking
New arrangements for June 2025
Parking is available at The King's Centre and on surrounding streets. Please co-operate with our car park stewards, to use the on-site and on-street parking as well as possible.
In order to make the celebration accessible to as many as possible, parking spaces for those who need them (e.g. you have disability, mobility issues, elderly passengers or lots of small children) can be booked in advance. Click below to pre-book.
The remainder of our 90 car parking spaces, as well as 70 on-street spaces on Osney Mead are available on a first-come-first-served basis, with no time limits at weekends.
We also encourage ‘green’ travel by foot, bicycle and public transport. For map and info see www.occ.org.uk/directions.
Booking has now closed.
If you are unsure please contact Carol.Byrne@witneycommunity.church
You are welcome to bring lunch to eat in the atrium after the meeting before returing home.