Oak Hill newsletter
FRESH LOOK, FRESH OPPORTUNITIES Welcome to our winter newsletter! As you can see, since the summer newsletter, Oak Hill has gained a new visual identity, with a contemporary logo and strapline, and with fresh colours and typefaces. At the same time, we’ve also launched our new website, which is now one month old. Our focus there is on how Oak Hill exists to serve the churches, our students, and our alumni. The new visual identity and website bring a new look to the college and its mission. But at the same time, it gives us the opportunity to renew our deep and abiding commitment to training students to be the ‘best possible gift’ of Christ to his church. We do that through training and formation which embraces
WINTER 2018/19
UPCOMING EVENTS 2019 Why get ordained in the Church of England? event at Oak Hill 19 January Why get ordained in the Church of England? event at Holy Trinity Platt, Manchester 2 February Open Morning 16 March Open Morning 27 April School of Theology 9 July Language Refreshers 10-11 July oakhill.ac.uk/newsletter 1
both theological education and developing practical skills for ministry. It’s this approach which underpins our new strapline, ‘ministry for the real world’. Whether you’re interested in studying with us, supporting us, or simply finding out more about the college and its mission, please visit the website here: oakhill. ac.uk. You’ll find videos from almost every member of our teaching staff, who talk about what excites them most about the subject areas they teach. Also included are videos of Oak Hill alumni, online resources for ministry, plus our news and blog.
Focused and flexible
PLEASE PRAY WITH US Prayer is at the heart of our community life at Oak Hill: in the daily chapel services, in fellowship groups, and in lectures. Knowing that our friends and former students are praying for us is a huge encouragement. That’s why we regularly post our prayer and praise requests on the website, and also in the PrayerMate app. Thank you for praying for us. For our current prayer requests, please visit: oakhill.ac.uk/pray-for-us
Over the past few months, we’ve been discussing and developing a graduate profile, which sets out the character, competencies and skills we are seeking, by God’s grace, to grow in our students throughout their time with us. We still believe the most desirable way to develop these qualities is through a three-year residential pathway – while recognising it isn’t possible or suitable for everyone. We are working on how the graduate profile can allow us to be flexible with each student, factoring in their existing experience, formation and knowledge alongside the outcomes we’re seeking. It will enable us to provide appropriate training for students within their individual timeframes. We hope this flexible and focused approach will make the training we offer available to a new generation of students, as well as to a wider audience. We’re eager both to fill the college, and to be highly responsive to the training needs of everyone who is sent to us by their churches.
Practical support The way we serve the church, by training the next generation of gospel ministers, costs money. It’s no exaggeration to say that the current gap between our income and our expenditure is significant. We’ve been immensely thankful over the years to have the support of a small number of exceptionally generous donors. But we’re now looking to increase the number of churches and individuals who can help us do what we do. At the same time, we’re reducing costs where we can, and identifying further sources of income. If you’re glad that Oak Hill exists, and grateful for the ministry of those who trained here, and if you would like to support us as we prepare ministers of the gospel for this country and across the world, please consider helping us financially. Please visit the support section of the website. Thanks for your partnership in the gospel. Yours in Christ Johnny Juckes President, Oak Hill College
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WHY GET ORDAINED IN THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND? If you’re thinking about full-time gospel ministry, considering ordination in the Church of England, and have questions about Anglican ministry, our annual one-day event exploring the issues could be for you. The event is free, runs in two locations, on separate dates, and the 2019 dates are as follows: Saturday 19 January at Oak Hill College, London Saturday 2 February at Holy Trinity Platt, Manchester For more details and booking, visit: oakhill.ac.uk/why-get-ordained
‘TEACHABLE IN EVERYTHING’ One of our new students, Michael Williams (pictured left), from Gunnersbury Baptist Church, talks about his experience to date of studying at Oak Hill. Gunnersbury is an FIEC church, and we work alongside Anglican churches in our youth work and other areas of ministry. So it’s not such a theological stretch for me to be here, with Anglican and Independent students working alongside each other. I’m grateful to come to a place where I’m being tested on my convictions on secondary issues. It means I can do some really thorough thinking alongside godly men and women, so I know where I stand for biblical reasons – but also rejoice in the unity we all have here in the gospel. I think that having these conversations here will mean that they don’t take on too much importance later on in my ministry. The big thing about Oak Hill is it wants to be biblically informed in what it’s teaching. We all want to be teachable in everything, and to grasp better how the Bible is our ultimate authority. See Michael’s article, ‘Teachability is an ability’, in the latest edition of Commentary. oakhill.ac.uk/newsletter 3
OPEN MORNINGS Oak Hill Open Mornings are an opportunity for anyone thinking about theological training to find out what life and learning at Oak Hill is like first-hand. Our next open mornings are on the following Saturdays, from 10.00am to 2.30pm:
OAK HILL SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY 2019 IN HIS IMAGE
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In our day, the great battle for truth is in the doctrine of humanity. Who and what defines human identity? What are human rights? Who qualifies, and why? Are we mammals? Machines? Free-floating individuals? Or do we only find meaning in community? Building on last year’s theme, this year’s School of Theology at Oak Hill on Tuesday 9 July 2019 will analyse our culture’s varied accounts of humanity, and then develop a systematic and theological account tailored to meet the challenges and opportunities of today.
For more details and booking, visit: oakhill.ac.uk/open-mornings
Oak Hill College Chase Side Southgate London N14 4PS Phone 020 8449 0467 Website www.oakhill.ac.uk President Revd Johnny Juckes
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Language refreshers Following the School of Theology, we’ll be offering two-day Language Refreshers for Ministry on Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 July 2019, with a choice of Greek or Hebrew. The focus of these days is on revitalising language use for sermon and talk preparation. Programme and booking details will be available on the website early in 2019.