At OSCAR, Your Mission is Our Mission. OSCAR exists to support you and the mission that God has called you to.
With a wide range of resources to keep Christian individuals and charities from having to do it all themselves, OSCAR comes alongside each one in a variety of ways.
Owen Davies, Shunem Trust
Without a website, Shunem Trust advertises its two missionary houses on OSCAR with more than half of its enquiries coming from the site.
In that way, OSCAR is helping missionaries find the care and rest they need on leave and sabbatical!
Shunem Trust does not solicit testimonials. They don’t even have a website! They rely heavily on organisations like OSCAR to make their services known, stating, "I don't know where we would be without OSCAR as most of our referrals come from your website."
In fact, two of the last three guests this year who wrote thank you notes came from OSCAR and describe how grateful they were for the services offered through a Shunem Trust house.
One British homeschooling family shared,
“We cannot say enough how blessed we have been by this wonderful house. We’ve loved being there and leave with so many happy memories of fun, games, rest, homeschooling, friendship and family fellowship. From the very first day (your friendliness, a well-stocked kitchen there for us from day one!) to the end it’s been a constant source of blessing to us as a family… it has made a potentially stressful and difficult trip into something that was very easy and pleasurable and restful as we prepare to go back to Uganda for at least another 3 years.”
Another family of missionaries to Kenya wrote,
“Truly, the house in Thame on Vane Road was a gift of God to us! …having a space of our own, not living out of a suitcase... mostly having time as a couple to talk, to rest, to be on our own schedule, to spend time in prayer and reflection quietly without needing to be social... It was so what we needed! … Please know that what you are doing is truly meeting a need that so many are not aware that missionaries even have. Thank you for how God ministered deeply to us through you. Thank you too for making us feel so cared for!”
Shunem Trust was established forty years ago in response to a family of six’s unscheduled return home from the field. Taking its name from the woman at Shunem in 2 Kings 4:8 who provided meals and a room for the prophet Elisha. Combining the ministries of Mary and Martha as servants and carers, Shunem lovingly provides missionary houses in Thame to rent to missionaries on leave or sabbatical for two to six months.
OSCAR believes that rest is vital in the life of an effective missionary and is deeply satisfied to hear how those who desperately need it are finding the care they need when they return home through the well-loved houses of Shunem Trust.
