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.
Claire Franks, World Mission Coordinator, St. Barnabas Church
Claire Franks is grateful for a resource that she can turn to at a moments notice.
In this way, OSCAR is resourcing 18 full time missionary families or individuals serving in the UK and abroad.
Claire accepted a position as World Mission Coordinator at St. Barnabas Church in April 2018. This charismatic Anglican congregation supports 18 families and individuals serving in mission full time in addition to short term missionaries. Her position is part time- three days per week. With three years at All Nations Christian College and a year of study abroad under her belt in Latin America, she is responsible for caring for these families as well as keeping in contact with them. Arranging trips to visit them individually or with teams, she also posts their prayer concerns and makes sure that all are doing okay and not burning out. Within the church, she assists people exploring mission work as their life’s calling.
Having recently entered this field, Claire discovered OSCAR through a leaflet left behind by her predecessor in the position. One of the missionaries St. Barnabas supports also recommended she attend the re-entry course that OSCAR offers to become more aware of what missionaries face when they return home. With much surprise, Claire found out that the re-entry reality of many people is very closely linked to the grief cycle, learning that many enter a period of depression upon returning home. She also discovered singles adults and married couples have uniquely different challenges when those in her small training group shared from their personal experiences. In addition, she found herself benefitting from the training as it helped her process her time abroad as a student in Latin America.
These experiences have made OSCAR her “first point of call” when she wants to know something mission related. The emails she receives about upcoming courses with articles and guides for all sorts of things have already been helpful. So much so, that she’s created a resources folder where she frequently saves these emails.
St. Barnabas Church is a growing congregation of 500 that recently moved to the high road in North London. As part of a church network associated with the New Wine movement, they are committed to seeing lives transformed by an experience of the love of God and sharing all that they have received with a hurting world.
OSCAR is delighted to be able to walk with them as a resource and friend.
