A local church should be at the heart of its community but how can church leaders, typically overworked and under-resourced, turn their churches into the transforming force they believe God has called them to be? How can they build a rapport and build partnerships with community stakeholders? How can they balance all of this with the competing demands of leading a congregation?

Church & Community aims to answer some of those questions and over time we'll be adding more resources that will help church leaders and church members who are striving for their church to be more socially active to make a real difference in their communities.

There are already some introductory resources and blog posts that will help you to think through what a socially active church might look like in your neighbourhood. But look out particularly for our Active Church Online course, which we'll be launching in the Autumn.

And do please let us know what you'd like to see in this section - our aim is to share what Oasis has learnt over 30 years of Christ-centred community development work and we'd love your feedback on what we're sharing.

An increasing number of Churches are openly committing to LGB+T inclusion. The Open Church Charter is a way for your church to make their position known and throw open their doors to people who are seeking an inclusive and welcoming community.

Is your church committed to LGB+T inclusion?

We believe that the good news of Jesus calls, welcomes and accepts all people into the family of his Church and that our diversity and openness are signs of his life, love and strength.  But we also recognise that building a universal Church in which all are – and feel – welcomed and included is still a work in progress, not only for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender people, but also for members of various other communities.

This charter is intended to make a commitment on behalf of our local church in relation to the inclusion of LGB+T people.

Read the and sign up to the Open Church Charter