Who are we?

Oasis North Valley is the second site of Oasis Church in Redlands. We’re all about Jesus and his mission. We seek to love God and others by being disciples of Jesus and making disciples for Jesus. We strive to be thoroughly biblical and relevant in our 21st century culture. Come join us in the greatest movement in all of time and eternity.

Why are we planting a church?

1. The Inland Empire is Exploding

We feel that multi-site ministry will enable us to become more effective at reaching lost people in our region. The Inland Empire is one of the fastest growing regions in the United States. As of 2005, the Inland Empire:

• Reached 3.9 million people; a total greater than 24 U.S. states.
• Will supersede the population of 44 U.S. states by 2020.
• Led Southern California’s job growth in 2005, from up to 56,658 jobs; which constitutes 22% of all new jobs in California.
• Has an income equal to Oklahoma, as well as greater than 21 states.

With the significant increase in population, there is the corresponding need for strategically located groups of missional people to affect regions within our community. Erwin McManus notes that churches which are particularly effective are those who perform “cultural acupuncture.” By “cultural acupuncture,” McManus specifies that effective churches have shifted strategy away from a concern about space and are now pouring their energies into place. This incarnational philosophy is formed by an urgent, strategic, and prayerful preoccupation with the where and whom of church. It is not enough that the church exists, but where and among whom does it exist? Is the church leaven purposely placed to have the greatest gospel influence within a community? Oasis North Valley will enable us to better perform “cultural acupuncture” in our burgeoning community.

2. The Church in America is Imploding

The need for strategically located sites has increased as the gulf between the church and culture has widened. Along with the population explosion of our region, the national scene gives us a sobering picture of a culture in which there are not nearly enough churches to effectively reach a general area. Thomas Clegg and Warren Bird observe that in:

• 1900, 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.
• 1950, 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans
• 1996, 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans

Ed Stetzer notes that, “in 1900, the Census Bureau counted 212,000 churches.
By 1995, the number had increased to 345,406, a 50 % increase while the population increased at an astounding 300 %” (Ibid). In a related study, George Barna relates that, “the number of unchurched adults has nearly doubled in the last 15 years.”

This widening population gap is symptomatic of a greater ill: on average, the churches that do exist are becoming less effective at evangelizing their communities. This means that we have a two-fold problem: not only do we not have enough churches, but of the churches that do exist, they appear to be the wrong kind of churches to effectively reach the surrounding culture, hence they are sadly disappearing without an influential impact. Note the following figures:

• Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only as many as 1,500 new churches are started.
• 80% to 85% of American churches are on the downside of their life cycles.

3. Church-Planting Seizes an Unparalleled Opportunity

These statistics could be cause for pessimism and defeatism. On the contrary, we believe that we are living in a time of unique and unparalleled opportunity that should galvanize the church into renewed prayer and revitalized enterprises for outreach. We have watched as the surrounding fields have grown into a ripe and harvest poised for reaping. George Hunter reports that we have 120 million secular people in our midst. This number increases greatly when we account for the large population of cultural Christians who haven’t been regenerated. These numbers make the U.S.:

• The greatest mission field in the western hemisphere.
• The fifth largest mission field in the world.

George Barna dramatically illustrates this by stating if we were to export all U.S. non-Christians to start another country, this country would be the world’s 11th largest country.

It is because of considerations such as these that we view site-planting as missionary work in North America.

4. Church-Planting has the potential of being particularly effective in our culture.

We have not chosen one of many equally viable ways of doing missions in America, but rather, we believe that site-planting is one of the most effective tools for missions in North America. Site-planting is a sharp sickle to reap the harvest in the Inland Empire (I.E.). One of the most quoted declarations within church planting circles comes from C. Peter Wagner:

“Planting new churches is the most effective methodology known under heaven.”

Tim Keller elaborates:

“The vigorous continual planting of new congregations is the single most crucial strategy for, 1) the numerical growth of the Body of Christ in any city, and 2) the continual corporate renewal and revival of the existing churches in a city. Nothing else—not crusades, outreach programs, para-church ministries, growing mega-churches, congregational consulting, nor church renewal processes—will have the consistent impact of dynamic, extensive church planting.”

Keller’s confidence is not without reason. Churches that have been in existence for ten years or more gain most of their new member (80%-90%) from Christians who have attended other churches. The typical new church, however, derives most of their new members (60%-80%) from outside of the Christian sub-culture, making new churches wildly more effective at evangelism than the majority of established churches (this also explains the slow death experienced by most churches).