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Temple Cowley United Reformed Church

Oxford Road, Cowley, OXFORD, OX4 2ES

Church office :

+44 (0)1865 751621

Minister :

Office : (as above) or

Home :

+44 (0)1865 421891

Email minister :

United

Reformed

Church

The

(in the interest of reducing spam there are no hyperlinks to email addresses on this site)

The ‘Cowley Community House’ Proposal : we need your feedback!

In May 2007, following much discussion, the Church Meeting decided in principle to adapt our large building to house a residential community. Since then much research has been done and we are on the point of submitting formal proposals.

We need to research the market for such community-based accommodation in order to persuade our potential backers that our hunch is correct, and that there are many people ‘out there’ who would jump at the chance of living in this way.

If you think :

you might have, in the past, been interested in living in such a community
you could imagine at some point in the future, you could well be interested

. . then read on : We need to hear from you!

Remember : at the moment it’s only an idea on paper and a dream in our church’s vision. The very earliest it could exist is probably autumn 2011.

What we would be offering :

a furnished private room in a church building redeveloped to house a community of about 18 people
at an affordable market rent (equivalent to good standard private room with shared facilities)
for between one and four years.
a large communal kitchen and refectory, quiet room, community room, laundry facilities etc.
in the centre of Cowley, Oxford : good nearby facilities (shopping centres, leisure centres, health centre, library). Regular buses into busy cosmopolitan East Oxford (1 mile) and Oxford centre (2½ miles)
above all : a unique and rich opportunity for personal development at many levels — see below

What sort of Community?

Residence would be open to all people ‘on their own’ (i.e. not couples), regardless of age, race, nationality, gender, disability or sexual orientation, but subject to interview. The common ‘house language’ would be English.

A Christian faith-commitment would not be a requirement, but it would be a ‘Christian community’ : that is, a community run on Christian principles, whose members — at least for their period of residence — would be expected to commit to active exploration of a Christian lifestyle. There would be an obligatory weekly House Meeting and Community meal, likewise (by mutual agreement) meetings for worship/study/meditation.

The dream is of a community that broadens and deepens members’ experience in every way, helping people to discover themselves and their place in the world and preparing them for ‘servant leadership’.

Working for change

With regular one-to-one guidance and support from an experienced mentor, each member of the Community would be required to take on one voluntary commitment outside the House :

to some form of community service (e.g. helping at the new Emmaus Community for formerly-homeless people next door, supporting housebound elderly people, assisting with the local Child Contact Centre, supporting asylum seekers/refugees etc etc.)
to some form of social or environmental activism, or campaigning work (e.g. inter-faith relations, party politics, evangelism, cycle campaigning, awareness-raising on mental health issues, peace activism, helping at the Christian Aid office etc. etc.)

Where possible, this service would be offered through the churches (especially the United Reformed Church) in Oxford and their related networks. Some residents may by negotiation be exempted from this commitment if their paid employment both fits the criteria of community service/activism and is particularly personally demanding (for example, a newly-qualified teacher in their first post). In some circumstances, it could (by negotiation with the relevant academic institution) constitute the practical part of a course of study.

The dream is of a community that enables positive change — in the community member, in the world, and in the church.

Send us your thoughts

If we are to persuade our potential backers that there is enough demand for this sort of ‘accommodation plus’ we need as many responses from people as we can get. We would be very grateful if you would :

complete the quick questionnaire by following this link.
the same questionnaire is available as a pdf download. You could pass it to others or post it to The Secretary, Temple Cowley United Reformed Church, Oxford Road, Oxford OX4 2ES