NEWS AND PRAYER - February 2022 - The Oakes
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NEWS AND PRAYER February 2022
desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/2022-02
2
4 We’re Back
We’re back. The calendar is full and we have all the
right sort of problems again.
6 Planting in 2025!
“We had a bigger dream — to see many more centres
becoming established all over the UK”
8 Working Well Together
Working towards our objective to “Equip, develop
and value all the team”.
10 Team News
Reporting on a number of changes across the whole
team. Some sad goodbyes and happy hellos!
3
16 Support Raising Workshops
Support raising is a vital part of life at The Oakes for
all the long-term team.
18 Facilities Update
The delicate balance between doing the everyday
upkeep and tackling new additions and changes.
20 Making Time
“Freeing up the team to do everything else … like
talking to the campers about Jesus!”
22 News in Brief
Kindness Values • Refresh / GYD 2022 • Gift a
Book • Volunteers Needed • Oakes Weddings
desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/camps22
4
We’re Back
by Johnny Gilchrist
We’re back. The calendar is full and we have all the right sort of problems again.
It is so great to report that camps are back in full swing with full dormitories
and schools queuing up to book a residential with us. Last year was tough, not
knowing which way things would swing but it is a great testimony to God and to
the team at The Oakes that as soon as the government allowed us to open again
we were ready and waiting to get back to the work the Lord has called us to do.
Not every camp centre has had it so easy and it is really sad to hear of centres
that have been struggling due to the pandemic but, equally, what a testimony
to God’s provision and protection for us. A special mention must go out to the
Impact Team last year who came ready to serve in whatever way and only really
got a proper taste of camps in their final few weeks. They were so adaptable and
patient as we went from no camps, to trial camps, to no camps again, to day
camps and then finally to half-capacity camps with campers sleeping over. A big
thank you to everyone for weathering the storm so well and leaving us in an even
better place to share the message of Jesus with children and young people.
Praise that we able to run full residential camps again and that schools are making bookings.
Praise for the prayer and support that help us weather the storm financially.
5 It’s amazing what you miss about camps though. Speaking personally, I missed the sound of campers running through the house and singing songs in the main event. I missed welcoming parents to the house and feeding them fantastic flapjack from our catering stars. I missed dumping buckets of gunge on unsuspecting team members and I missed fetching towels for campers who had just had a fantastic time on the mudder or rafts and not realised how mucky they would get. I missed the sound of the air hockey pucks pinging off the walls of the table and searching for snooker cue tips down the pockets of the snooker tables. I missed the smell of disinfectant from the constant cleaning of the house (hand sanitizer and anti-viricidal spray just isn’t the same!) I missed the sound of the doors as they sucked shut as excited campers bounced on the bouncy castle. But most of all I missed the chance to share the gospel with a whole year of children whom I may never see again. I really hope they come back. I am so grateful that camps are on again and I am grateful for the time the pandemic gave us to work on things behind the scenes. Our booking system is now better than ever; we have the new footgolf activity and improvements to craft, the Mudder and the ropes course. We have better training plans for training our team in every area of camp and too many other great things to mention here. Most of all though, we have a new appreciation for all the little things that make a camp so special an experience for so many young people. In Romans 8:28 it says: “God works in all things for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.” We are living testimony to 20 years of this truth and I pray in another 20 years I shall still be saying the same. Thank you to everyone for sticking with us and for making camps so special for so many people. Praise for the opportunities that arose to develop our camps during the lockdown period. Pray that camps will be able to continue running for the foreseeable future.
desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/plant22
6
Planting in 2025!
by Billie Thaw
Back in 1996 when Dan and I moved to Sheffield to begin setting up The Oakes,
our dream was to see the site up and running as a gospel focused residential
centre. Yet we also had a bigger dream — to see many more centres becoming
established all over the UK, to enable thousands of children and young people
to hear about a God who loves them and longs to be in a relationship with them.
The years have slipped past and I think we lost sight of this “bigger picture” …
until recently. Lockdown gave us the perfect opportunity to create our Strategic
Plan and a significant part of our vision is to seek God’s help to enable us to plant
more centres.
As we have shared this exciting news with others over recent weeks, the most
commonly asked question is where? However, for us, the most pressing question
is how? Although we certainly do not have all the answers, we feel it is essential
to establish two priorities.
Praise for the time to create our Strategic Plan and prioritise our intention to plant centres.
Pray as we try to make everything at The Oakes as effective as possible, ready to replicate.
7
Building a Team
The first is growing the Oakes team so
that we have enough staff to release
those who feel called to go and
set up another centre. To this end,
we are aiming to have an assistant
manager in every department, who
will be equipped and encouraged
Dan and Billie move into The Oakes (1998)
to potentially move with the plant.
We anticipate that some of these
appointments will come from our existing team, some may come from previous
team who wish to return to residential ministry, whilst others could be completely
new faces who feel called to be involved in this planting initiative.
This is really exciting. Please encourage family and friends who have the skills,
energy, enthusiasm and faith to see a new centre become a reality to get in touch.
Getting Ready to Replicate
Our second priority is to get all our
processes and procedures in order,
so that everything about the way
we operate is effective, efficient, and
ready to replicate. This is an ongoing
challenge. There is still much to do
and now we are back running a full
schedule of camps, our time is limited.
So, in summary, we are not currently concerned with the where, as we believe
that once we are ready, God will provide the site. Our focus is to prepare in faith,
with confidence and expectancy, that God will provide all that we will need in
order to bring about an expansion of His work, in His way, for His glory and in His
perfect timing.
Praise for the enthusiasm and encouragement we have received about our plans to plant.
Pray for the provision of more team, willing to be trained up and ready to plant in 2025.
desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/workingwell
8
Day out for long-term team
Working Well Together
by Pete Sanders
Most of you will be aware of The Oakes Strategic Plan that was put together by the
Senior Leadership Team during mid-2020 which covered the mission and vision
of The Oakes, the six goals by which these were to be delivered and over 180
specific milestone actions stretching up to ten years into the future. For the Plan
to make any difference to the future of The Oakes we have to all start “living and
breathing” change and being open to new roles and responsibilities, challenging
our current behaviours and rethinking how we interact with each other. We also
needed to really deliver on the Goal 4 objective of “Equip, develop and value all
the team”.
This thinking was behind a series of training and development events which
are planned for the permanent team members. The first of these took place
in November 2021 entitled “Principles for Working Well Together”. As Interim
Operations Manager, I was asked to lead the session and share some of the
excellent training and experiences that I had benefitted from whilst working for
nearly 40 years in large blue chip manufacturing businesses.
Praise for the opportunity to equip, develop and value the team in this way, and for the
training and experiences that Pete is able to share with us.
9
Subjects covered during this initial event included handling change, effective
team working, team roles, conflict resolution, importance of right mindset and
attitude, and the principle of “controlling the controllables”. In addition, we
covered how habits are formed and those positive ones that we need to focus on
developing in order to become more effective leaders and team players. Some
of the slides used are shown below to give a taste of the principles we covered.
The hope and expectations are that we will, over time, create a common set of
language, behaviours, and practical ways of working so that as individuals and
a team we will be able to work more effectively together at The Oakes and to
deliver the mission to which we have been called.
Pray that the team will retain what they have learnt and put it into practice — to be able
work effectively together to deliver the mission of The Oakes.
desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/team22
10
The Moore family (see page 15)
Team News
by Luke Holland
Impact Team and RTs
September often sees plenty of comings and goings as the
previous Impact Team say goodbye and a whole new Impact
Team arrive. This year, we were excited to welcome thirteen
new recruits from the UK, Finland, Germany and Romania
(including Lea, also from Germany, who was just with us for
the autumn term).
To run camps effectively we need a minimum of four males on team, but within
this new group of recruits there were only two! Thankfully, Dan and Marcus
applied to stay on for a second year and become Residential Trainees (RTs) which
has been a real answer to our “Blokes for Oakes” prayer … and an extra help to
Tom and Nat on the estate too.
Grace, who had joined in the latter half of the previous year, also applied to stay
on as an RT, but with a focus on catering — another area we’d spent a deal of time
praying about.
Continued on page 15
Praise for the new Impact Team and the energy and enthusiasm that they bring.
Praise for the RTs who have stayed on a second year and have already proved invaluable.PULL OUT SECTION 11
September 2021 – August 2022
Impact Team
Residential Trainees
Following their gap year, some Impact Team return for a second year as a Residential
Trainee and spend part of their time learning how to serve in a specific department, and
help with training and serving the Impact Team.
Estate Catering Estate12 PULL OUT SECTION
Open Camps Book online at www.oakes.org.uk/camps
Easter 2022 33% OFF May Half Term 33% OFF
1 – 3 April 10–14s £90 £60 29 May – 1 June 8–12s £135 £90
5 – 8 April 8–12s £135 £90
Summer 2022
24 – 28 July 10–14s £180
31 July – 2 August 8–12s £90
3 – 5 August 8–12s £90
8 – 11 August 8–12s £135
14 – 18 August 10–14s £180
21 – 24 August 8–12s £135
Christmas 2022 50% OFF
25 – 27 November 11–15s TBC
October Half Term 50% OFF 2 – 4 December 14–18s TBC
25 – 28 October 8–12s TBC 9 – 11 December 8–12s TBC
Praise for the 40 camps scheduled for 2021-2022 and pray for good attendance.
Pray for each of the speakers as the prepare their talks and share about Jesus.PULL OUT SECTION 13
Special Events
Family Fun Day Exploration Days
11 June 2022 10am – 5pm Thinking about taking a gap year? Join
us on one of our upcoming virtual or
Free fun for all ages (minimum age of 8
in-person Exploration Days and see
for some activities). Bring a picnic and a
how you can make an Impact at The
change of clothes!
Oakes!
More info at www.oakes.org.uk/ffd
26 March 10:30am – 2pm in person
26 April 7pm – 8pm virtual
25 June 10:30am – 2pm in person
13 July 7pm – 8pm virtual
RSVP at www.oakes.org.uk/ed
Coffee Morning
Work Team (15+) 12 March 2022 10:30am – 12pm
5 – 15 July 2022 Age 15+ Refreshments, followed by a talk and
Two weeks of maintenance projects tour. Bring a friend to introduce them to
and facilities development! Sign up at The Oakes.
www.oakes.org.uk/workteam RSVP at www.oakes.org.uk/opendays
Pray for good attendance at our upcoming Coffee Morning, Fun Day and Exploration Days.
Pray we would be able to accomplish a lot during our Work Team fortnight in July.14 PULL OUT SECTION
Who’s Who?
Long-Term Team
Director (SLT) Director (SLT) Camps (SLT) Operations (SLT)
Team (SLT) Camps Camps Catering
Directors’ PA Estate Estate Housekeeping
IT Media Special Projects Support Team
SLT = Senior Leadership Team
We’re still on the lookout for a permanent Operations Manager,
Needed
an Administration Manager, and an Assistant Catering Manager.
Please think of who might be suitable for one of these roles.
For more information please visit www.oakes.org.uk/vacancies15
Catering
Meg, on her final year with us as interim Catering Manager, had
been holding up the fort valiantly as we searched for someone
to take on this vital position on a permanent basis. We were sad
to say goodbye, but happy to see her embark on her first year
of married life with John Shannon (also previously on team).
However, in July 2021, in a huge answer to prayer, God provided the Moore family!
It has been a massive step of faith for them as they continue to raise support, but
Wayne has taken the catering role in his stride and, along with his wife, Indy, and
four children, they are a very welcome and much loved addition to the team.
Please note that we are still looking for an assistant for Wayne to share the load of
planning, ordering and cooking for team and campers on an almost daily basis!
Camps
At the end of the summer, Jhonnar’s time with us also came to
an end, leaving a big hole that needed to be filled. Thankfully,
God provided again through two new arrivals …
Since September, Beth Hutton (Joel’s wife and past team
member) has been working at The Oakes three days a week to help on this front.
In January, Luke Sherwood (another past team member) also returned on a full-
time basis to assist Johnny in this role. We’re very excited to have both of them
back on team.
Admin
Finally, Jonny and Erica Greaves, who have both
been faithfully serving at The Oakes for over a
decade, also felt September was the right time
to move on. They are now involved in ministry
on the Jordanthorpe estate where they live.
This has left a significant hole. Various team and
volunteers have taken on extra responsibilities, but we still need to find someone
to fill the role of Administration Manager. Please keep this position in your prayers
and trust with us that God will provide as He has done countless times before.
Praise for Beth, Luke and Wayne (and his family) as they fill these crucial roles.
Pray for the provision of an Assistant Catering Manager and Administration Manager.desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/supportraising
16
Support Raising Workshops
by Ian Burton, Trustee
Everyone who works at The Oakes is a volunteer. This has been the case for the
20+ years of life at The Oakes.
Support raising is therefore a vital part of life at The Oakes for all the long-term
team. In committing to raise their own support, all money given to The Oakes can
be invested into keeping camp fees low and making the centre the best place
possible for young people to have fun and to hear the awesome news of Jesus.
As trustees, our role is, in part, to support the team in this area and over the
past few years we have taken our eye off that particular ball. So, as we entered
lockdown we did a review on this subject. We identified a need to encourage and
help the long-term team, and also to raise the profile of support raising across
The Oakes.
So, in October and November we had two half-days of teaching and training
together. I led these mornings with Jeremy Sorsbie (from Pioneers) and Jo
Hopkins (fellow trustee). My background is pastoral ministry (for 20 years) but
Praise for the trustees and their desire to support the team in this area of support raising.
Pray that we will be able to put in to practice the things that we have learnt.17
more recently I have working for Christians Against Poverty (CAP), helping people
to manage their money, in many diverse situations. I also “live by faith”, so these
combined experiences meant I could bring valuable help to the team.
Throughout our two mornings together we enjoyed sharing the joys and
frustrations of support raising, as well as ideas for how to go about it.
We started by looking at the Biblical imperative and calling — the teaching in the
Bible about the Levites (Numbers 18), the example of Paul, and of Jesus himself,
who was supported by those close to Him (Luke 8:1-3). We also looked at the joy
of being able to support those in ministry.
We then looked at the practicalities of raising not only a financial support team
but just as importantly a prayer team. We discussed how best to keep supporters
in touch — how often and by what means. We encouraged one another because
it is not always easy asking others to support the work you believe God has called
you to, especially if some don’t understand your calling.
On the second morning together we looked at setting budgets and managing
our money wisely. We looked at the CAP money course and gave everyone the
opportunity to use a budgeting tool. As part of this we also looked at how we can
encourage, support and challenge one another in our support raising.
Finally, we spent some time answering questions about tax, national insurance,
self-assessment and pensions. All important areas (although for many
understandably quite dull!) to grapple with for us all, but especially for those in
Christian ministry.
From a personal point of view I really enjoyed sharing this time of teaching with
Jeremy and Jo, and we know the time was beneficial. Our prayer is that the time
will not just have been an encouragement to the long-term team, but will also
be a challenge in their support raising for the work of God’s Kingdom in Sheffield
and beyond. Following on from this initial session we, as trustees, will be available
to support, encourage and provide additional training where appropriate.
If you would like to support an individual or family at The Oakes but are unsure
who or how, then I would be happy to chat with you. Email me at IanBurton@
CAPUK.org or visit www.oakes.org.uk/support/families.
Pray that each family would be able to raise the financial and prayer support they need to be
able to serve long-term at The Oakes.desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/facilities22
18
Impact Team tidying up by the new drive section
Facilities Update
by Tom Clayton
Since our last update, we in maintenance land have been pressing forward
with the delicate balance between doing the everyday upkeep and tackling
new additions and changes. The “Facilities Improvement Plan”, part of our wider
Strategic Plan, has helped to organise us. It also reveals just the extent to which
things could be improved if we had no constraints with time and money. Please
continue to pray for us as we seek to find the correct priorities and use the time
and resources we have been provided with wisely.
Work team last July went well despite the extra headache of COVID restrictions …
• We replaced the gates between the house and the car park.
• We changed an obstacle on the ropes course.
• We dug out and altered bits of the Mudder assault course including adding
a sprinkler to keep it at maximum mud throughout any dry summer months.
• We cleared some areas of the new big field. The new footgolf course was
installed and enjoyed a good opening over the summer camps.
Praise we were able to run Work Team last year despite the COVID restrictions.
Praise for all that has been accomplished over the past year and the impact it will have.19
• We also continued to press forward with the
window repairs and draft proofing. Some
good progress has been made with the
windows but there are still some to sort out as
part of ongoing improvements.
Work during the September shutdown and
training period was also fruitful.
Footgolf course
• We performed the annual wooden floor
varnishing and team floor repairs.
• We started to clean and refinish some of the panelling in the Games Room.
• We painted and recarpeted the corridors and two rooms in the extension.
• And we replaced a section of damaged concrete on the front drive.
In and around all this we have installed a drying room in the courtyard next to the
boot room.
As we move forward, please give thanks for Nat
German who has been working with me now
for getting on three years. He came originally for
three months but has stayed on, proving himself
invaluable. He plans to stay another year which
is fantastic. Recently he found and organised the
purchasing of a second-hand two-ton trailer which
Nat on the tractor
has been hard to track down.
Finally, please have in your prayers a couple of larger up-and-coming projects that will
need more considerable funding than the usual stuff.
• Many of our properties are suffering from poor roofing and need repair. This will be
costly as they are Grade 2 listed and built using just about the most expensive stone
slate roofing material possible.
• Also, two of our large water heaters are right on the limit of their age and need
replacing. This will also be expensive, as well as opening a debate regarding what
is best to replace them with, given the way things are going environmentally. Geoff
Wilson (who project-managed the kitchen ventilation upgrade) is looking into this
for us, so pray we can find the best solution and have the resources to implement it.
Pray for wisdom as Tom and Nat balance the various aspects of their job.
Pray for the finances and logistics involved in repairing/replacing roofing and water heaters.desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/makingtime
20
Making Time
by Luke Holland
On each camp, the campers get to choose which activities they sign up for, but
how we do this has changed a lot over the years. When I arrived 17+ years ago,
we used to hand clipboards around at meal times. A limited number of leaders
meant we couldn’t run all the activities every time, so we had to make guesses
about which options to offer. The popular activities filled up fast and many
begrudgingly had to sign up for something else.
I knew we could do much better, so I tested a new way to sign
up. On the first night the campers would group up with their
friends and collectively choose all the activities they wanted
to do on that camp. I would then take all this information
and figure out who was doing what and, crucially, when.
It worked! Everyone was able to do everything they wanted,
and we used even less leaders than normal. But it was
complicated and took a lot of time to figure out — and at
the start of a camp, time is a very precious resource.
Praise for the role of technology in improving the camper
experience and enabling us to use our time more effectively.21
We could still do better … so I created a computer system to help. A few years
and improvements later and now all you have to do is (1) input the data from
the sheets (names now provided by the booking system) and (2) click a button.
Through a process of non-magical magic, they’ll be grouped as optimally as
possible in under a minute. Press another button to print out the lists and you’re
done. They can now also be shown on the Entrance Hall TV, too (see title picture).
Creating bespoke systems like this is something I really enjoy, especially when I
know it’s saving time that can be spent doing other important things. If a computer
can do it, then why not let it do so, freeing up the team to do everything else …
like talking to the campers about Jesus!
More recently, one of the systems I’ve
been working on is a catering system.
Fundamentally it’s a recipe database
and meal planner, and can scale
and convert quantities based on the
number of people needing to be served
and generate weekly order lists. The
eventual plan is for it to also link into
the booking system to flag up and make
it easier to cater for those with dietary
requirements. This is another example of
a system which hopefully will save some
of Wayne’s precious catering time!
Another aspect which takes an incredible amount of time at The Oakes is
generating camp programmes. The programme seems to change on a daily basis
in the run up to a camp as team (and campers) drop in and out and roles change.
It’s all done via spreadsheets at the moment and the copy-and-paste nature and
constant changes means it’s all very error-prone. I’m hoping to make a system
which will make it much easier to generate these programmes and save the
camps department a lot of time and stress.
Ironically, all these time-saving systems take time to put in place, but if these
systems are effective they can recoup that time and more. And, in building them
ourselves, we’re also saving money on expensive external software that doesn’t
quite fit our needs anyway.
Pray for wisdom as Luke develops these systems and that the catering system and other
systems planned for the future would be helpful tools saving both time and money.desktop www.oakes.org.uk/news/brief22
22
News in Brief
Refresh 2022
This year, the “Refresh” conference for
our team (10th–12th January) included
Bible teaching from four guest
speakers who taught us from Mark’s
Gospel and expanded on one of our
ministry values:
• “Word” (Bill Thomas),
Kindness Values
• “Walk” (Dave Fenton),
Our new camper values aim to
encourage kindness in grateful • “Witness” (Roger Carswell)
response to God’s incredible kindness, • “Prayer” (David Banting)
and to let God’s love flow through
us to point others to Him. These Billie and Ciara also spent an afternoon
values and projects linked with them looking at ways of introducing our
(memory verse project and kindness new “Kindness” camper values into
challenges) are now up around the every aspect of our camps. It was a
building, and are available for campers great time of learning and growing
to take home via our new camper together.
journals.
Growing Young Disciples
A few days later (17th–20th), the
Impact Team and Residential Trainees,
“Oakes Weddings” alongside a few Permanent Team,
(Weddings of current team or weddings enjoyed joining with other youth and
of past team who were both on team) children’s leaders from around the
July 2021: Sam Bronsdon (2017–2018) UK for the annual GYD Conference
and Tirca Pocsaji (2017–2018) (Growing Young Disciples).
Pray for our new “Kindness” values to become a living and breathing part of all our camps.
Pray for the Bible teaching received in January to become heart as well as head knowledge.February 2021
4th - 6thMums & Daughters 1 11-15
Dads & Lads
11th - 13th 8-12
Half Term
15th - 18th 10-14
Mums & Daughters 2
25th - 27th 8-12
March
2nd - 4th Manor Leas Jr Acad LINCOLN Y4
9th - 11th Dore Primary SHEFFIELD Y4
12th Coffee Morning (10:30am)
16th - 18th Mansel Primary SHEFFIELD Y6
25th - 27th Harris Academy C.U. RUGBY 11-15
26th Exploration Day (at The Oakes)
April
Gift a Book 1st - 3rd Easter 1 10-14
Around 1,600 books have now been
5th - 8th Easter 2 8-12
20th - 22th Totley All Saints SHEFFIELD Y5
gifted to supporters or sold online 26th Exploration Day (on Zoom)
through 10ofThose.com. Our “Gift a 27th - 29th Deepcar St John’s Jr SHEFFIELD Y4
Book” appeal has been set up to fund
May
a second print run. To donate, please
4th - 6th St Wilfrid’s Primary SHEFFIELD Y4
go to www.oakes.org.uk/appeals. 11th - 13th St Bernard’s High ROTHERHAM Y8
16th - 18th Notre Dame High 1 SHEFFIELD Y7
18th - 20th Notre Dame High 2 SHEFFIELD Y7
23rd - 25th St Mary’s Acad, Walkley SHEFFIELD Y4-6
29th - 1st Half Term 8-12
Volunteers Needed
June
We are so grateful to our wonderful 6th - 8th St Michael’s Primary DONCASTER Y6
volunteers, who help out in various 11th Family Fun Day (free)
departments every week. However, we 13th - 15th St Catherine’s Academy SHEFFIELD Y6
could really do with some more help, 17th - 19th Multiple Groups 8-12
24th - 26th Multiple Groups 8-12
especially in catering, housekeeping,
25th Exploration Day (at The Oakes)
administration and also leading 29th - 1st All Saints Primary CAMBS Y4-6
activities on camps. This could be a
weekly commitment, or just a few July
5th - 15th Work Team 15+
hours each month. Maybe encourage 13th Exploration Day (on Zoom)
a friend to come along with you? 24th - 28th Summer 1 10-14
Please contact us for more details. 31st - 2nd Summer 2 8-12
August
3rd - 5th Summer 3 8-12
8th - 11th Summer 4 8-12
14th - 18th Summer 5 10-14
Praise for our many faithful volunteers. 21st - 24th Summer 6 8-12
Pray the book will be used for His purposes.The Oakes Holiday Centre
Oakes Park, Norton, Sheffield, S8 8BA
0114 2359995
info@oakes.org.uk
www.oakes.org.ukYou can also read
