After 12 years, Athens finally has an Oasis.
Oasis Church held its first sermon in the Athens Middle School auditorium Sunday evening. About 60 people attended the local launching of the religious group, which started in a living room in Meigs County back in 2004, with the original name Meigs.
Founder and teaching pastor Chris Stewart and wife April Stewart planned to move to Athens to start the church in 2001 but then could not sell their house in Toledo and eventually moved into his parents’ home in Meigs County.
“(They) planted the church in Athens but it wasn’t God’s time,” said Chad Dodson, worship pastor.
Dodson and Chris are part of the five men who make up a group of elders that serves different roles as pastors within the church. Stewart said that as a “Bible-saturated church,” the responsibility of the preacher is to teach the Bible, not interpret it.
To become an elder, one has to speak up and exhibit qualities described in the Bible. There are currently no official female elders at this point, but Chris said if a woman wanted to become a leader there would be a discussion about how that would fit in with the message of the Bible.
The church will not focus on topical sermons but instead work through different books individually. The gospel of John will be the first book, which the group will begin teaching next week. Sunday’s sermon was to inform the congregation of the church’s purpose and to “celebrate.”
“Our main goal is largely trying to reach the unchurched,” said Dodson. “The biggest thing is to appeal to all people.”
Smiles Welch, an elder, said the organization doesn’t actively recruit members and believes members will be drawn to the church’s message. Out of about 60 people who attended Sunday, Welch estimated that about half were new to the church.
Welch’s wife, Space Welch, said in other churches Jesus’ message of acceptance can fade.
“ ‘The Church’ in America is doing a sad job,” she said. “People are scared out of churches … (they do a) bad job of loving people. We will be a church who loves people.”
Chris said Oasis is funded through member donations to pay for the rented space as well as the salaries of the only two paid elders — Dodson and Chris.
Although its method is reformed theology, the group uses contemporary styles in its sermons. For instance, a band at the front of the auditorium led the congregation in songs that were more modern than traditional hymns.
“We try to do everything we do the way the Bible instructs us to,” Chris said.
eb104010@ohiou.edu
@EmilyMBamforth
sm559111@ohiou.edu
@sophie_mitchem
