Oaklands Church was originally known as Swansea Valley Bible Church (SVBC), and was established in 1991 by Peter & Lynne Yeoman, who moved back to South Wales from Okehampton in Devon at the prompting of God. Our first meeting was in the band room (a tin shed) in Godrergraig, and over the following years the church grew, needing to move around to find bigger meeting places. We took ownership of their current premises in 1998, and have been there ever since; still growing and still seeking God's plan.

In 2009, Peter & Lynne handed the baton to their son and daughter-in-law, Andrew & Helen, who took over the senior leadership of SVBC. They have been in this position ever since, supported by a fantastic team of leaders who all have a passion for the work God has established. In 2010 this was reflected in the establishing of Mission Communities (think small house churches) in strategic locations across our area.

Over the years we have known God move in many exciting ways: the establishment of a school of ministry, planning and running of a huge multi-day mission called Shine that ran in the city for four years, mission trips to various countries across Europe, tent missions to small villages and communities in our area. Perhaps most excitingly, our Mission Communities have all since flourished and grown into their own separate partner churches, still linked with Oaklands Church.

During the Covid Pandemic, we felt strongly that we should focus more on these smaller, partner churches and aim to see them grow in God and become more firmly rooted in their communities. We also knew that it was time to change the name of our church from Swansea Valley Bible Church to Oaklands Church, in response to a prophecy about us being a field of oaks, not just a single tree.

Since 2018 we have been building stronger relationships with many of the churches in the city of Swansea, supporting each other in prayer (including running monthly joint prayer meetings) as well as being accountable to each other and planning future evengelistic events. We believe that God has plans for the city and are looking forward to seeing what He does there.

We are excited to see what God has planned for Oaklands Church - and its partner churches - in the next 30 years!

Oaklands Church ultimately exists to fulfil the great commission of Jesus Christ, through telling people the good news of the Kingdom, the discipling of God’s people, and the raising up of workers for His work. But what does that mean?

The Good News

We can know the one, true God. He is our heavenly Father and has provided a way for us to have a relationship with Him. This is through his son, Jesus, who came to Earth as a man and allowed himself to be killed in order to be the sacrifice that was needed to pay the price for ALL the wrong things (sin) that we do. So, even though we are not born holy, we are made that way when decide to live our lives for Jesus, and accept the forgiveness that He offers. Even better is that Jesus defeated death by rising from the dead after three days. This means that we don't have to fear death any more, because we know that our limited time on Earth is followed by an eternity with our Saviour!

Discipling

Followers of Jesus are known as his disciples; this is what we are all called to be once we start our relationship with Him. It's a lifelong journey of discovery, love, joy and grace. It's a journey that we make together as The Church. We are a group of people who all function together to accomplish the purposes of God, learning from each other, giving to each other, sharing and supporting, but most of all we grow in our knowledge and understanding of who God is and who He is calling us to be. We understand that even though Jesus returned to heaven to be with his Father, we now have the Holy Spirit dwelling with us; continuing to transform and equip us, to strengthen us and build our character. Through all these things, we show others who Jesus is and what he can do for them too. We believe that the local church has an essential role to play in reaching their community, eventually to reach out and plant further afield.

Raising up Workers

All this is possible because as we grow in God, we are equipped for the work of telling others about what Jesus did for us and what he can do for them. This is not something extra to fit into our lives; it permeates every aspect of our lives. As our understanding grows, so our desire to serve the God who has done so much for us will also grow. Whether it's being called to leadership, or to help with kids work, or to organise a food drive, or to train as a missionary to go abroad, we are ALL involved in the same work: the purposes of God. Following Jesus is not a passive box-ticking exercise; it is a rewarding, active life that is full of purpose.