Tag Archives: Andy Twilley

Remaining Living Oasis Stores hope to go it alone as Ray George pulls out of Christian retailing

Posted on July 28, 2011 by | 18 Comments
Update, July 29, 2011: Lisa Campbell reports in today’s Bookseller: Living Oasis owner puts chain up for sale
Network Leeds: Living Oasis Update - Latest on new premises

Network Leeds: Living Oasis Update - Latest on new premises

INTRIGUING POSSIBILITIES for the remaining Living Oasis stores are opening up as Ray George has advised workers at the Leeds store of his intention “to withdraw from Christian retail”. Writing to prospective supporters via Network Leeds, Karen Spence, store manager, explains:

At 9.30 on Friday 15th July Ray George, Chairman of the Nationwide Christian Trust called us to say that, with regret, he would be unable to take the vision for Leeds forward. He has taken a hard decision to withdraw from Christian retail and only Harrogate and South Woodford are still trading. These shops are also seeking future funding. We express our gratitude that Ray took on 19 former Wesley Owen shops following the demise of STL. He would still like to see the full Living Oasis vision of coffee shop, books and meeting rooms come to fruition in Leeds and Liverpool. The latter has managed to secure local funding which means it can move forward at new premises on Lord Street. Our priority in Leeds is to keep 77 Albion Street and see if there is any way we can take over the lease.

The official Living Oasis Locations page (screenshot below) now shows only three stores in the group — Harrogate, South Woodford and Watford — but the site continues to offer no news or information about proposals for further closures or developments. Watford’s future, however, appears to be fairly secure in the store’s effective partnership with Presence and with the support of Christian Gateway Watford:  updates are being posted both in their news section and via their facebook group.

Writing on facebook, Dominic Stinchcombe of the South Woodford store has announced that the shop will cease trading on July 30th, but offers the hope of “another party” taking the business over:

Living Oasis South Woodford ceases trading at close of business on Saturday 30th July. Negotiations and prayers continue with another party interested in taking us over, so do pray that the necessary finance is forthcoming. Thanks to all our customers, to those who have asked for ministry, and to those who have ministered us, especially the deep theological discussions!! It has been a privelege [sic] to serve you all.

Living Oasis Liverpool remain optimistic and Anna Bunn, the store manager, assures me that they are “doing everything that we can to get the store up and running … it’s where we will be updating from now on. So all I can say for now is keep checking www.livingoasisliverpool.co.uk for updates on what’s happening.”

Andy Twilley, who was Nationwide Christian Trust’s Director of Christian Life and Ministry and headed up the Living Oasis project, is reported to have left the company. No official announcement of his departure appears to have been made.

At the time of preparing this report no news had been received about the Harrogate store.

Living Oasis Locations, July 2011

Living Oasis Locations, July 2011

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Living Oasis Update: Harrow celebrates 1st birthday and Watford finds new premises

Posted on March 13, 2011 by | 6 Comments
Living Oasis Christian Bookshop Birthday Party

Living Oasis Christian Bookshop Birthday Party

MORE CONGRATULATIONS are in order, first of all to Living Oasis, Harrow, who celebrated their first birthday on Saturday 12th March with authors, guest speakers from London School of Theology, live music and much more — all backed up with homemade, fair trade cupcakes and tea & coffee.

Sadly I couldn’t be there myself, but if you made it, please leave a comment to tell us how it went — even better if you can supply some photos!

If Living Oasis Harrow is your local Christian bookshop, please use them — because if you don’t then we’ll lose them, and there’s been far too much of that over the last month!

Living Oasis Watford find new premises

Living Oasis Watford find new premises

Next up, congratulations to Living Oasis, Watford, who have at last managed to find new premises to move into. It’s sad news for That Burger which closed down next to Presence on the High Street, but great news for Living Oasis and for Watford’s Christian community.

Describing the move for Christian Gateway Watford, Jill, who works at the shop, writes:

We are so grateful to God for keeping us when other shops have sadly had to close due to lack of support. We desperately need Watford Christians to support the new shop. Steve Cardell has made this move possible and we are incredibly grateful to him.

The shop will continue to trade from Queen’s Road until 15th April: keep an eye on Christian Gateway Watford for news of the opening ceremony at the new site.

Please continue to pray:

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For I am ashamed of the Gospel? Concerns raised as Living Oasis declares plans to “de-Christianise” shop windows

Posted on August 10, 2010 by | 28 Comments
Nationwide Christian Trust puts faith in former Wesley Owen stores

The Bookseller, 08/09/2010: Nationwide Christian Trust puts faith in former Wesley Owen stores

CONCERNS HAVE BEEN RAISED by booksellers responding to Andy Twilley’s comments about plans to “de-Christianise” Living Oasis shop windows, reported yesterday by Victoria Gallagher in the Bookseller, Nationwide Christian Trust puts faith in former Wesley Owen stores:

Revd Andy Twilley, director of Christian Life & Ministry at the Nationwide Christian Trust, said: “The shop window will be a coffee shop, it will be a de-Christianised shop window and there won’t be Christian paraphernalia. We want it to be totally accessible to people, irrespective of faith.”

Responses left on the Bookseller report include questions about whether or not this approach is “selling out” on the idea of a Christian presence on the high street:

What is the point of moving the shops to the High Street if nobody can tell it’s a Christian bookshop!!! It does raise the question of whether this is profit coming before ministry! I will probably get lambasted for this – but why be embarrassed about our faith?

On facebook, Melanie Carroll of Unicorn Tree Books, Lincoln, who stocks both Christian and general books, comments:

Can we not be Christian and open and receptive to all anyway without need or want to make them be like us or for us to be any less than we are? Places of warm hospitality and reception for all and any but that wear our colours plainly and in so doing show how different from others perceptions of us we really are?

That’s what I try with my shop – being Christian is nothing special, it doesnt make me any different to anyone else, all the same things everyone else likes are liked by Christians, done by Christians and by being normal joe it’s easier to come alongside others where they are and in turn reflect the glory of His presence for them to find and embrace at their choice and in His time I think, however it’s also not something I should feel the need to hide or gloss over either because if I do tht what sort of witness is that in the end, what reflection does that case? a question for each to ponder but I do think at the end of the Day they are probably just trying to do the best they can to keep themselves going and that’s a fair thing for them to do – after all if they can’t run at a pofit then they are unlikely to be there for long and the question then is which action is the worst?

Living Oasis: 'Our Vision'

Living Oasis: 'Our Vision'

The Living Oasis vision is:

To provide a Christian presence on our High Streets, connecting with Christians and non Christians, fulfilling a mission objective, and providing a resource for Churches as they seek to impact their local communities.

  • Can such a vision be realised by “de-Christianising” the storefronts?
  • As Christians,  should we seek to be distinctive or to blend in?
  • If mission is the objective, is it right to effectively lure people in with coffee without letting them know they’re entering a Christian mission zone?
  • If you entered a “de-Islamicised” Muslim bookstore only to discover it was a ‘front’ for the local mosques, how would that make you feel?

Where Next?

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Living Oasis Update: Edinburgh opening imminent, Summer newsletter, Online ambitions and a DVD

Posted on July 26, 2010 by | Leave a comment
Update 5pm, 26/7/2010: News has emerged that negotiations for the lease on the former Wesley Owen premises in Croydon have been unsuccessful. Please continue to pray for all concerned as the search for alternative premises goes on.

It’s all happening at Living Oasis, with Living Oasis Edinburgh gearing up for a grand reopening soon — doors open Saturday July 31st, official opening ceremony planned for September — having at long last secured a temporary lease in the former Wesley Owen premises on George Street: keep an eye on their new facebook page for updates and photos (you’ll need to update your facebook ‘likes’ if you’ve been following the old Wesley Owen Edinburgh page).

Living Oasis: The Story So Far: News Summer 2010

Living Oasis: The Story So Far: News Summer 2010 (pdf, 1.5mb)

The Living Oasis Summer 2010 newsletter is available for download (pdf, 1.5mb) and includes introductions to each of the stores by the staff (pp.2-3) along with an outline of plans for a new online store due to be launched “by late summer 2010″ (p.4). Living Oasis online will seek to complement rather than compete with the high street stores, offering price parity with the shops in the hope that applying five key principles — summed up under the headings Excellence, Equity, Encounter, Expertise, Engage — will be sufficient to win customer loyalty over the temptation of lower prices elsewhere. A sixth ‘E’ — Experience — will no doubt prove telling, but one can only wish Living Oasis every success in the venture.

Now some reflections from Richard Howarth of Ignite Creative, producers of the Living Oasis DVD that you may have seen.

Richard writes:

AS someone who believes Christians need to be seen if we are going to be heard in the wider community, I was gutted to hear late last year the Wesley Owen chain was going to be broken up, with the potential loss of a well-known brand across the country.

But it was not just about the name. When so many people only latch onto headlines about declining church attendances and miss the good stuff – something I’m fairly certain of after 25 years in the secular press – the Wesley Owen story seemed to offer further proof of a religion in irreversible decline.

The reality, of course, has been quite different as a number of groups have stepped up to keep shops alive, meaning there have been more good stories than bad stories to come out of this situation.

The Nationwide Christian Trust is one of those that got involved. It saw the opportunity to rescue many of those shops that went into administration and also to develop a radical, long-term vision that would give them a much bigger profile on the high street.

Its Living Oasis brand has already had plenty of exposure as shops have been reopened but the plan is to do much more and fully develop their potential for outreach. They want to relocate them, put a coffee shop rather than books in the shop window, offer children’s play areas and more, while still stocking the full range of Christian resources.

This might all sound a bit bewildering for those with an expectation of what a Christian bookshop looks like.

So to show how exciting it all could be – and to encourage support for the plans – the Trust turned to Ignite Creative, a Christian video production company based in Coventry. The two had worked together before and the Trust was certain a DVD was a great way to get its message across and get people on board.

There was a chance to glimpse the future at the Christian Resources Exhibition in May, where Living Oasis had a working shop set up in the new way. This was also Ignite’s chance to do the filming ready for the promotional DVD.

Living Oasis DVD Still with Andy Twilley

Living Oasis: DVD still featuring Andy Twilley

Rev Andy Twilley from the Nationwide Christian Trust features on it setting out the plans and there are also interviews with many of the people who came for a coffee or for a closer look, including Adrian Plass and GP Taylor.

There was a real buzz around the place and out of all this, Ignite produced two versions of the DVD.

The Trust and Living Oasis seem delighted at the outcome, describing it as, ‘a resource which was far more than just a film… something which really made an impact in a way which would connect well with our target audience’ and hundreds of copies have already been sent out.

So if, like me, you have had spirits lifted by the great things that have happened already in 2010, I think you’ll be equally impressed if you see the DVD Ignite has come up with to show what could be happening in the future on a high street near you… and you can find a version right now on the Nationwide Christian Trust website!

Living Oasis DVD Still

Living Oasis mock-up store at CRE as featured on the DVD

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Living Oasis: Official Press Release

Posted on January 27, 2010 by | 2 Comments
Living Oasis: A Vision for the High Street

Living Oasis - A Vision for the High Street (14 page pdf, 1.7MB)

In the words of the inimitable Ian Metcalfe, straight from the horse’s mouth. Or, to be more precise, from the Revd Andy Twilley, Director of Christian Life & Ministry at Nationwide Christian Trust:

Living Oasis: A Vision for the High Street

In the weeks leading up to Christmas we waited with bated breath to see the outcome of the announcement that the Wesley Owen chain of bookshops had been put into the hands of administrators. The outcome; a few of the shops were taken over, but 26 were allocated for closure.

There is something really important at stake here because we believe that having a Christian presence on our High Streets is really significant. It isn’t simply the existence of a bookshop that’s important, but rather, we believe that each one represents a mission opportunity; an opportunity to impact the lives of the individuals from within that local community.

Part of the Problem
 Up until now, many of the struggling Christian bookshops have retained a very narrow focus, namely they have simply focussed on Christian books and resources, and thereby the predominance of customers have been Christians. This has greatly reduced their viability on the High Street because no matter how attractive the shop front, and no matter how well laid out the stock is, the fact remains, there is little reason why people would chose to go in.

A Way Forward
 We believe that by thinking imaginatively and innovatively, these shops could play an increasingly key part for the work of the Kingdom. It is naive to think that any specific model or programme could simply be replicated throughout the country assuming that if it works in one place it will be effective in all the others. However we believe that certain principles can be applied which could bring about a transformation. Part of that thinking includes the possibility of introducing a high quality coffee shop facility, a large lounge area as well as a children’s play zone.

An Expanding Vision
 There are ongoing discussions with Store managers and local Christians to see what might be relevant and possible within any specific store. We want these shops to become centres of activity, with a life and vitality which goes way beyond the products on the shelves, including possible ways the premises can be used outside normal opening times for other imaginative projects or events.

Widening the Mindset
 We will be seeking to envision local Christians towards a way of thinking which moves from Maintenance to Mission. We want these shops to not simply be places people occasionally visit, but instead are in a dynamic way being strategically used for the work of the Kingdom.

Partnering
We will be seeking to draw local churches on board to become stake holders in these opportunities, and get involved through prayer, volunteering and financial support. We are holding buffet lunches in 20 centres around the UK where Christian leaders will be invited for a buffet lunch and our team will be presenting our vision for the future.

YOU CAN HELP MAKE IT HAPPEN
To help this initiative become a reality, we are hoping that people throughout the country will want to be involved. We would be delighted to send you more information about the vision, and to receive a brochure, please call 01277 365398 (Option 4).

The brochure is available for download (14 page pdf, 1.7MB) and Andy’s full contact info may be found in the press release (pdf, 283kb) from which the above is taken.



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