About Us
Welcome to Emmanuel Church Bicester (ECB), our vision is to offer fullness of life through faith in Christ. We're part of the Church of England, but do things a little differently. If you are looking for a label we are a charismatic, evangelical, Anglican church.
ECB started in December 2002 and was originally a church planted from St. Aldate's and St. Ebbe's in Oxford.
When we started we met to worship in Bure Park School in December 2012 we moved into our own building. We have grown from an initial congregation of 25 people to around 200 adults and 50 children and youth. In 2012 Emmanuel Church became its own parish including the areas of Bure Park, Southwold and Elmsbrook.
In December 2020 we planted a new church on the Elmsbrook Eco Town known as Hope Church. Again around 25 people were sent out to start this new congregation.
ECB has become a multi-congregational resourcing hub working across a range of ministry areas.
Who We Are
Vision
Our vision is to lead people to a place where they can experience fullness of life through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, (John 10:10) and discover healing and wholeness in the power of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthains 12:1-11). We believe God is calling us as a church to be like streams of living water flowing out from the building into our local communities. (Ezekiel 47:1-12)
Strategy
In order to facilitate this vision, we will continue to develop the main church ministry at Bure Park, alongside offering weekly online services. Our ministries include Bicester Forest Church, Space Makers for Families, the ECB Bridge Café, and Hope Church at Elmsbrook (our church plant). We also run the Cherish women’s ministry, chaplaincy work at Wyndham Hall Care Home and in local prisons, and place a high value on our youth, children’s, and schools ministries.
Small groups are central to our pastoral care and discipleship, and we support a number of mission partners both in the UK and overseas.
Structure
We use the Ephesians fivefold ministries model (Ephesians 4:11-13) to enable us to support and grow the church into fullness of life through faith in Christ. We call our support systems the 'Trellis' that we can grow the 'Vines' upon (John 15:1-8).