Oxford is the city of spires. It is, of course, famous for being one of the oldest and most respected university cities in the world.

Hillsong Church London has, over the past few years, been running Connect Groups in the city. Early this year, it started holding monthly Hillsong Oxford Friday night services in the centre of the city.

Mal Fletcher recently spoke at one of these services, held in the Oxford Town Hall.

‘This was special for Davina and me,’ said Mal. ‘We live just thirty minutes south of Oxford and I’ve been visiting Oxford in one capacity or another since the late 1980s.’

‘This city has such a long and proud history when it comes to the Christian church. The university was, of course, founded by Christian monks in an age when theology was known as the “Queen of the sciences”.’

‘John Welsey’s Methodist movement effectively started here when he and his brother were students at the university.’

‘More recently, CS Lewis, GK Chesterton and JRR Tolkien met in a local pub here, to share each other’s writings while they were in development.’

‘I’ve not doubt, from what I’ve seen, that Hillsong Oxford can become a major faith centre for this part of England, with a strong social conscience.’