Mark Aldridge – Minister in charge
Mark Aldridge is the minister-in-charge at Oak Tree. He is married to Kate and has four children, Hannah, Tom, Bethany and Simeon. Mark loves football and his perfect day would consist of Bristol Rovers beating Bristol City 6-0 and catching a musical in the evening. Mark doesn’t love grafitti and people throwing litter on the floor.
Mark worked for the Ambulance service for seven years before training for ministry in London and serving curacies in Bath and then at St Barnabas, Woodside Park, Finchley and prior to being at Oak Tree was vicar of St Gabriels, Cricklewood for ten years from 1994-2004.
Read Mark’s BLOG below
I LOVE YOU BUT YOUR BODY MAKES ME SICK.
Dear Oaks,
in John 3:19 Jesus says “people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
This weeks devotional is entitled:
I LOVE YOU BUT YOUR BODY MAKES ME SICK.
After 22 years as a church leader I have grown very used to people turning their back on the church. Sometimes, even quite often, they have cited some way in which the church has let them down. Other times... [
Read more of this entry]
Hot Thanks
Dear Oaks,
First things first. I am assured that the heating will be on at Twyford next Sunday. I am sorry that it was so cold last Sunday but at least we don’t meet under the threat of persecution or even death, as some of our fellow believers do!
Secondly a huge thank you to all of you who have pledged money towards the ministry of Oak Tree in 2011. Your faithfulness to God is... [
Read more of this entry]
God’s timing is certainly different to ours.
Dear Oaks,
Those of you who were in church last Sunday will have heard me say that the opening of 216, our new church building, has been delayed for two weeks. Instead of our hoped for opening on 16 January we are now looking at 30 January 2011. Even so that is only 13 weeks away!
This is due to the builders being instructed by the building inspector to dig deeper foundations. A very good reason... [
Read more of this entry]
Madonna is an idol to many
Dear Oaks,
Pop legend Madonna would be someone that many would consider to have a wonderful life. Even some Christians might envy her fame, fortune, talents and lifestyle.
But let me quote her:
“I have an iron will and all of my will has always been to conquer some horrible feeling of inadequacy….I push past one spell of it and discover myself as a special human being and then... [
Read more of this entry]
21 Days of Gratitude – Day 1
Today Oak Tree is thankful for:
The joy of technology to build community.
You can join in with us on Facebook or in the forum on the website by telling us:
What are You thankful for?
Last week, the staff took some time out of the busy office to pray and worship together. We had a brilliant time and our speaker for the day, Mark Philps from Christ Church in Harrow, shared his insights into... [
Read more of this entry]
Gratitude is a gateway
Dear Oaks,
As a staff team we went away on Tuesday for a day of prayer, worship, reflection and eating! Sadly Teresa who is on honeymoon and Tony who is on a course could not join us. But Mark, Carrie, Ruth and Thalie joined me for an enjoyable and profitable day.
As part of it we asked Mark Philps a local vicar to come and speak to us. The Lord led him to talk about thanksgiving, it was a very... [
Read more of this entry]
How are we winning?
Dear Oaks,
I have noticed how increasingly the church tries to attract people to its services. We add to the fact that we come to worship God and encounter Him, all sorts of other “goodies”. Food is an obvious one but we might add visual stimulation and good music and of course friendship.
On surveying my previous church as to why they came on a Sunday the result was: 1 Friendship 2 ... [
Read more of this entry]
Going further up and further in
Dear Oaks,
God appeared to Solomon one night (2 Chronicles 1:7) and said “ask for whatever you want me to give you.”
Solomon asked not for riches, power, good looks or even for Bristol Rovers to get in to the Premier League (my choice left to the flesh!). He asks for wisdom and knowledge to lead the people (verse 10).
In fact God gives him even more than he asks for. To discover something... [
Read more of this entry]
Dear Saints
Dear Oaks, (or after my sermon on Sunday should that be “Dear Saints”),
I am really enjoying studying and thinking about the subject of holiness. God is lovingly and mercifully challenging me to kill off any and every counterfeit god. It is a bit of mystery to me as to how this works for it is at the same time both painful and incredibly liberating.
Idols are slave masters that demand... [
Read more of this entry]
Holiness
Dear Oaks,
So yesterday (Tuesday) evening I was walking with two male friends through the red light area of Amsterdam. The prostitutes literally stand in the windows like manikins waiting to be bought. What was I doing there?
Well I will tell you what I wasn’t doing and that is being tempted. Not because I am beyond temptation, even Jesus was tempted, but simply because the horror of... [
Read more of this entry]
