Oasis: for people & community

As part of Oasis threesixty, you'll be based at a number of locations around England where Oasis Academies and Community Hubs are being opened including:
Waterloo, London
Enfield, London
Salford, Manchester
Bristol

Find out more about these locations here.

Yes you can! If you've already got a church or community placement in mind where you want to do a gap year, you can join in with just the training side of threesixty.

You'll still be a part of so much of all that threesixty is about including the national training (three residentials per year), the short course training (Esteem, Mentoring and What Every Volunteer Youth Worker Should Know) and you'll also benefit from tailored support from our threesixty staff team.

The cost of this tailored package is lower than the full threesixty option so contact us today to find out more.

Those on threesixty work with children at risk of exclusion, young offenders, the homeless, parents and the elderly; they develop projects such as children’s and youth work, literacy, sports and arts initiatives; they work as learning mentors, health trainers, football coaches, sound engineers, gig promoters and employment advisors; they tackle deprivation, challenge inequality, promote inclusion and confront injustice.

The thing is though, it depends a lot on you, your skills and your passions. For example Steve who was with us last year was interested in business and ended up running our coffee shop, business plan, finances, the lot – he’s gone on to study business while we’ve also got churches springing where you can be involved.

So basically if your thing is not on the list give us a bell and we can explore it. We’d love to chat.

Oasis threesixty is a journey of discovery based around two core elements:

1. Spiritual formation and personal transformation
2. Community engagement and social transformation

Working with Oasis staff and other volunteers you will be able to develop your current skills and explore hidden talents. You will discover more about your Christian faith and become more dependent on God. You will gain a much greater understanding of who you are, how you fit in this diverse society of ours and how to make a serious difference.

But don’t panic - we will guide and support you on the journey.

All those who join threesixty will be placed in teams of up to 8 people and sent to resource and serve a local Oasis Hub. Each team will have a team leader who will be appointed by Oasis and all teams will receive mentoring and personal development support as they work together within the local setting.

On your way, you could also work with local youth services, the police, churches, primary health care and social housing agencies, as well as a range of other community organisations to bring about regeneration and lasting change.

You will also benefit from the expertise and regular input of a wide range of specialists and practitioners.

Every person joining threesixty is required to agree to, and sign, the Oasis threesixty Code of Conduct. This provides details on the type of behaviour and personal lifestyle choices all threesixty's are expected to live by. In addition there are four threesixty rules which have been developed as a result of the many years of Oasis experience in running gap year programmes that form part of the code of conduct. We'll go through this as part of the application process but if you'd like to know more before hand, just let us know.

As part of encouraging you to live out your faith we will encourage you to live and buy ethically. We are keen supporters of Fairtrade goods and we as threesixty will do our best to use these products at our events. By coming on threesixty we ask you also to commit to buying Fairtrade goods wherever possible and to get involved with events such as Fairtrade Fortnight. Your training will also include fairtrade/ethical sessions.

All those on threesixty are overseen by an appointed line manager within the Hub. You will also have the support of the threesixty staff who are available for support and pastoral care.

You will also be appointed a personal mentor who will be there to support and challenge you during the year.

You will be challenged to think carefully about how you live out and apply your faith to the context and experiences that form your year on threesixty.

It is likely that you will face many challenges and opportunities during your time on threesixty. Together we will look for answers, solutions and ways forward. We will help you discover more about who you are in the process, as well as gaining a bigger understanding about what it means to have a faith that is active and engaging.

You will be encouraged to have regular contact with family and friends and all of those people who are supporting you.

You will be expected to write to all those who are supporting you both through prayer and financially, on a monthly basis.

threesixty can either act as a one year commitment or provide you with a strong foundation year on which to build over the following years. We will discuss the range of options open to you and invite you to consider becoming more significantly involved in the ongoing life and activity of Oasis through pursuing further options including;

Further Volunteering or Employment

Become a long term part of an Oasis hub team. All our latest job vacancies appear on our website here.

Further training

Alternatively, your year on threesixty may result in you choosing to train as a youth worker on the Oasis Youth Work and Ministry Degree Course.

Education

Previous threesixty’s have decided to study at a University near where one of the Oasis Hubs are located. By doing this you will have the option to continue with the kind of work you have been doing on threesixty for the duration of your time at University. You can be sure there will always be plenty for you to do and get involved in!