Fourteen Christian churches congregate in a one-square-mile of northwest Oklahoma City. Michael Wilson has started another in the mix, Oikos Church.
“In our area, Sunday morning church is done very well,” Wilson said. “The church buildings are full. These churches, though typically drawing people to the building, are not making a difference in their homes.”
Wilson, first graduate of Oklahoma Baptists’ Haskins School of Christian Ministry, started a church planting residency in January 2019 at Bethany, New Covenant Fellowship. Oikos Church started January 2020 without a launch or core team, but “by the end of the residency, we had two families in our community we’d started talking with about our Gospel family theme, which is Acts 2:46 played out,” Wilson said.
“COVID helped us hone into the mission God had called us to,” the planter said. “We knew the Gospel needed to infiltrate the home, but we didn’t know how that would be. With COVID, we had more individual, one-on-one discipleship instead of focusing on the large group.
“The families involved with us, they’re all young in the faith, if believers at all,” Wilson continued. “We’re intentional with touching base with our neighbors three times a week face to face.”
Oikos Church hosts biweekly Community Nights where the Gospel family and those they invite gather for food, games and fellowship.
“Basically, we party,” Wilson said. Rather than surprising attendees with an unexpected Bible study, “We look on a personal basis for ways to use the hopes and hurts of people and turn them back to the story of God.
“As Christians, we’re accountable before God to share the story of God,” Wilson continued. “We’re all made in the image of God, and our lives are direct depictions of the overarching redemptive story of God.”
Being aware of opportunities to “bless people” is another facet of Oikos Church on both an individual basis as well as church-wide endeavor.
Because of the generous giving of Oklahoma Baptists through the Cooperative Program, an amazing array of ministries are supported. This unified giving encourages fellowship with other believers all over the world. Collectively, Oklahoma Baptists are advancing the Gospel together.
Michael Wilson was featured in the 2021 Missionary Prayer Guide for Oklahoma Baptists. To see Church Planter Wilson’s prayer requests, visit oklahomabaptists.org/cp.
