Banbury Update

It has not been straightforward to establish a sustainable church location in Banbury, since church planting efforts started 20 years ago in 2006. 

Because of this, earlier this year we agreed to gather some trusted prophets and other leaders from our wider S&L Advance network to pray for Banbury, including engaging in spiritual warfare about the difficulties in Banbury. 

Alongside that, because of Ali’s plans (to move, as he gets married), we started to search for a new leader for the Banbury location. However, the team realised that they weren’t at peace that this was the right approach. 

At a prayer meeting on 17th May 2026, we engaged in spiritual warfare, as well as listening to the Lord for his guidance about the location. It was clear, as we prayed, that the Lord was speaking about any church/location plant in Banbury needing reconsideration of its foundations, culture and vision. 

Following the meeting, the S&L Advance Church Oversight Team and the Lifehouse Strategic Team both met, weighed what had been shared prophetically, and agreed that we should close the location for the time being. 

The last Lifehouse Sunday service in Banbury will be 12th July.  

We plan to end well, by celebrating 20 years of church activity in Banbury, and honouring Ali as he moves on from his role, as well as enjoying lunch together(?). 

We would love for you to still be part of Lifehouse, which means coming on Sundays to Bicester, being in a Community Group, serving, receiving pastoral support, etc.  

We understand some of you might want to find a new church home.

We will work with those that want to stay and be part of Lifehouse to work out whether to continue a Community Group in Banbury, or whether you would prefer to join in with other Lifehouse Community Groups. 

We are aware that, for many, closing Banbury as a Location will bring a range of feelings and responses. 

We want to support people well through change and have already reached out to everyone in Banbury for one-to-one conversations.  

We will gather Banbury people later in June for a together conversation. 

Lifehouse leaders remain available to Banbury people.

The vision we heard from the Lord remains as ‘Bringing hope to the Cherwell Valley’. As he has compassion for lost people, scattered without a shepherd, so we are called to have expansive hearts for lost people living in the region around us.  

Practically, people living in many smaller village and communities travel to larger towns for a lively church, and so our vision is beyond the ‘local parish’. 

We expect to continue planting new Community Groups beyond Bicester, in surrounding villages, and (see above) perhaps in Banbury. 

In due course, we will consider how and when we plant further Lifehouse locations in towns and larger communities in the Cherwell Valley. 

We will look to learn any lessons from this time as we look to continue to grow.