Our Story
A house, a school and a hospital
Oasis began with a vision held by our founder, Steve Chalke, to build a house for children who had no one to care for them, a school that was worth going to, and a hospital that would look after everyone in need.
Join a 40-year story of inclusion
This vision was rooted in Steve’s own experience. Growing up as a mixed-race boy in the 1950s in south London, he faced a lot of racism. “They used to call me half-caste,” he recalls. “People would cross the street to avoid me and my dark-skinned Indian father.” At school, he also faced rejection after failing his eleven-plus examination, “they literally told me that I wouldn’t amount to anything.” It was this deep sense of exclusion that ignited a lifelong commitment to inclusion—for everyone.
After launching their first project, ‘No.3’ — a hostel for young women facing homelessness — Steve and his wife Cornelia called it ‘Oasis’, because they wanted it to be a place of “hope in the desert of life.” It was here that the Oasis movement was born.
As Oasis developed, it became clear that having a safe home or a good education or effective healthcare alone wasn’t enough for everyone to reach their full potential. What people truly needed was something deeper: a community.
For the past four decades, Oasis has worked in neighbourhoods hardest hit by poverty across the UK and overseas to build stronger communities where everyone can thrive. Whilst today we work in more than healthcare, education and housing, the single thing that has threaded through all our work is community: a place where everyone is included, making a contribution and reaching their God-given potential. And that includes you! Join us and become part of a movement that won’t stop until there is no one left out.
