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Our History

The idea for Water from the Rock (or WFTR) first came about in 2005. But as Femi Oni (its founder) has often said, kingdom vision is first created by God (in the heart of the visionary) and then it undergoes at least 3 more stages before it can be birthed. Those formative years (which you could call “gestation”) took over 10yrs. During this period, the picture of Water coming out of a Rock (the Rock being Christ) formed. The mandate for the organisation gradually emerged, with a clear scripture to back it up (i.e. Jeremiah 1: 9-10). In 2009, our first ministry activity was (and remains) to reconnect Christians with the hebraic roots of their faith. The pilgrim’s tour (and it’s now known) became the first of many that has now attracted believers from over 20 denominations to date. In 2016, God added to our work by compelling us to help restore the concept of discipleship back to the local church. Known as the Disciplers’ Workshop, it has now attracted delegates from over 15 denominations (with some of the workshops ran across 4 continents).

The subsequent years after 2016 brought many other initiatives which enabled us to gain charity status in 2020 (charity No. 1192140). We are a faith-based organisation – meaning we depend on God to provide for what we do through His gave and the generous donations of people.

In our collective desire to be a resource as many as possible within the evangelical community of believers, we hope to continue to grow – contributing in the way God’s grace allows us to, to the wider Body of Christ. Our visionary, Femi Oni, very much credits the success of some of the strong foundation of work to others whom he has served over the year (and on whose shoulders we now stand on).

Brief Overview of our work

By 2014, the core vision (or DNA) for WFTR was established and can be pretty much summed up in Jeremiah 1: 9-10. Our objective is to contribute to advancing the evangelical faith of the layperson by being a resource to the wider Body of Christ through the following:

  • Helping Christians to reconnect with the Hebraic roots of their faith (through our annual Pilgrims Tour)
  • Helping to restore the Discipler (the emerging leader) back in the fabric of church life (www.disciplersworkshop.com )
  • Serving churches or organisations behind-the-scenes who are going through the challenges of transition and “di-vision” and transition (Let Your Net Down initiative)
  • Working in collaboration with organisations or churches to provide preliminary training to those considering long-term humanitarian work in the developing world (the Macedonian Call Initiative or MCI)
  • Linking isolated small expressions of Christ (such as home-groups) with the wider Body of Christ (through initiatives such as “the Well” and the “Praise & Prayer weekends”)

For detailed information about each of the areas above, please visit our what we do page.

WHAT WE BELIEVE

As an organisation, we have beliefs which help shape our culture and values. Here are some of those beliefs:

We believe that the bible is the full authoritative word of God and refer to it as the foundation for daily living (Ps 119: 105; Heb 4: 12).

We believe that God gives gifts to men & women for the purpose of edification, exhortation and correction (1 Cor 12: 1-29; Eph 2: 20-22).

We are more than a charitable organisation: we are intentionally inter-denominational in our values and we are called to be a voice of hope & a hand of healing to the nations: (Mt 25: 31-46;1 Cor 3:5-15).

We promote a culture of growing people as part of our contribution in restoring discipleship back to the heart of the local church in every nation.

Alliance of Beliefs: Intentionally part of a wider family

We subscribe the basis of faith and beliefs of the evangelical alliance in the UK (www.eauk.org) and seek to adhere to a set of working guiding principles that enables us to do what we do without intentionally veering off from our core vision. Should you require more details about what we believe, please write to us at policy@wftherock.org.

OPERATIONAL STRUCTURE

We are a faith-based organisation (meaning we depend on God through His people to finance what we do). All our workers (including the founders) serve on a voluntary basis. As our work involves extensive travels, training workshops and international projects, we incur enormous running costs. As a result, we operate as a not-for-profit Christian organisation with business ethics. This means we welcome donations from beneficiaries of our work in order to cover our running costs.

Registration with the Charity Commission

WFTR is eligible for basic charity status in the UK but our work has grown beyond a basic charity structure. As a result, we have successfully been awarded CIO (charity incorporated organisation) Status with the Charity Commission in England & Wales (Charity No. 1192140).

Meet Our Team