BBBM 07-08
Three things I learned while on Beach Mission:
1. People believe weirder things than you'd ever think possible! (I always knew this, but spending a week in Byron Bay enforced it like nothing else.)
2. You don't have to be a gifted, experienced evangelist in order to talk with people and tell them the gospel.
3. And I'm going again next year!
It really was an amazing time. The team was a wonderful group of people (and hey, I have so many new facebook friends!), and throughout the week we met so many people from all walks of life and our faith was challenged and strengthened though all the different conversations! The weather was crazy, almost non stop rain some days and even wilder wind, yet we were still able to go out on the streets, the beaches and to the pubs, and talk with people about their ideas and share about our faith in Jesus.
Byron Bay is a huge tourist town and attracts lots of people who are looking for spiritual answers, so we weren't short of people who wanted to discuss their ideas. And throughout it all, God worked amazingly to strengthen us to speak his word boldly, and I have no doubt that he's already watering seeds we were able to plant this week!
The mission is very much a seed planting ministry, which can be challenging at times when we don't get to see any fruit, but it's also really exciting and encouraging to know that we're just a small part in God's great plan and we have no idea how he'll use the words we said to further his kingdom!
I might have said before I went that I was just going as crew to help in the kitchen, but as the week progressed I had the chance to go out with some of the teams to talk to people about religion and I was also involved in the night team that we ran in the park (serving pancakes and Chai tea to anyone who walked by... a very natural way of getting to know people and starting conversations), and it was fabulous. Of course, there were times when you felt so exhausted and challenged that you just wanted to cry, but I was also aware of God's hand at work in everything we did and really encouraged that it's nothing we can do to convince people of the truth, but it's God at work through us and in them. I met Buddhists, Atheists, Jews, Christians, people who really hadn't given religion a thought at all...
And throughout it all I realised that there's so much I still don't understand and so mnay things to learn, but I'm so glad that I serve a loving God, who is working in me and helping me to make sense of this crazy world!
And the time we spent as a team, getting to know each other, having quality conversations, shopping, doing a random road trip to QLD on our day off, celebrating the new year hippy style... All of it was such a blessing and the good news is that:
I'll have photos in about a week and I promise to post them!
PS. The week was so huge and I feel like this post doesn't do it justice at all, so I recommend two things:
1. Come visit me over the next couple of days and I'll share about it personally.
2. Or just come on the mission next year and taste it for yourself! I highly recommend that option.
1. People believe weirder things than you'd ever think possible! (I always knew this, but spending a week in Byron Bay enforced it like nothing else.)
2. You don't have to be a gifted, experienced evangelist in order to talk with people and tell them the gospel.
3. And I'm going again next year!
It really was an amazing time. The team was a wonderful group of people (and hey, I have so many new facebook friends!), and throughout the week we met so many people from all walks of life and our faith was challenged and strengthened though all the different conversations! The weather was crazy, almost non stop rain some days and even wilder wind, yet we were still able to go out on the streets, the beaches and to the pubs, and talk with people about their ideas and share about our faith in Jesus.
Byron Bay is a huge tourist town and attracts lots of people who are looking for spiritual answers, so we weren't short of people who wanted to discuss their ideas. And throughout it all, God worked amazingly to strengthen us to speak his word boldly, and I have no doubt that he's already watering seeds we were able to plant this week!
The mission is very much a seed planting ministry, which can be challenging at times when we don't get to see any fruit, but it's also really exciting and encouraging to know that we're just a small part in God's great plan and we have no idea how he'll use the words we said to further his kingdom!
I might have said before I went that I was just going as crew to help in the kitchen, but as the week progressed I had the chance to go out with some of the teams to talk to people about religion and I was also involved in the night team that we ran in the park (serving pancakes and Chai tea to anyone who walked by... a very natural way of getting to know people and starting conversations), and it was fabulous. Of course, there were times when you felt so exhausted and challenged that you just wanted to cry, but I was also aware of God's hand at work in everything we did and really encouraged that it's nothing we can do to convince people of the truth, but it's God at work through us and in them. I met Buddhists, Atheists, Jews, Christians, people who really hadn't given religion a thought at all...
And throughout it all I realised that there's so much I still don't understand and so mnay things to learn, but I'm so glad that I serve a loving God, who is working in me and helping me to make sense of this crazy world!
And the time we spent as a team, getting to know each other, having quality conversations, shopping, doing a random road trip to QLD on our day off, celebrating the new year hippy style... All of it was such a blessing and the good news is that:
I'll have photos in about a week and I promise to post them!
PS. The week was so huge and I feel like this post doesn't do it justice at all, so I recommend two things:
1. Come visit me over the next couple of days and I'll share about it personally.
2. Or just come on the mission next year and taste it for yourself! I highly recommend that option.