Bec Hitchcock
Student at Moore College
Co-director of Gerroa SUFM

Bec Hitchcock didn’t think she would ever go on a beach mission. “I’ve known about them all my life,” she says, recalling when she was young and her godfather would leave Christmas functions early to pack and prepare for his trip. “But I didn’t get involved in one for a while. A lot of people talked about them being lots of work without gospel fruit, and that kept me away.”

It wasn’t until she started attending Northmead Anglican that she and her husband Alex had their hearts changed.

“We’d been praying for beach missions at church and we thought, if we’re praying for this then we should probably go,” she says. They skeptically went along, and found it to be the most amazing two weeks.

"We love our team"

“I was amazed at the gospel opportunities and the access that beach mission has to people who wouldn’t go to church otherwise,” she says.

A priority 12 months of a year

Now directing the very beach mission they almost didn’t attend, the Hitchcocks make it a priority amid very their busy schedules. Bec Hitchcock is a full-time student at Moore College, and Alex is doing a ministry apprenticeship at their church.

“People assume that because you’re in full-time ministry you might have more time to do these things, but our beach mission prep happens after work, at home in our own time,”  Hitchcock says.

Although it can be tiring work, she wouldn’t change it. “We love our mission, we love our team. As soon as beach mission finishes, we read feedback forms, we meet to review, keep contact and start organising the next year.

"There are so many opportunities it is insane"

“We’re passionate because of the gospel opportunities and also because of our team,” she adds. “The people you serve with impacts the ministry you do.

“Also, the opportunities to tell people about Jesus – there are just so many it’s insane. I met someone at the bush dance in my first year and we had many chats, and last year I would go and hang out with her and just chat. These are opportunities you don’t get in any other place.

“So often our evangelism is focused around getting people in the door, but beach mission is really about taking the gospel to people who might not come and hear otherwise.”