The Clean Up Australia Day festival in Maroubra on Sunday was a first for Maroubra churches and the local community. Maroubra Surfers Church and St John's, Maroubra, who ran the event in conjunction with two other local churches, have seen benefits that extend beyond community connections to giving church members an opportunity to face their fears and get used to connecting.

Maroubra Surfers Church is no stranger to local community connections. Their family "Grom Church' meets at the beach Sunday mornings, "where our community gathers and where we can easily access each other," says senior minister, the Rev Steve Bligh.

Maroubra Beach is very heavily patronised with 600 local kids in Nippers there every week.

Mr Bligh is confident that in the longterm, the Clean Up Australia Day festival will yield its own swathe of community contacts.

"We've already got connections with the community " this is building on the connections we've already got, and furthering other connections," Mr Bligh explains.

Yet he says this Clean Up Australia Day festival has given those in his church " many of whom are new Christians or "on the journey towards faith in Christ" " a different challenge in leadership and partnership.

"This dynamic of partnering, of having special tasks they've got to commit to and that we rely on them to do, stretches them, because it's very easy for people to just walk away from these sorts of opportunities because it's going to cost them a bit of time and effort, and be uncomfortable as they have to meet new people," he says.

Leadership roles undertaken at St John's also include running women's craft activities and manning a Maroubra Surfers Church stall.

Giving church members an opportunity to demonstrate and talk about their faith in partnership with other Christians increased the "not to be missed' factor of the festival for St John’s, Maroubra, adds rector, the Rev Jim Crosweller.

Members of St John's morning and evening congregations ran kids games and manned the barbeque, all wearing shirts identifying them as part of St John's Maroubra.

"It's easy to stand together with other Christians and it gives you courage for the next time," he says. "But everyone is fearful " even the easiest opportunity can be emboldening."

Mr Crosweller hopes that this boldness will lead to individual conversations connecting members of St John's Church with locals, especially Nippers parents as the season ends.

"We have a number of parents who take their kids to Nippers with good grace from us because we want to develop relationships through them," he says.

A little RESPECT

Another facet to the effectiveness of events such as Clean Up Australia Day is the community goodwill they create, Mr Bligh says.

He feels the event will heighten the community's respect for the church and its work. Indeed one of the visitors attracted to the event was local member Peter Garrett, who commended the churches for organising the day.

"I think it gives us increased integrity in the wider community, because we're actually doing something that is not really seen as churchy, but it's something that people from all walks of life could have a sense of connection with," he says.

Mr Bligh also says running the event has strengthened his networks in the local community, especially with Randwick City Council.

"I'm hoping this will be a pioneering venture in which a variety of sectors from our wider community can actually work in unity together to achieve some common good. And I know that that will have ongoing effects for the years ahead, because if this works, it'll open doors for the future as far as further community connecting and partnerships."

However it is also the prospect of joining forces with other churches with more regularity and depth that is motivating him.

"I'm hoping for ongoing partnership between local churches that are Christ-centred and Bible-based, so that in the long run, that will help show the community that Christians really do love each other, even to the extent of working together for common causes."

The history

The idea for a Clean Up Australia Day festival came to GracePoint Church Randwick's senior minister, Justin Pagotto seven years ago as he was riding his bike to work, and praying about "how churches can actually move out into the community rather than expecting the community to come to them".

Drawing inspiration from Fusion " who run festivals all around the world " GracePoint Church and Maroubra Junction Uniting's Project Green Church approached Randwick City Council about running a Clean Up Australia Day festival in Coogee.

Having successfully run the festival several times in Coogee, the two churches were asked this year by council to give Maroubra community life a boost by moving the festival there, and Maroubra Surfers Church was soon invited to join the team.

"Primarily, for want of a better word, this is a secular community festival that has been organised by churches," Mr Bligh says.

He extended the invitation to St John's, Maroubra, and the team of four was complete.

Mr Crosweller, says when he was "graciously asked" by Mr Bligh to be a part of the festival, he was quick to accept the offer.

"There are relatively few opportunities to stand up with other Christians so to miss out would seem a shame," he explains.

The council has stayed in partnership with the churches, contributing 90 percent of the running costs of this festival, with the churches making up the remaining 10 percent.

Maroubra’s Clean-up Day from go to whoa

After registration, the surfing community tackled the beach from 9am til 10.30, while six other groups cleaned up other spots in the local area.

Meanwhile learn-to-surf lessons were conducted by Let's Go Surfing, a surf coaching school providing coaches, surfboards and wetsuits, until 10.30, when the festival began.

Festivities included a barbeque, bands, women’s craft, facepainting, and children's games run by St John's Maroubra.

Stalls run by the churches and environment groups such as Planet Ark were also featured, along with an environment panel including Steve Bligh.

Mr Bligh's main message was that the care for the environment was a natural extension of the biblical injunction for people to care for others.