This summer, 24 mission teams and almost 1000 volunteers shared Jesus up and down the coast and across the state. 

Co-ordinated by Scripture Union NSW, Scripture Union Family Missions run each summer, continuing a mission tradition that began at Manly Beach in the mid-1880s. 

After severe disruptions caused by bushfires and then COVID, missions have now returned to full strength, with a surprising trend emerging. Teams have reported an increase in positivity and openness towards them and the gospel. 

“Around five to 15 years prior, more people within the community were indifferent, and sometimes even negative,” says Dave Tankard, associate director for camps and missions with Scripture Union NSW (SUNSW).

“Teams are seeing a correcting, or much more nuance to this story, definitely over the last three years.

“In my own experience, as well as hearing stories from others, there was very little hostility when doing walk-up evangelism, and even the seemingly indifferent were respectful.”

Some missions are set up in caravan parks, running children’s programs by day and community activities by night. Others are held in towns and regional centres, working out of local churches, connecting with travellers, teenagers or adults. 

“There are plenty of things in common, but the make-up of teams, styles of program and what activities they choose are all different,” Mr Tankard says. “The thing they have in common is they’re all trying to make Jesus known.”

Yamba-Maclean

SUNSW is celebrating the relaunch of Holiday Bible Club at Yamba-Maclean on the NSW north coast, after a brief closure. “It’s existed as a gospel ministry for something in the order of 40 years, and at some point in the last decade it began to have an affiliation with SUNSW,” Mr Tankard says.

Part of Mr Tankard’s role is to travel around NSW and visit different mission teams. When visiting, he has the privilege of witnessing the good work teams are doing and participating himself in various gospel conversations. 

While visiting Yamba-Maclean mission, Mr Tankard met a First Nations woman who attended Holiday Bible Club as a child, and had returned decades later with her nieces. 

“She had met a local Christian couple there [as a child], who are now quite elderly,” he says. “They still send her a Christmas card every year, and occasionally drop in and say hello to her. She spoke with a lot of reverence about these people. 

“She wasn’t a Christian, but she clearly felt that the kids today needed Holiday Bible Club, and that Holiday Bible Club was meeting their needs. She valued the kindness of people, and the good things they were doing in that place, and was going out of her way to ensure her nieces could attend.” 

Byron Bay

“In Byron, the team is called Summer Life Mission,” Mr Tankard says. “They’re deliberately trying to shape their programs and activities towards young adults and teens [and] they meet with lots of international travellers.

“I was present for a conversation with a young English couple who weren’t married. I was lifting up the Christian view of what marriage is. The woman seemed fascinated and asked questions around that. They were very happy to be prayed for and took a copy of John’s Gospel to read.” 

Culburra

Further south down the coast, the team at Culburra also had a year packed with gospel conversations. It was Lachlan Tough’s fourth full mission, after his first attempt at serving on mission was shut down due to COVID.  

“We had a lot of really good opportunities to engage kids in hearing about the gospel, and campers in conversations about how God impacts our lives,” says Mr Tough, who attends Pitt Town Anglican. 

Over the mission, 117 children attended programs and were taught John 3:16. Evening events included a volleyball tournament, trivia nights and community meals. 

“We had a conversation with a man and his brother who were camping at the park,” Mr Tough says. “My friend asked this man, ‘If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?’

“This guy was a bit uncertain, but he answered ‘Yes’ and explained it’s because he has done good things and worked hard for his family. His brother stepped in and [corrected him], saying, ‘No! Only Jesus can save you’. That conversation had given his brother an opportunity to witness to him about the gospel!”

He adds that beach mission is a “seed-sowing” ministry. 

“We’re praying that God would water those seeds through the year, and put people in their lives or churches that would prompt them to explore him further. We want these people to come to know Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.” 

PRAYER POINTS

• Pray that gospel conversations would bear lasting fruit
• Give thanks for the volunteers and team directors 
• Pray for positive relationships between teams and the caravan parks and the sites that allow them to run mission
• Pray God will raise up new directors suitable to take on the task 
• Praise God for the emerging number of inland missions, and ask that he will provide opportunities for more inland missions to be established. 

Thanks to Phoebe White for the photography