Up to 320 Christians, from at least five churches and two university ministries, from across Wollongong joined together to spell ‘Jesus is ___.’ on North Wollongong beach.

Held on Sunday, October 7, the gathering was just one aspect of a much larger campaign, of the same name, that ran across Wollongong throughout October.

“People really loved being part of the photo,” said senior minister of St Michael’s Cathedral, Canon Sandy Grant. “The photo gave huge leverage [to the campaign] and grabbed peoples attention. It sparked a lot of discussions on social media.”

According to Mr Grant, many people have been able to take the opportunity to strike up conversations about who Jesus is. He also said that many non-Christians have attended talks and outreach services as part of the campaign.“It has been tremendously encouraging,” he said. “The personal conversations are what it is really all about.”

The campaign, which also included people wearing t-shirts emblazoned with ‘Jesus is ____’ was a joint effort across denominations and stemmed from ‘Gospel in the Gong’ – a group who’s aim is to see their city saved.

“We can sometimes do more together that the sum of our efforts apart, Mr Grant said. “Although there are good churches in Wollongong, there are far more people outside the church and outside Christ than in.”

Another aspect of the campaign was a website that challenged perceptions of Jesus and encouraged people to engage with what the Bible says about Jesus rather than what society says.

Some of the issues that were addressed included: 'Jesus is anti-gay', 'Jesus is just one religion among many', 'Jesus is not God', 'Jesus is alive' and 'Jesus is not for everyone'.