All Saints in Milford on Sea took church onto the beach on a sunny Sunday morning to live out their vision of ‘sharing the love and life of Jesus’.
There was no service, but tea, coffee and hot dogs were on offer to open up conversations about faith, church and Jesus and help build relationships in the community.
Revd Tasha Anderson, Vicar of All Saints and St Mary’s, said, “As a church, we have intentionally spent this last year looking at what we call ‘Living Out Luke’. We’ve been going through the Gospel of Luke, not for us to know more, but with the intention for us to learn to live out our faith better within everyday life. So today we decided we that we weren’t going to do church in the church building, we were going to be church out on the beach, talking to anyone and everyone who comes by and sharing faith. It’s an opportunity to really live out our faith in a way that reaches out to our community.”
Curate Sam Dinsmore added, “We’re just trying to be a presence in Milford, we love the town and love to get outside the church. We have this massive resource of the seafront, we have all these visitors who come down every summer, so we’re trying to meet them where they are and just bless the town we live in.”
The church has also been running the ‘Talking Jesus’ course to help encourage people to share their faith with friends, colleagues and neighbours. Blessings on the Beach aimed to put this into practice and to give people confidence to talk about Jesus.
17-year-old Isaac Pinnell said, “We’ve got this incredible beach and it’s a great opportunity to evangelise to people, to have them just come along, offer them a sausage and to be able to talk about Jesus. We can invite people to come along to church, plant seeds and share the gospel.”
There were copies of Luke’s Gospel to give away for both adults and children as well as a ‘Try Praying’ booklet and activity sheets. Prayers were also offered, or people could write prayer requests and leave them in a basket.
Churchwarden Annabelle Taylor also leads the pastoral team. She said, “I’m quite passionate about prayer, so it’s just letting people know that we are happy to pray. Sometimes that’s had a mixed response, but we have asked people to write their prayers down, which they often feel a bit more comfortable about as opposed to praying out loud in the moment. Maybe it’s that first step of many and that’s our hope and prayer. Doing the ‘Talking Jesus’ course was good because it makes you realise that little steps do make a difference.”
The beach event was also an opportunity for the church to share information about summer services and the upcoming children’s holiday club, the first held by the church in a number of years.
Rebecca Webb, Families and Schools Leader, said, “I think it’s so important that we get out into the local community, that we are visible and seen and the beach is just a beautiful place to celebrate God’s glory.”
The sunny August Sunday saw a good turnout, with people stopping to find out more. Although the church regularly holds services on the beach, this was the first event of its kind.
Kate Pinnell, who was in charge of catering, added, “Sometimes we expect people to come up to church and cross over the threshold, but we can just bring church to them. It’s such a good witness and conversation starter because people say, ‘why are you doing this’ and ‘what’s this all about?’ I think some of the local people thought, ‘where’s the service?’ but we’re just being here today and having good conversations because with a service, sometimes people come and watch and then they go away without engaging. Today it’s lovely to see people just chatting to each other, the fellowship of the church family, but also holiday makers and beach hut neighbours too.”
Revd Tasha commented, “This is an opportunity not to be church by putting on a service on a beach, but to be church by just chatting, building relationship and offering to pray to others. We know times are difficult and tough for many, so I hope there’s something here where people see a light shining, hope shining, people who care and want to listen, who are ready to pray and believe in a God who answers prayer. If some of that can rub off on those who maybe have had negative experiences of church or no experience of church or faith, then that’s a good step forward for us.”
