Joshua Maule spent another year on the Huskisson SUFM team on the south coast of New South Wales. He thinks aloud about why beach missions resonate so well with Aussies.

The SUFM beach mission set up in Gerringong.

Beach missions – or Scripture Union Family Missions (SUFM) – are a well-entrenched Aussie tradition. They happen all over the country – usually in caravan parks near the beach, but also in schools and churches, and in non-coastal areas.

For the families – many of whom plan their holidays to coincide with a particular mission at a particular beach – SUFM is an intense period of being included in a Christian community and is often a functional “church”, albeit an annual one. Many who would step into churches only for the death or marriage of a loved one, happily come to events in SUFM big top “circus” tents, playing trivia, or creating crafts, and hearing a gospel presentation.

It’s not unusual for children to be at the forefront of a family’s decision to book out a camping plot during mission time. Take the parents I met this year who were planning to camp with their two young girls at another location these holidays. That is until the older girl piped up and they re-booked the site near our SUFM team.

It’s not as if mission doesn’t have its detractors. A story does the rounds about a director who had to hide from an enraged camper wielding a knife. Then there are the less harmful but ever-present motorists who yodel abuse out their windows at the sight of an SUFM sign or a circus tent. The sun is probably the greatest persecutor of all, taking no mercy on active, young preachers of the gospel.

But for something so explicitly about sin and judgement and salvation through Jesus Christ, beach mission is terrifically well received. “Thanks for everything you do,” said one old-time camper who is not religious on my last day of visitation. “Youse are good people.” Then there are those more interested in what we stand for. “I’m just wondering what it would take for us to become Christians. I love being Catholic, but I can see Christians have a way of explaining the heart of what it’s all about.”

Beach mission team at Huskisson on NSW south coast

The idea really is to spend ten or so days with people on holidays, sharing God’s gospel of love. Often fruit grows over many years. This time we saw a young man put his faith in Christ after asking us rather directly, “How do I get my sin out of myself and onto Jesus?” At the end of mission I asked him how this year was? “Good,” he responded, “I actually made progress this time.”

Often the progress is slow. Or unnoticeable. But one thing mission shows me every year is, if we are willing and prayerful about sharing Jesus with our neighbours, it’s not so hard to discuss the deep matters of life, judgement and salvation. Aussies aren’t as closed off as we might think. It’s just that they don’t congregate naturally in our churches like they do at the beach.

One older bloke decided this year to take his grandsons to church after mission. It’s a big call for him because he’s tried churches in the past and says, “I didn’t find my God there.” While I could see holes in his reasoning, I wondered if his line of thought mightn’t be close to that of quite a few Aussies. “My God’s a God of the outdoors,” he said. That’s why he likes mission so much.

Paul Pallot , director of a THEOS mission at Lakes Entrance on the East Coast of Victoria, reflects on the highlights of this year’s mission and the value of summer missions.

The Lakes Entrance mission, begun at the request of the combined churches of Lakes Entrance, has just entered its second year. One of the aims of the team this year was to meet the needs of the local community. “We wanted to meaningfully engage the Koori community”, says a team member. “We had heaps of Koori kids, and they’d stay the whole night – which is really unusual. It was exciting!”

A bush dance at SUFM Currarong this year.

The team, larger than the previous year, had a bigger reach; an answer to prayer for director Paul. “It was the most diverse team I’ve ever worked with; but they really worked together to be the complete body of Christ.” Paul adds, “It was a highlight for me how well the team worked together. Some had never been a part of a Christian team, and it was great to see them learning through the body of Christ that what we’re doing is not an individual thing, and that we do it for God’s glory.”

This year, the team saw three people become Christians as a direct result of the mission. “You don’t really expect to see that!” says Paul. “Most of the time on mission you introduce God to people for the first time, and give people a different perspective on what Christians are like. Sometimes people have moved away from church, and we encourage them to reconsider the Christian message.”

“We had a couple of new guys on our team who were very reluctant about mission,” says Paul. “One had only been a Christian for four months and was very nervous. Yet in the end, he was the one who had a crucial conversation with someone about Jesus.”