I got back on Saturday from two weeks of sun, sea and frantic activity running activities and seeking to share God’s big story of redemption with young people in Nefyn! A team of around 40 people put together a busy programme of games, Bible studies, “beach specials” and so on. I had a great time – very tiring, but very worthwhile, and spiritually stretching and challenging for me too.

We started with Genesis, telling part of the story of the Bible each day, including the Fall, Promises to Abraham, the Exodus, King David, the Exile, Jesus’ life, death and Resurrection, the coming New Creation, and the Great Commission to make disciples of all nations. Each day, we had a time of worship and Bible teaching as a team looking at these things, and so it was a real time of learning for us as leaders as well.

The age groups are Shrimps (4 to 6 years old), Mini Sprats (7 and 8), Maxi Sprats (9 and 10), Sharks (11 to 13) and Holiday Club (14 plus). I was helping with the Sharks. Across the age groups, we can get over 100 children coming to our activities. There are three distinct types of children who come along to the mission, each of which presents particular opportunities and challenges.

The first group are the local children from Nefyn, usually Welsh-speaking with a strong sense of local identity, and often with little in the way of Christian background and input. Secondly, we have Christian families, many of whom come to Nefyn specifically for the mission each year, in many cases because the parents served on the team themselves. Thirdly, there are holidaymakers who discover the mission and come along despite not being Christian themselves.

There are sometimes tensions between the local children and holidaymakers, often heightened by the language difference. Many of the Sharks were very impressed with my knowledge of Welsh. Not many on the team speak Welsh, but in a community like Nefyn, it really helps in reaching the local people.

One of the strengths of the Nefyn Mission is its longevity. It has been going for almost 80 years, and while team members come and go, there’s a dedicated core that come back every year. Two pillars of the mission are “Auntie” Rita, a woman of more mature years (but don’t dare call her old!), and Keith T (“K. T.”), who have been coming for decades. There are a number of leaders who were on the team when I came as a 10 and 11 year old on holiday, and a number of the team who have grown up coming to the mission every year since being toddlers!

This means that it’s possible in many cases to have long-term involvement with the young people who come, and the mission involves not just quick-hit evangelism, but seeking to help in continuing discipleship of the young people. I’ve also done UBM beach missions, and while they do a very good work in many ways, in my experience there isn’t the same continuity and commitment of the same team going back to the same place year after year. Different strategies, and I have to say that I prefer the approach at Nefyn.

Because of this, the emphasis is not on necessarily producing instant commitments, but we were blessed by seeing some of the older children make professions of faith towards the end of the two weeks. It was also particularly encouraging to see some of the local children in the Sharks seemingly understanding and believing what was being taught, and in some cases God seems to be very clearly at work in them. One of the challenges is keeping those who aren’t from Christian backgrounds spiritually supported, which is where keeping in contact afterwards is often particularly important.

We were really blessed with the weather. We only had a couple of rainy days, the first Friday and middle Saturday (the team day off, unforunately for us!), and most of the rest of the time it was glorious sunshine.

Special activities included the Family Fun Night, which had a Doctor Who theme, tying in with the daily drama that formed part of the Beach Special, a free gig by Christian band tbc, and an all-age barbeque. We also took some services in local churches and chapels, which involved me preaching in Welsh (fortunately both God and the congregations were very gracious when it came to me doing this).

The team was amazing, a great bunch of enthusiastic and interesting people. There was a great team spirit and sense of humour, which is very necessary when you’re living on top of each other for two weeks and getting increasingly tired as the mission continues.

It was a very special time, and there’s lots of challenges that I received from the teaching, from conversations with other people, and from the experience of trying to teach, evangelise and live in close community with a whole bunch of other Christians from two weeks. I hope I can go back again next year, but I don’t know what my work commitments will be like then, since I’ve not found a job yet.

Things to pray for include:

• The mission will have a lasting impact on both the team and the children who came along, and that we’ll put into practice the things we learned.
• For the team to keep in touch with the kids through letters and so on, especially the local children who mostly don’t have any spiritual input other than the beach mission.
• The work about to be done on Pendorlan, the house that acts as mission headquarters, which gets quite a battering over the course of the mission!

To see photos from the mission, go here.