Beach Soccer

It's coming up to the summer holiday season, and it's about the time when people start pulling out the BBQ, hitting the Gym, going to Music festivals and eating too much Icecream.

An initiative of Crossroads Presbyterian Church in Hobart is the 'Endless Summer of Love' (Their brochure is here and here)
This is an excellent encouragement to actively seek to use those summer months for the furthering of the Gospel.

Along independent but similar lines, I am looking to begin somewhat of a Beach Soccer mission or ministry.
I don't know how it's going to take form yet, there are many ideas going round in my head, but here are a few currently in focus:
- Provide regular (weekly) game/games of soccer on a Sandy bay beach. (local for most)
- Provide an opportunity for Christians and non-Christians to mix in fun, team based, but completely informal sport. Extending to potentially a few games running simultaneously.
- Potentially Christians can provide food or drinks weekly for those attending and spending time after playing sharing a meal together.
- Prayer time before and after our games, and seeking opportunity to invite our friends along to church, or where our model of church may not resonate with them, invite them to a different church!
- Actively initiate healthy discussion on issues of faith amongst those attending.

My difficulty is in knowing how far to go. This is essentially 'pre-evangelism' (not so much a fan of that concept, as pre-evangelism is still evangelism in my mind) and will depend on the individual to use the opportunity to expose their friends to the Christian community, and seek the support from fellow Christians to talk about topics of faith.

Any thoughts, suggestions, critiques? Feel free to pass on this blog if you feel others can contribute to the discussion, I'd appreciate the input!

Edit: I must give much credit to my friend Hannah, who got 'the ball rolling' and had all the enthusiasm!

Small Groups II

Our system at Wellspring is not without flaws, and in its initial form, was difficult to operate in.
One casualty was the Live Music Missional Team.
This was my team.
Where the system failed was in community. The focus was very external, the object, to reach people with the Gospel. The method, to go out and be community. People were invited to join missional teams where they felt they shared a common interest, and engage with the team's general direction
The idea was sound, the execution, not so sound. We may have wanted to be community, but in fact had never fostered a growth of community before setting out. We lacked a lot of direction, and were not sure of the way forward.
This, at least in the Music team, is in large part my fault, and a difficult lesson to learn.

I am grateful for the recent refining of our small groups. It allowed for the pruning of some of our old ideas and the introduction of new ideas to include and encourage the natural desire of some of the quiet leaders of our service. The result is a healthy and growing interest in joining small groups, studying with one another in community, where we can invite others in. The live music team can still have life, but to be successful, it's basis needs to be in Christ, community with Christ, community with one another, and then the extension into the community large.