This summer thousands of Christians gathered on beaches along the South West Coast Path to form a ring of prayer and praise as part of South West Awake. Beacons were lit along the 630 miles of coastline as groups came together and prayed together.
Becons on the Beach organiser in Bath and Wells, Jules Perry, Children & Families Worker for Minehead Parish, shared her experience of the event.
Last year, while walking along the South West Coast Path in Dorset, I stumbled across a large group of people praying on top of The Golden Cap. I watched from afar and found the whole experience very moving. I soon discovered that it was an initiative called South West Awake – where Christians all across the South West come together on designated dates to pray. I wanted to be part of this, so when the event ‘Beacons on the Beaches’ popped up on social media, I signed Minehead Parish up straight away!
The brief was to gather on a south west beach, around a fire and unite together in prayer. It sounded easy enough, so I set to work, with the support of the Exmoor Youth Project, in planning the event.
Knowing our children and families well, we knew that they would find it hard turn down the opportunity to have a hot drink and a toasted marshmallow around a fire, so we agreed to offer some warm refreshments at the event. We packed a bag with some buckets and spades, wrote some prayers and had a loose plan for the event. We advertised the evening to the families that regularly attend our children’s provisions and they all seemed quite keen. We were clear that it was an evening of collective prayer and with that in mind, we weren’t sure how many people would turn up.
At 6:30pm, as the sun was beginning to set on Minehead Beach, 68 people arrived to gather around the blazing fire pits and unite in prayer! After a brief time of greeting families, we gathered in a big circle around one of the two fire pits. We began to pray. We took it in turns to speak aloud, allowing feedback and involvement from the children. We also spoke with the children and their grown-ups about different ways of praying. Everyone was engaged and respectful. It was a very powerful time. We finished the prayer time with a blessing before serving hot chocolates. The children were very happy to busy themselves toasting marshmallows on the fire pits while other children played with the beach toys that we had brought along.
I walked away from the evening knowing that this was the beginning of something quite special here in Minehead. Many of the families that attended the event had never prayed aloud before. Some had never prayed. It must have seemed quite daunting to them, yet somehow, being outside seemed to take any pressure away.
We have been truly blessed here in Minehead with a beautiful beach and it makes sense that we utilise it in as many ways as we can. I am already planning the next beach event!
