On Tuesday 6 August, I led a beach mission in the form of a Christian Labyrinth on Harlyn beach, writes Revd Suzanne Hosking.

I invited a lay youth leader – Andrew Nicholson from the Cornwall Methodist District – to work with me for the day. He has ‘done’ beach labyrinths all over Cornwall and we had met on the diocesan Mission-Shaped Ministry course.

Christians from St Merryn and Trevone Parish joined us as we set about building the labyrinth on the sand. After a couple of hours of hard labour it was ready to ‘walk’.

We had over 230 people walk it that day – and the sun shone as they came, from all ages and backgrounds, to the foot of the Cross, so to speak. We pray and trust they will have encountered the living God in His Son Jesus Christ in some meaningful way.

Our beach labyrinth was an example of creative Gospel proclamation – reaching ordinary people ‘where they were’ (on the beach in this instance!) and giving them an open invitation to reflect on their spiritual journey through life, meet Jesus through the Cross, and journey out again renewed and refreshed in heart.

 

Beach labyrinths are operating all over Cornwall through the summer. For more details of where and when, visit Beach Labyrinth on Facebook.