Facts and Figures

Dunster Beach is a collection of about 200 chalets privately owned but run by Dunster Beach Holidays Ltd. There is also a stretch of beach open to the public. It is very quite and a wonderfully peaceful place.

On the Saturday evening we deliver invitations to the chalets.  We praise God that we usually have on average about 20 each day.  About 80% have been in previous years and a good number are from Christian homes.   Although some days are too wet to go on the beach we can fit them into the large van we are loaned by another Christian couple.

We try to vary the children and separate teenagers and younger children.

Over the years we have been studying the bible consecutively.   We have been through the whole bible once so far and we are starting again!

Minehead is a small seaside town that swells in size due to the local Butlins holiday camp that can hold up to 20,000 people!    The beach is sandy and usually very windy hence our 20-foot wind break!    Over the past year there have been extensive work on the sea defences which have deterred holiday makers, 2001 was the first year we have been able to be on the beach without the building work.

Whereas on Dunster Beach the children are the same each day on Minehead it is the reverse.   Here we preach a straight gospel message to the children and surrounding adults as it will probably be the only time they see us or we them.

We preach each day for 30 minutes on the sea front opposite the railway station. We don't do anything flash, just preach a plain ole gospel with a text written up on a white board behind us.

A Christian lady said how pleased she was to be speaking to other Christians as her husband is unsaved and she finds it a great strain being on holiday with him.

An old Welsh hill farmer listened to the preaching and, during a conversation after, was overjoyed to be given a New Testament and Psalms for his own.

Two teenagers who had been told nothing about the way of salvation at the church they went to said that either the bible was lying or their priest was.  We encouraged them to read the scriptures and to ask questions.

The beach mission is funded by the freewill offerings of the Lords people. Those who come to the beach mission come to work as well as enjoy close Christian fellowship. Since they work they are fed and lodged, "muzzle not the ox that treads the corn for a workman is worthy of his hire!"

If you are interested in helping with the work then, in no specific order, you must:

a. Be in happy and consistent fellowship at your local church.

b. Be able to produce a letter from a leader in your church to the effect that you are suitable to do the work.

c. Be a born again Christian confessing Christ as your Lord and God and believing in your heart that God has raised him from the dead.

d. Be baptised or be waiting to be baptised.

People come to us with little or no experience and the feedback we have is that they feel more able to join in or start evangelistic outreach afterward. We understand that everyone is different and contributes in different ways.