Recently, on Maudy Thursday, we became a Baptist church. Which is kinda funny to me. In my

head, we had been a church for a long time. Being recognised as a formal entity feels like new

and interesting territory. Something to live up to and build with care. Perhaps something that will

stand the test of time too?

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We mentioned it on the beach on Easter Saturday when we talked about lamb and the

Passover (before eating it). There wasn't a big cheer or groan. Just nods of acceptance. I

wondered then how people felt. Did they already feel like a church? Had I mentioned it too much

in the past and now they were bored? Perhaps they already thought of themselves as church?

 

I think they did. For the last few years we have grown deeper as a group and have got slightly

clearer about the stuff we care about. We have had people ask to be baptised. We have also

had people begin to call Ocean Church “their church”. I feel a slight increase in gravitas and

responsibility. No longer for a rag tag idea, but now we have a core team of trustees, a wider

leadership team and a rhythm to the way we meet and try to live.

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People are committed to the idea that church isn't a building or even a meeting, it is a shared

way of life. So together we have come up with a set of habits which guide us towards following

Jesus outdoors together in the everyday. We are trying to build each other up in this but as you

might know, habits slip easily.