Highlights from the CS Int'l Gathering

3 things about the Bali Gathering that touched me by Roy Harley
There is a great saying that goes Culture eats strategy for breakfast, and so I often find myself asking the question, What is the Culture driving this movement, mission team, etc? We can write the Culture we want on the wall or our founding documents, but it's the Culture you see, feel, and experience that is the true Culture of something. 

When I think of the International Gathering in Bali, there are three cultural high points and one observation that we should do all we can to continue to cultivate and grow in our movement. 

One Family 

There are many ways to live as a family, and there are many ways to do mission, not all are good or go together. You can do Family or Mission, where one or the other is the priority; this may be effective, but it guarantees pain. You can do Family and Mission, where you do your best to juggle the priorities of each; this is exhausting, or you can go the longer, harder route, and you can build a culture of Family on Mission. This is what I saw and felt in Bali. The micro grommies in the kids program, the new CS leaders feeling like they have found their tribe and the old salty crew smiling and cheering the crew on. Yeah, we are a family on His mission to the surfing world, and it feels good :) 

Unity in praxis

Unity and agreement are not the same thing. An authentic culture of Unity is not everyone saying yes. Genuine Unity is the ability to say no, wait, slow down, I dont understand. Can we think about that a bit more? Genuine Unity holds the Vision clear, but is free to debate (sometimes vigorously) how we get there. We, as the global family of CS, have been unified in Vision, but what I saw at the gathering was the fires of Unity of a global mission movement, a lifting of the eyes and a looking beyond just my patch of the globe, to the greater call to Love God, Love People and Build His Kingdom in the surfing world YEW!!! 

Kingdom Builders

Unity in praxis always flows from a Kingdom worldview. So often we tend to forget that there is only one King, one Jesus, one CEO or commander-in-chief. There is only one Saviour who died and rose again, and it wasn't you or me. In Bali, I saw the beautiful expression of a Kingdom culture. I saw no separation between the Kingdom work of Christian Surfers, The Surf Church Collective, the practical helping hands of Groundswell Aid or the beautiful energy of the CSALT program. We, as a movement, have a Kingdom-first culture. We are building His kingdom, not the kingdom of Christian Surfers, and as such, we should be the easiest group of people in the world to partner with if your intention is to share Jesus in the surfing world. Our Bali gathering was full of the flavour of that Culture :) 

Finally, and while not a cultural observation, but for me, the most important thing of all at a Gathering Was His presence and Spirit there. In the words of Moses in Exodus 33:15-16. "Do not send us up from here unless your presence goes with us, for how will anyone know we are your people unless your presence goes with us

Without the presence of the Spirit and our King, we are nothing more than an outgunned herd of kooks in howling onshore conditions :) But what I saw was soft hearts, an open heaven, and a family on mission wanting to share the love of Jesus with their global surf tribe, for His glory and that of His kingdom. AND OUR KING WAS THERE IN THE MIDST OF US. In the worship, in the conversations, in the prayer time, through the speakers. We made the space, and he danced with us. 

May we never ever ever lose that, and may we forever as leaders of this mission lead on our knees, for how will anyone know we are God's surf tribe if His presence does not go with us :) YEW