Thursday 18th September saw the CS Jersey General Meeting at Bethesda Church Hall.
This was a really important night for CS Jersey as we have grown considerably over the summer in our number of events and opportunities to serve and we wanted to take some time out to reflect on this and talk about our future.
We talked about the need to structure CS Jersey into more of a 'team' to encourage people to become more involved and make it easier for people to have a 'role' within CS,(should they wish one)! This is so important as we grow and invest in our future as CS is not about the short term but on building relationships with people that these will grow in the future and that we see lives changed through coming to know their heavenly father.
The night was kicked off by Emily McDowell who shared about the Christian Surfers International Conference in South Africa with some awesome photos. It was great to hear about the work of CS internationally but also to hear how Emily came away fired up about her role within CS.
Dan McDowell also shared about how going to the conference changed how he felt about CS in that it was not just about 'doing' things but more of a lifestyle choice where we need to build relationships in our surfing communities. Dan also talked through the Core Values of CS and the importance of these in all that CS Jersey does. Without the core values it would be easy to 'water' down what we do, who we are and what we believe.
It was then very exciting to hear from Cirsty, all the things which CS Jersey has been involved in over the past year. This included a multimedia presentation with photos and video clips of our various Camps / Surf Days.
It's amazing to think the numbers of people who have come into contact with CS whether through attending an event, a church, at a surf competition or receiving a Surfers Bible, Walking on Water DVD or Bottle of water.
We then took some time out to reflect and talk through what we plan to do over the next year and linked these to our core values.
We identified the need to ask people to show interest in becoming part of 'teams' which we can then email to ask for help as needed. This does not need to be a huge commitment in time aseven the smallest little thing can make a HUGE difference.
The mains areas we need people to be involved in are:
a) EVENTS
b) JERSEY SURFBOARD COMPS: E.g. stickering water bottles prior / prayer for the event / being available to help at the event / beach clean team
c) NETWORKING: Being part of a team which goes out to local youth groups / schools / churches to share about CS
d) MISSION TRIPS: We would like to do at least one mission trip next year (most likely to Europe) and also to take a team to the CSUK Conference in June
e) join CSUK - this is very important to us as it supports the work of CS both in the UK but internationally. Also, you will need to be a member if you wish to buy our new hoodies in the next few months as if you aren't a member of CSUK, you will not be able to buy one!
Hopefully, this will give you a flavour of what the night was about but if you wish further information or to find out more, then please do not hesitate to contact us via the contacts page or Cirsty on 07797 768062
