Australia's Surfing Christians Take Word to the Waves

A group of dedicated Christians in Australia are taking the surfing world head on with their new evangelism effort to bring the Gospel to fellow wave riders.

|TOP|The Christian Surfers of Australia have taken to the waves with the name of Christ ever since the race riots broke out between white Australians and Middle Eastern youths last year in the Cronulla suburb of Sydney.

For the Gospel preaching surfers it’s all about building lasting peace.

"We were basically peacemakers," said Dan Zietsch, 26, a surfing fanatic and part-time youth worker.

Zietsch, who helped teach a group of young Australian Lebanese Muslims to surf in the wake of December's riots, added, "We want to embrace everyone with love. We told them: you are more than welcome, the beach is for everyone."

Violent white riots erupted in and around the beachfront suburb of Cronulla in Southern Sydney last December when hundreds of white youth gathered to “reclaim the beach” from Middle Easterners who had “invaded” their beach at weekends and behaved disrespectfully to bikinied women sunbathers.

|AD|A mob of white youths eventually went on the rampage after hours of drinking beer and shouting slogans, chasing down and beating anyone with an Arab appearance.

Groups of Lebanese men then retaliated by smashing up cars and shop windows in the Cronulla area.

The multi-denominational Christian Surfers started life in Cronulla 30 years ago before growing to 42 chapters across Australia and 15 worldwide.

They say part of their mission is to break down the macho aspects of their sport, which often sees surfers getting into fights over the best waves.

Mr Zietsch said: "We do our best to provide an alternative to the usual surfing lifestyle, like the drugs and rock 'n' roll."

Christian Surfers continues to work to diffuse the tensions around Cronulla and even held its annual Jesus Pro Am international event there last month.

The ministry worked in partnership with the Bible Society in Australia to produce the “Surfers Bible” which features numerous testimonies from well-known Christian surfing figures as well as the New Testament written in contemporary English.