Living Coast Ministry | Harbor Christian

Living Coast Ministry
Newport Beach

Thank you so much for expressing interest in Living Coast Ministry at Harbor Christian Church, Newport Beach! As you scroll our page you will find lots of information to get your community excited about a future summer visit.

What is Living Coast Ministry?

Living Coast Ministry is a week-long summer residential program at Harbor Christian Church in Newport Beach, California, located just across from the Upper Newport Back Bay. Living Coast Ministry at Harbor supports participants in the development of an ecological spirituality.

What do we mean by this?

Throughout the week, each group enjoys hands-on experiences that deeply connect them to the surrounding ocean and shoreline ecology. Each evening participants are led in discussions, sacred experiences, and activities that support them in crafting their unique ecological lens on spirituality. In other words, Living Coast Ministry brings together real world experience and spirituality, allowing participants to ask new questions of their faith and to open to more expansive experiences of the sacred.

Why should you participate in a week of Living Coast Ministry at Harbor?

During a Living Coast Ministry week at Harbor you will learn about the human impact on ocean and shoreline ecology in a variety of ways including hands-on experiences, classroom learning, service projects, community building and more.

You will also be guided through a chosen scriptural study that will support your development of an ecological spirituality. You will be offered opportunities to slow down and find sacred moments where you might not expect them. You will also experience scripture in ways that remind us of the interconnectedness of life. During your week you will be given the time and tools to collaborate on creative projects that you will share with your home community, challenging them to make real world changes.

During your week you will deepen your friendships with your own group and also meet new friends at Harbor!

And finally, during your week you will have an incredible time learning, playing, laughing, and fully enjoying a beautiful part of the world!

Unexpected Gifts of Living Coast Ministry at Harbor

Participants experience life in a newly formed community.

While our participants know one another before they spend a week with us, they likely have not lived together and shared responsibilities. Learning how to care for one another in community is one of the unexpected blessings of our ministry. We are able to make deep comparisons between their communal care responsibilities and the way ecosystems are

formed from a diverse group of individual organisms working together for the thriving of all.

Participants learn to be gentle and loving toward their own bodies.

Throughout the week participants will begin their mornings with gentle movements that are designed to wake the body up. We emphasize safe and gentle movement throughout the week as we guide participants on nature outings. We teach the importance of asking for help, drinking enough water, and checking in with how their bodies are feeling throughout the day.

We asked Kayla Watts to create some gentle movement videos for our participants to use each

morning. She specializes in feeling your energy and listening to your body and she becomes a joyful part of each day! If you’d like to experience one of Kayla's morning movement videos, click here.

Each participant is responsible for keeping their personal space clean and organized and they are also given a different communal role to fill each day. These roles include things like food preparation, and kitchen clean up. For many participants, this is the first time they have worked together with other young people to care for their basic needs. It is always a growing experience for the group and we see so much maturing as the week continues. We are also so glad to see the way that the groups begin to take great pride in their personal and communal space.

Participants choose how to engage experiences and learnings each day.

It takes diverse and dedicated people working all across society to make systemic change in the area of climate care. We all have our part to play and each one of us brings unique gifts and experiences to the table. For this reason, our field guide curriculum allows participants to select a lens through which to view their day. Some choose to experience the day as a poet, others may want to be data collectors, or safety guides. We encourage participants to select a couple of

lenses throughout the week and this offers the opportunity to see connections across different areas of our world. Throughout the week, participants begin to see the deep connections we all share and they become able to once again see themselves as the body of Christ, or maybe another way of expressing it would be the ecosystem of Christ.

Participants are given safe space to practice talking about their evolving faith.

Sometimes it's challenging to speak up or share your perspectives. During your week at Harbor, you will be given opportunities to share your reflections, your ideas, your questions, your disappointments, even your doubts. Each of our discussions is led by a person trained in creating safe space, who is eager to support you in your developing faith. Remember, being faithful is not a place we arrive, it's a way we live, a posture we hold. Faith is always evolving and growing and this week is sure to be a week of deep faith growth and transformation.

Participants are allowed space to grieve the changed and changing climate.

As hard as it is to express, our climate has already dramatically changed and it continues to change rapidly. It can feel very overwhelming and even scary to really feel our authentic emotions, especially climate grief. But when we allow ourselves to grieve the world that was (or could have been), it opens deep places in us. During your week, there will be several opportunities for grief as we learn about the devastating impacts humans have had on our earth. And we hope that you will agree to be led

in a special grief ritual during your stay. You'll be offered this opportunity when you plan your week.

Meet Our Director, Rev. Ryan Cullumber

Meet Our Senior Pastor, Rev. Sadie Cullumber

Blog Posts

Click through these links to past blog posts about Living Coast Ministry, formerly known as Blue Theology. Reading through these posts will give you a really good feel for the ministry and it will also show you a little more about the community at Harbor that sponsors this ministry. We’re an interesting and surprising bunch, and we hope you enjoy getting to know us.

Summer Recap - 2024

Scroll through and be reminded of some of Harbor's favorite memories from Summer!

Sep 7, 2024

Ministry Spotlight - Blue Theology 2024

Blue Theology completes its third year of ministry

Sep 4, 2024

Ministry Spotlight - Blue Theology 2024

Get to know our Blue Theology groups and new intern for the summer

May 26, 2024

Participant Field Guide

Don’t forget to check out a sample of our comprehensive student field guide curriculum. Your group’s curriculum will be updated to reflect your specific week, including chosen activities and experiences, but the sample below will give you a really good idea of what to expect.

Living Coast Ministry in the Media

Don’t forget to learn about Living Coast Ministry, formerly known as Blue Theology in the media. You’ll also be able to browse through the work Harbor does throughout the year to deepen our own ecological spirituality and be better stewards of the earth.

Click here to read about Harbor Christian Church's work with the Wildland Urban Interface Climate Action Network (WUICAN).

Click here to learn about the Interfaith Elemental Gatherings focused on water, air, fire, and earth.

Check back soon for exciting details about the Interfaith Climate Action Festival that Harbor is hosting for the WUICAN network on October 12, 2025. We hope you can join us!