Section Five

Gathering at the Beach

One of the central figures in the book of Acts is Paul. He travels to many places, often with other people accompanying him. At the end of Chapter 20 in Acts, Paul says goodbye to the elders of the church in Ephesus. At this point in the book, the author (presumably Luke) was a part of the group that was travelling with Paul (the author uses ‘we’ and ‘us’ to describe what was happening). After leaving Ephesus, the group sails to various places before boarding a cargo ship that landed in Tyre in Syria. The group then seek out the Christians in Tyre. They stay with them for seven days. When the group decides that it is time to leave, it is noted that all the Christians in Tyre accompanied them out of the city and they went to the beach. At the beach, everyone - and it is noted that this included the wives and the children - prayed together. As a send off for Paul, and for the group travelling with him, they held an ‘everyone included’ prayer meeting on the beach!