Coastal Missions Society
Our Story
INTRODUCTION
Our story is about the coast. It is a saga that goes back to the early 1930s when the Vancouver Island branch of the SCA (Shantymen's Christian Association) started reaching out with the Gospel by boat.
Missionary work by sea is not new. There is a rich history of mission boats on our coasts. Many books have been written. But the SCA work was unique. It did not point to religion or denomination but expressly to a personal relationship with God through the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Early missionaries such as Percy Wills, Doc McLean, Harold Peters, Earl Johnson, and many others became known in logging camps, villages, and small communities along Vancouver Island's west coast. The SCA's last vessel, Messenger III, was sold to private owners in 1968.
Roy Getman came into the SCA in 1972. Having been active in seafaring and other maritime capacities since childhood, he saw the need to continue. But, of course, by then, there was no mission vessel and no persons prepared to engage in such endeavours.
This leads to Chapter One of Our Story—