Baptists prepare for World Cup

From the Baptist World Alliance:

Baptists in South Africa have made preparations to use the FIFA World Cup as a mission opportunity. The World Cup is the most widely-viewed sporting event in the world and will be held between June 11 and July 11, 2010, in South Africa, the first African nation to host the prestigious tournament.

Activities planned by Baptists in South Africa include the screening of all matches in churches; witnessing at soccer stadiums; the arrangement of special soccer tournaments, especially for youth and children; the publication of a special World Cup Challenge newspaper; and the distribution of the South Africa flag with gospel messages.

One initiative is the Ignite Internship Program, a ministry of Eastside Community Church in Pretoria, which aims to create a team of interns in order to partner with other churches during the soccer tournament, establish a soccer academy, and develop and implement ministry opportunities to complement the soccer ministry.

The volunteers will run street soccer tournaments. Such events tend to draw crowds and thus create opportunities for the presentation of the Gospel.

"With the prospect of hundreds of thousands of international visitors arriving for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in June 2010, the South African church is uniquely placed to impact many for Christ," the Eastside Community Church states. "Not only can the lives of international visitors be touched, but also locals, particularly those who love 'the beautiful game.'"

Baptists from the state of Virginia in the United States took a group of volunteers to South Africa to share in the Ignite Internship Program. The volunteers will help to lead soccer clinics, pick-up games, and music and drama, and will provide children's ministry with a soccer theme.