Sports Outreach has opened the door for my church to serve our community through events such as Kids Games. As a result of the success of Kids Games in Egypt and the community approval, I was asked to be the Chairman for the volunteer committee for the 2006 Africa Cup. Praise God for this open door for the Gospel!

In 2002 in Norfolk, UK, John Bussell, the Sports director at Diss Christian Community Church, ran a three day football (soccer) course for 6 to 11 year old boys and girls. He involved church members in the organization of the course and the coaching responsibilities. He also invited specialists from the community to assist. By 2005, his numbers had risen to 150 and many strong contacts had been made with families. Other sports besides football had also been included, but more important was the fact that the relationships formed enabled his church to plant a church in the nearby town of Harleston directly from the course contacts. This shows that Sports ministry is integral to church growth.

St. John’s church outside of Edinburgh developed a cohesive strategy for reaching a certain community for Christ. For the previous five years, their limited investment in evangelism had not yielded much fruit. The motivation, training and methodology of Sports Ministry were installed and the church over time saw direct fruit. Families were being reached, children were being reached and young adult males were finding their way to the church. Sports build bridges into communities.

A shrinking church in California had a desire to reach young families. To reach these families they decided to offer a youth basketball league – at which family members would participate. They focused their outreach efforts on building relationships with the adult family members. Much of this was done through activities and hospitality services. Testimonies were given to the parents at half-time. They also held a very attractive closing ceremony. At this event they shared the Gospel clearly and gave people an opportunity to make decisions to trust Christ. Over the first six years of the league over 1000 adults indicated they made first-time decisions for Christ. Many of these were assimilated into the life of a church. As a result, the church grew significantly. Another result was that the church experienced a considerable change in its demographic makeup – it became more like its community.