Jesus wins at the 2010 World Cup!

Only 115 days, 7 hours and 29 minutes (ish) till England begin their winning world cup campaign (hopefully). But even if they don't win there are amazing opportunities to introduce people to Jesus through the World Cup.

A few months ago More Than Gold approached us about putting on a event for the World Cup.  The plan was that this event will showcase to other churches across the UK the potential there is for outreach during the 2012 Olympics.  We loved the idea and didn't need much persuading.  So Bonny Downs North (that's our church plant) will be teaming up with other local churches and a few other organizations to run a football festival the day England are planned to play their first game against the USA.

During the day:

• "World Sport Ministries" will be organizing a five-a-side football tournament. At the prize giving there will be a talk aimed at the youth.
• "On The Move" will be helping to organize a free BBQ for local people who turn up.  Each table at the BBQ will be hosted by a local church member to chat.
• XLP will be bringing the youth bus down.
• Local Churches will be helping to organize music and other fun activities like face painting.
• We'll be showing the England vs USA game on a big screen on the field with a presentation at half time.
• At the event we are hoping to hand out programmes that show the rest of the games scheduled for the World Cup with listings of the churches locally hosting other games.

The potential is awesome and we could have hundreds of people turning up. We are hoping all this will happen on the field outside Cafe Church.  Cafe Church will also be hosting smaller showings of some of the key games as a way to build bridges into the community.  We are also planning a Christianity 101 course as a follow up to the event.

Please pray for all the planning and dreams of this event.  There is still a long way to go in planning it but I think you'll agree it sounds awesome.

Jesus said, "In the same way there is more happiness in heaven because of one sinner who turns to God than over ninety-nine good people who don't need to." Luke 15:7

I'd love England to win but I'd gladly trade a World Cup victory for one person who accepts Jesus as a result of outreach during the event!

Have you got any plans for outreach during the World Cup?  If so please share your ideas.

Only 960 days and 11 hours to go!

The Bonny Downs north leadership meetings are always good. Yes sometimes we need to deal with rotas and other boring things (for me anyway), but I always come away feeling like we talked about important things. Let me tell you about one of them.

Newham (that's where East Ham is) will be the host borough for the Olympics in 2012. That means millions of people descending upon our humble patch and huge opportunities for outreach and for community development. Last night for our meeting we had a special guest Matthew Porter from Transform Newham to wet our appetite.

One appetizer he gave us was the possibility of using the 2010 World Cup as a practice mission. That really got me excited. I love football and as our Church-plant meets in a sports pavilion, we meet footballers every week. We could have big screen outdoor showings of the big games. Matthew reckoned we could easily draw a crowd of 800 to the England games. Knowing my community I agree with him.

"Look, I tell you, lift up your eyes, and see that the fields are white for harvest." John 4:35

Sports ministry has massive potential! With the World Cup next year and the London Olympics only 960 days and 11 hours to go! away, we'd better get cracking.

Please pray for us as we seek to partner with other churches in Newham to make the best of these exciting up and coming ministries.

Ben

If you'd like to find out more about the outreach potential of the Olympics goto:

www.morethangold.org.uk

If you'd like to find out more about sports ministry in general or get help setting one up goto:

www.worldsportministries.com