Missions Catalyst 06.30.10 – World News Briefs

In This Issue: World Cup Takes Center Stage

  • World Cup Perfect Time for Evangelism and Prayer
  • U.S. Goalie Shines On and Off the Field
  • South African Church Leader Defends Vuvuzela
  • Risking Death to Watch the World Cup
  • Scores, Schedules, and Prayer for the Nations

Missions Catalyst is a free, weekly electronic digest of mission news and resources designed to inspire and equip Christians worldwide for global ministry. Use it to fuel your prayers, find tips and opportunities, and stay in touch with how God is building his kingdom all over the world. Please forward it freely!

The News Feature, edited by Pat Noble, is published once a quarter.

Dear Reader,

This special 5th Wednesday feature comes to you as the World Cup moves from the “Round of 16” into the Quarterfinals. We thought it timely to look at the influence of sports on world evangelism. I’m pretty sure that soccer is not going to crush evil in the world as this Nike ad implies, but surely there is a place for the world’s most watched sport in God’s redemptive plan.

But before we move onto the subject of soccer I’d like to give tribute to an athlete that used his influence to build reconciliation in his native country of Sudan. Manute Bol passed away June 19, 2010. The 7′ 7″ former NBA player had a passion for peace. Read more about the life and faith of the man whose name means “special blessing” here.

Special blessings to you,

Pat Noble

World Cup Perfect Time for Evangelism and Prayer

Source: Mission Network News, June 8, 2010

The World Cup provides a unique opportunity for people from all nations to come together, including those from countries with no missionary presence.

“The world is coming to South Africa,” says Wade Coker, a mission strategy leader to southern Africa. “We want to tap into the passion they have for [soccer] with the passion we have for our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Missionaries will be sharing the gospel with hundreds of people at the Cup from all nations but will also use it as an opportunity to build the church in South Africa. Efforts will be made throughout the Cup to use this unusual amount of unification in the country as a possible avenue to plant churches in some of South Africa’s major urban centers.

The Cup is also an opportunity to get people praying. Pray that those who come into contact with missionaries would be open to the message of Christ.

To pray each day for various countries that will be represented in the World Cup, visit WorldSoccerJourneys.com where you can also find information on the World Cup and South Africa.

>> Full story.

U.S. Goalie Shines On and Off the Field

Source: Baptist Press, June 14, 2010

It was all about goalie Tim Howard, an outspoken Christian, during the U.S. team’s World Cup opening match against England on June 12. The game ended in a 1-1 tie.

In spite of a first-half injury to the ribs that left him in excruciating pain, Howard managed to stay on the field and ward off England’s continuous attacks throughout the remainder of the game, a feat that earned him the “Man of the Match” title.

In an exclusive interview with Baptist Press, Howard talked about his Christian faith. “I’m certainly just a vehicle for Christ,” he said, “and he moves me and the Spirit moves me in miraculous ways – that’s from dealing with Tourette’s syndrome to the pressures playing on a level like this and in England in the Premiere League. I just try to rely on faith.

“I’m not perfect,” he said, “I’m far from it and that is the reason I do need Jesus. I try to live it … I stumble, as many people do, but always in the belief that I’m loved and that I’m meaningful.”

Howard said living with Tourette’s is not easy. “But God has blessed me with the gift of athleticism as well,” he said. “He has done some powerful things in my life through the combination of these two gifts. … He also has shown me ways to use my position as a professional athlete to encourage others with Tourette’s syndrome.”

“Today, I am blessed to be living a dream,” Howard said. “And yet, if it all went away tomorrow, I know I would still have peace. That probably sounds crazy to most people, but that’s the kind of peace Christ gives. It is rooted in his love, and it surpasses all understanding.”

>> Full story with pictures.

>> Also read about these six players: Marcos Senna, Lucio, Nicola Legrottaglie, Cyrille Domoraud, Oscar Ewolo and Kaka. Or purchase the DVD, The Prize: Chasing the Dream, from Athletes in Action. (We mentioned in our June 16 issue that Operation Mobilization was using this DVD in Pakistan but we didn’t give you a link to the trailer. Here you go.)

South African Church Leader Defends Vuvuzela

Source: Ecumenical News International, June 15, 2010

The captain of France’s national team, Patrice Evra, is said to have blamed it for keeping his team awake at night and contributing to a poor performance – a goalless draw against Uruguay – at the start of the FIFA World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa.

Still, in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh earlier in June at the 2010 world mission conference, South African church leader and president of his country’s council of churches, Tinyiko Maluleke, praised the vuvuzela, a stadium horn that is about one meter long and makes a loud noise.

The University of South Africa theologian notes that it is an instrument that tens of thousands of his countrymen and women are blowing night and day during one of the world’s biggest sporting events. Maluleke describes the vuvuzela as a missile-shaped weapon forcing the world to wake up and acknowledge Africa’s past sufferings.

In an interview with ENInews, Maluleke said, “In the 19th century, white missionaries sided with colonials and gave blacks the Bible, while they took the land. Now, we have created the vuvuzela, which is one of the most obnoxious instruments: very noisy; very annoying. It will dominate the FIFA World Cup. I see the vuvuzela as a symbol – as a symbol of Africa’s cry for acknowledgement.”

Maluleke told ENInews that some Christian missionaries had deprived blacks of their culture. “We see it when Africans are embarrassed to be African in their own vernacular language, to relate to their culture positively: the schizophrenic relationship that Africans have to their traditions, their culture, and their religions.”

>> Full story.

>> Editor’s Note: France, World Cup runner-up in 2006, later lost to South Africa and faced disgrace at home for their loss and their unsportsmanlike behavior. (Could it be the power of the vuvuzela?) Hear what their Sports Minister had to say here (NPR). On the subject of sportsmanship, here’s one you don’t hear very often. Read Honest Mistakes (Esler.org).

Risking Death to Watch the World Cup

Source: Ecumenical News International, June 17, 2010

Football fever has taken hold in Africa, but some Islamic rebel groups in Somalia are stopping people from watching the World Cup because they say that soccer originates from old Christian traditions.

Christian leaders in Somalia are pleading with groups opposed to football to allow viewing of the matches, as reports indicate some citizens risk being shot to death or flogged in public for trying to watch live soccer from South Africa.

“As I speak to you now, my son Awey Ahmed is in the detention of the rebel group, Al-Shabaab. He was arrested after they found him watching the football,” Pastor Ahmed Abukar Mukhtar, leader of a small Christian community in Somali, told ENInews on June 17 in Nairobi. “There is nothing wrong with football … It is not sex … It is not terrorism.”

The concerns over World Cup viewership in Somalia heightened after Hezbal Islam, one of the rebel groups in the country, killed two football fans and arrested 10 others. They were in northeast Mogadishu on June 12 watching the match between Argentina and Nigeria.

>> Full story.

Scores, Schedules, and Prayer for the Nations

Source: Pat Noble

MARCA has an interactive World Cup calendar. Mouse over a date, a team, a group/stage, or cities/stadiums. This is really cool!

If God puts a nation or a team on your heart, check out this interactive World Prayer Map (Global Connections).


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