AIA World Cup 2006

It’s the biggest event on earth.

An estimated 4 billion people will watch at least one of the 64 matches played in this year’s World Cup soccer championship. That’s nearly two-thirds the world’s population.

“Outside the U.S., soccer is king,” says Athletes in Action president Bill Pugh.

And this year, this king reigns in Germany. Twelve different cities around Germany will host the matches, and Athletes in Action will help people hear about the love of Christ.

“We see this event as a great platform to reach thousands all over the country with the gospel,” says Christian Kocherscheidt, AIA World Cup project director.

The plan has several parts, but each one involves the local churches. “We want to come alongside German churches and help them,” Christian says, “with our resources and experience as a sports mission. And we hope that churches will start seeing the potentialinathleteics to connect with their community.”

Christian soccer teams are coming from several countries, including Ireland, France and South Africa, to play friendly matches against local club teams in partnership with the churches. They will explain how they became Christians, as well as invite players to church and give-away evangelistic materials.

AIA has developed a video called The Prize, featuring personal faith stories of Christian soccer players around the world, as well as copies of the New Testament filled with pictures and stories of athletes.

Another aspect of the outreach will be an AIA tour bus that will visit each of the host cities, filled with activities, PlayStation and televisions to watch the matches. Children and adults will be able to interact with AIA staff members and local church members.

And AIA staff members are hoping the effect will last beyond the publicity of the World Cup, as churches continue to use athletics to help reach people for Christ.

Four years ago, the World Cup was help in Japan and South Korea, with a record-breaking worldwide audience despite the time differences. AIA ministries in many Asian countries passed out more than 66,000 evangelistic videos, similar to this year’s The Prize, and reached millions through television broadcasts.

In Germany and other European countries this year, they’re hoping it will be even bigger.

“AIA’s World Cup Team,” Reprinted from the Jan/Feb 2005 issue of Worldwide Challenge.