Sharing the Gospel through Sports? (part 1)

Its been an pretty productive day today, as i went down to Emmanuel house(SYFC HQ) to meet up with my ex soccer coach Ngiap Tai (Sports&Adventure Ministry Co-ordinator) to do an interview about sports ministry and to discuss with him on a personal project that i have been doing as a sports intern, also got the opportunity to interview Eric another person working in this ministry there! And i'm certainly really excited as i got back so many insights from them on this area of Sports ministry! =)

Below is just a preview of the sports ministry hypothesis that God has inspired me to do, and been working on it the past month! Hope to share the entire article with you all here soon! So do catch it! =D

Sharing the Gospel through Sports? –Ben Lau

¹⁵He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Mark 16:15 (New International Version)

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Short conversation with a pre-believer friend...

Ben: Want to join my church team for this soccer tournament?

Friend: Yea sure, but it’s not an evangelistic programme right? If it is I won‘t go.

Ben: Nope, Its only just soccer!

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1) Introduction

These are the usual responses for people nowadays when they hear of Christian events! Thus, outreach at the ”PRE-Evangelism” stage are carried out where words like God, Jesus etc. will hardly be out rightly spoken of in such events, the most only in a very subtle ways.

Sports is one platform that brings a non threatening background where almost anyone can relate to in some way, be it in the pool, field, court etc. And these are platforms where the church can meet the community.

Currently as a Sports intern in church, I will be sharing my journey in this personal project that God has inspired me to do. I will be consolidating my thoughts of both my passions of serving in the church and relating both sports & evangelism. As I looked back my life from my secondary school days, to my poly years where I also started to actively serve in Church in the youth ministry. It’s amazing to see how God has placed certain activities, ministries and inspiring spiritual leaders to influence me to what I will be sharing here.

"God plans life in such a way that the greatest treasures are concealed, waiting for you to discover them. And there is no thrill like the thrill of making a great discovery. - Selwyn Hughes"

2) Abstract

I would like to share the context of this article, starting with a short background of my life as these are the circumstances that came across my path over the years that influence the way I view the ministry that God has called me for. And it’s amazing how God has use all this to give me some sense and preparation of where God has called me to serve.

What I’m about to share is a vision that God has impressed on my heart so strongly once in my initial seeking of my Calling in life, dated back on 7 October 2008. I have never publically shared this before but I believe now I’m ready to share it. This was what was impressed on my heart, “To reach out to the world, by starting with equipping the people in the church to prepare them for outreach to the World.”

Catch the rest sooooooon... =) Its going to be the biggest write up that God has ever inspired me to do in my life so far! =)