Christian сhurches of Ghana vie for �?The Ultimate Goal’

As the curtains begin to open for the upcoming 26th continental football (soccer) tournament, the African Cup of Nations (CAN 2008), The Ghana Bible Society, in collaboration with Christian churches in the country and allied groups from other parts of Africa and beyond, are putting on a program aimed at “The Ultimate Goal,” which is “New Life in Christ”, reports Daniel Abugah, special to ASSIST News Service.

The program, “The Ultimate Goal” (TUG) is meant to take Ghana 2008 beyond an ordinary sporting event. This was announced during a stakeholders meeting held at the Bible House in Accra.

Mr. Kofi-Kakraba Afful, of the Bible Society of Ghana and Interim Coordinator for the program, who led the meeting, noted that the program does not belong to any one particular Christian group but is a collective project which belonged to the entire body of Christ. “The Ultimate Goal is not a Bible Society Program, and it is not for any particular church. It is an opportunity to help the churches achieve the task of the Great Commission,” he stated.

Giving the background to the program, Mr. Afful mentioned that the past and current performance of the national team, the Black Stars, coupled with the fact that Africa will host the World Cup in 2010, draws a lot of attention to the tournament locally and at the international level.

“Ghana has won the African Cup 4 times (1963, 1965, 1978, and 1982) and has, as well, co-hosted with Nigeria in 2000. The expectation is that as host, Ghana will win the cup for a record 5th time. Therefore many soccer fans will be coming to watch the tournament and we believe it will be a great opportunity to reach them with the gospel,” he added.

The interim coordinator recalled that when the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) in a press statement in February 2007, called for the involvement of the church so that they can organize a successful tournament. While, at a thanksgiving church service for the national team after their splendid performance during the World Cup in Germany-2006, the Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana remarked that “sports evangelism” could be a strategic tool for evangelism for churches.

“The vision of TUG for CAN 2008 is to provide a platform for the Christian community to serve and share in partnership with other organizations during the three-week event to capitalize on the opportunities provided by the tournament to reach people about Jesus Christ,” he mentioned.

TUG was formed in 1985 as an initiative of the International Sports Coalition, as a partnering body to help the different spheres of sports interests to interact with each other. Under this program, churches and agencies partner to utilize the same Christian literature, videos and other resources during major football events.

During the upcoming cup of Nations Tournament, which is to be held from January 20 through to February 10 2008, the Bible Society of Ghana will coordinate the various outreach events across the country towards promoting the gospel among fans, players and officials from across the 16 participating national teams.

The strategic programs include; the provision of large screen telecast of the tournament in at least one deprived community in the host cities, hosting of kids games in all the 10 regions with special focus on non-host cities, volunteers to be involved in the tournament at both the official and unofficial level, prayer support for all people involved in the tournament, development and publishing of culturally sensitive faith-based resources for free distribution, provision of hospitality/cooling centers which will make water available to fans for free, hosting of international volunteers from participating countries as well as “Compassion Projects” to visit orphanages to donate items during the tournament.

The project seeks meaningful ways to support and serve the local organizing committee of GHANA 2008 for a successful competition and to sensitize and coordinate sports evangelism ministry in the local churches. During the outreaches, 5,000 copies of the New Testament, as well as 1,500,000 �?Ultimate Goal selections/tracts’ will be distributed.

New iPad POLL! VOTE NOW! Will you buy new iPad?

[01/03/2008]

Print Version