Major sporting tournaments are proven opportunities to gather communities, as people come together to enjoy watching and playing sport. Christians working with-in the world of rugby have thus been bless-ed by the chance to come amongst Japanese people and share the gospel through the Rugby World Cup.
This island nation is the largest unevangelised country in the world which is legally open to missionaries, containing less than 1% evangelical Christians, according to Operation World.
It is against this backdrop that teams of Christian volunteer coaches, including Fijians, Welsh, Australians and Scots, have travelled there to capitalise on the tournament. Over the course of the World Cup this work will include hosting rugby clinics, undertaking street evangelism, and supporting local churches in outreach initiatives.
God has been so kind and there have been countless encouraging stories of individuals coming to hear the name of Jesus for the first time.
One notable encouragement came at a rugby training clinic and culture evening for two university teams hosted by the Fijian and Australian teams in Sapporo.
The coaches first built a rapport with the students as they ran drills and refereed a match. At the end of the session the Fijian coaches prayed and were met by a complete lack of embarrassment as the students bowed their heads to join in. In their openness, these coaches afforded the players an experience they had never had before.
It was a great encouragement to see how relationships grew throughout the day. It was clear that these teenagers had seen a refreshing and attractive reflection of Jesus in the coaches.
Sport became the glue for relationships across cultures that day, allowing the team of Fijian and Australian coaches to be on the same page with the students. This inclusive, shared experience together then built a platform for them to receive the gospel.
The teams had invited a local pastor to join them at the event in the hope of building a connection between his church and the university. Having wondered for many years how to reach the next generation of Japanese, the pastor reported that he had now glimpsed a way: through the power of sport.
He writes: ‘Here in Japan, many young people have no sense of belonging, no hope. You showed something different to what they know; the gospel, the true hope of salvation offered to us all. Our job now is to do the follow-up well. We need to work out how we keep connecting with them and continue opening the Bible, pointing them to Christ.’
Praise God for the opportunity for thousands of Japanese people to hear the gospel through the Rugby World Cup, and please pray for much fruit.
