The Malta plan: training 50,000 leaders in three years

This November in Malta, after four years of planning, UK Christians in Sport staff will join over 100 leaders in sports ministry, from more than 30 countries involved in competitive and elite sport, for a four-day conference.

The conference includes the release of over 150 brand-new resources in four languages, and an internationally accessible leadership development programme.

Hundreds of new resources

These new resources include a new set of Bible studies in Mark’s Gospel, produced in partnership with Biblica, with plans in place for over 50,000 leaders to be trained to use these worldwide with nearly 1million sportspeople over the next three years. Training will also be delivered through digital resources, including over 50 new films used as part of a series of online courses – all helping equip sportspeople to connect their sport and faith and share the gospel. With a global focus, all the resources will be translated initially into the eight most widely spoken languages on the planet as leaders head from Malta back to their continents to train thousands more.

Why gather?

One such leader is Namratha from India (see photo above); she’s particularly passionate about driving women’s sports ministry. Namratha reflected on her excitement for those attending the conference: ‘Opening the Bible with other competitive sportspeople involved in ministry is a rich learning experience, there’s so much opportunity to learn in the teaching sessions, but also by just being there with other like-minded people, talking, listening, playing sport together.’ It’s a huge encouragement to bring together like-minded Christians with a passion for sports mission. Gathering like this enables the distribution of new physical resources, especially to those working in closed countries, and creates a brilliant opportunity for new relationships to be established.

Thirty leaders attending the conference, like Namratha, have also been actively participating in a leadership development programme throughout the year, involving online training applied to their ministry context and monthly group calls as a cohort to reflect and learn together.

Raising the tide

It’s exciting for Christians in Sport to collaborate with similar organisations across the world on global projects. Gatherings such as this one provide wonderful opportunities to reflect and learn as we share our experience and understanding and learn from those around the world that share the same vision.