Ukraine (MNN) — The Euro 2012 soccer championship is ramping up to the finals this weekend, and with it, soccer evangelism.
Russian Ministries is in Central Ukraine–the host country for the Euro 2012 Finals–and they are partnering with local churches and 10 partners to spread the Gospel to the masses.
“We have printed over 100,000 New Testaments which we are using for evangelism, for discipleship,” says Wally Kulakoff with Russian Ministries.
They started out in Kiev–the capital of Ukraine and the location of the Euro 2012 Finals being held at the Olympic Stadium.
“The heart of Kiev was much more difficult. We formed a different strategy in the city of Kiev because people there are in a rush,” says Kulakoff. “So we realized we should go to the parks where people are sitting. We started with the main parks where people are sitting. You can sit beside them and share the Gospel message.”
Since then, the teams have moved on to Poltava, six hours south of Kiev. There, they are partnering with five local churches to put on Fun Zones. The soccer events are being broadcast live at the Fun Zones, and there are social activities such as soccer, ping-pong, volleyball, trampolines, and face painting. Nights include a formal presentation of the Gospel message.
Christians are also branching outside the Fun Zones with evangelism in Poltava. “We’ve gone to the streets and witnessed to people,” Kulakoff states. “We go through the plan of salvation with the individual. Then we pray with them, and we give them a New Testament plus an address of several churches that they can go to in this location.”
The impact can be visibly seen as the teams are passing out at least 1,000 copies of the New Testament every day.
Kulakoff says, “God has been faithful in helping us sow the seed. We’ve seen a harvest of people not only wanting to pray with us, but we’ve seen people accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, repent of their sins, take the Scripture, press it to their hearts and say, ‘This is what I’ve been looking for.’”
Pray for this ministry as they witness to the people and tourists in Ukraine during Euro 2012. Pray for open hearts to the message of Christ who is our true Victor over sin.
