As 15-year-old high school sophomores involved in Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Thatcher Hamson and Figba Obaika are committed to leveraging World Cup festivities to spread the Gospel.
The students, who are soccer players themselves, are organizing watch parties in conjunction with their pastor at Epic Community Church in Aberdeen, Maryland. The events include testimonies and opportunities to engage in spiritual, Gospel-centered conversations. The events will be complete with food trucks, pickup soccer games and even World Cup-themed video games.
Their efforts are part of Victory Beyond the Cup, an initiative led by Cru and Athletes in Action that brings together various parachurch organizations — including FCA — to use the current moment in sports to spread the Gospel.
“Think of it like a collaborative effort of this evangelistic movement centered around this global moment that is the World Cup,” said Erin Hamson, Assistant Regional Director of International Advancement for FCA’s Mid-Atlantic Region. “We are leveraging something that is already an exciting moment, but we are leveraging it for something that is eternal.”
This summer, soccer teams from around the world have come to the United States to play in the World Cup, making it the largest tournament in the event’s 96-year history. It is also bringing in up to 10 million visitors to the United States.
“This is a natural extension of what FCA is already doing,” said Erin. “Sport is already our language, our message is Jesus, and this is a global sporting event that is coming to us.”
Erin stressed that FCA coaches, athletes and donors do not need any special training or have a big stage to make an impact during the World Cup. All they need is a willingness to invite people to gatherings and have spiritual conversations.
“We already sit at the platform of sport and faith,” she said. “The World Cup is one of those few moments when nearly the whole world is paying attention to the same thing. The World Cup is global, and so is FCA.”
Thatcher said that through the experience God is teaching him that the Gospel can be shared in a variety of creative ways.
“There are kids like Thatcher and Figba who have a heart for their teammates and the people they walk the halls of their schools with and want to start eternal conversations with, and this gives them that platform,” said Erin.
Victory Beyond the Cup provides host kits and materials outlining plans for hosting events, including conversation starters, invite templates, brackets, Bingo cards and more.
“I love soccer, and I love Jesus,” Thatcher said. “[Victory Beyond the Cup] is where they crossed. I can do it with my friends, support them and have fun with them with the things we love to do.”
The possibilities for World Cup ministry opportunities are wide-ranging. The Harford County, Maryland FCA has purchased a 15-foot-by-10-foot screen to show 50 World Cup games in the parking lot of the ministry office in Bel Air.
The area has invited local churches to host individual games, and Area Director Tommy Schumacher said the vision is to train churches to share the Gospel using The Four, a simple way to share about Jesus in four quick concepts. As a result, all attendees leave understanding that God loves them, sin separates them from God, Jesus rescues them, and God invites them to trust Him.
“We’ve created the watch party,” said Tommy. “Now we get to plug in all these ministries, churches and partners to come and share the Gospel.”
During halftime, Harford County FCA shows videos with player testimonies, and Tommy said the goal is for attendees to leave wanting to take their next step of faith.
Many families with kids ages 9 to 14 attend the watch parties, and Tommy sees this as an opportunity to invite the kids to FCA Camps, get them plugged into Huddles and help connect their families to local churches.
Overall, Erin said one of the goals of Victory Beyond the Cup is for FCA Leaders like Thatcher and Figba to start eternal conversations with their friends, classmates and neighbors.
Developing deeper partnerships with local churches is another desired outcome of the initiative.
“It’s a collaboration of the Church and the parachurch ministries who are working in tandem to that one goal — to start these conversations and allow people to have an encounter with Jesus,” said Erin. “Here in northern Maryland, we are already seeing the fruit of that collaboration with our local churches.”
Tommy echoed this idea saying he hopes this opportunity builds trust with local churches and opens the door for future collaboration on Gospel-centered opportunities.
Both Erin and Tommy said the initiative is preparing the ministry to undertake a similar outreach during the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“The world is coming to us with the World Cup, but they are coming back to us when we have the Los Angeles Games,” said Erin.
Learn more about Victory Beyond the Cup and find a way to get involved in your area.
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Photos courtesy of Tommy Schumacher