Graciano Viliengue grew up in a Christian home in Angola, where he was introduced to Jesus as his Savior at a young age. Born in Huambu, Graciano moved to the southwest part of the country with his parents to escape the civil war that ravaged the nation.
A city in the middle of the mountains, Lubango is one of Angola’s biggest cities, inside the Serra da Chela mountain range. Many of the people in this area of the Portuguese-speaking West African country are nomadic within the rural mountain community, making a living off small farming.
Graciano felt a calling to serve God in his teens, He spent much of his time at church, serving in Sunday school and as part of an evangelism group that shared the Gospel in rural areas.
“I felt a need to do more,” he shared, so he volunteered with Youth for Christ helping run youth camps.
In 2010, a missionary from Sport Movement came to share the Gospel during the Africa National Cup for soccer in Angola. This is where Graciano first heard about sports ministry. Graciano loved sports, but since many of the games were scheduled on Sundays, his family wouldn’t allow him to play because it interfered with church.
But his heart was to combine God and sports, and even on Sundays, he’d sneak away to the fields to watch. Graciano observed a great disconnect between faith and sports in his community and wanted to find a way to share with them that they can still enjoy sports and be Christians.
As he led Youth for Christ over the years, Graciano felt God press upon his heart to get into sports ministry. As he worked with churches to help bridge the gap between church and sports, they understood the power of sports ministry.
In 2010, he attended the International Sport Leadership School in Stellenboch, South Africa, where he met FCA leaders also going through the training. In 2011, he then attended a sports ministry conference in Orlando, where he met FCA staff who handed out Coach’s Bibles and gave a report on ministry. When he finished his term at Youth for Christ in 2017, Graciano sent an email saying he wanted to be a part of FCA and see what he could do in Angola. Later, he attended Training Camp in Kansas City, learned more about FCA and connected with then-South Global Division VP Vincent Asamoah.
Graciano got busy beginning ministry, finding people with sports experience to help, and running a soccer club of three teams. He’s developing students from the local seminary to become coach chaplains and is implementing 3D Coaching® and implementing FCA’s 360 Coach.
In the community of Chiyoko, Graciano found two boys playing with a homemade ball and was struck with a need to lean into what God was nudging him toward.
“I felt God say, ‘You need to serve kids like these,’” the husband and father of three said. “They are too small and young to play in the soccer tournaments around.”
So Graciano started coming every couple of weeks to practice with these little kids, building a neighborhood team.
One day during practice, a man approached Graciano and wanted to learn more. He was a former soccer player at the top provincial level and a Christian, fitting the type of person Graciano hoped to join. Shortly after that, an international referee got involved, and they went to join the Provincial Soccer Association. They had the people, and they had the passion—they just needed a name.
“We were asked, ‘What's the name of your club?’ We didn’t know so we said, let’s put JVG, the first letters of our names.”
So,the JVG Academy was born, thanks to Jerson, Vovo and Graciano.
One of his team members started an identical job across town, and when they joined the Provincial Football Association, they competed at the federation level, winning the boys’ U-13 category. The boys this year are now competing in the senior category.
Graciano and his coaches have also stepped into a mentorship role, which is more of a family network, as parents often do not want to be involved in aspects of the boys’ lives.
“Some of these kids don’t have birth certificates because their parents didn’t think it was important,” he shared, so they work to build relationships with parents and often attend school meetings on the boys’ behalf.
At the academy, over 220 children participate in soccer, basketball, volleyball and dodgeball. They also gather weekly for prayer, Bible study, meals and discussion. Graciano and his team are also currently developing sports chaplains to shepherd the athletes.
“Every step we take, we see God with us,” said Graciano. “Every week, we see God provide for our transportation, for food for the kids, money to pay the referee—God provides for us in a time of need.”
God provides for what they need and has let Graciano know he has a team around him.
“I’ve been doing sports ministry full-time for seven years. When I started, I felt alone. When I told people what I did, they would say it is impossible to join sports with faith. But now, I started realizing that I'm not alone. People are understanding. Church doors are opening to us, asking how they can start sports ministry. Even the government and schools have opened doors to share about what we are doing and how we can help them develop sports.”
Please pray that more people, schools and churches are open to partnering with Graciano, and that God would continue to provide for their needs.
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