The Gospel Proclaimed at the Africa Cup of Nations

At the beginning of February this year, the Senegalese football team took home the Africa Cup of Nations. And alongside all the furore and emotion of the 52 games of the tournament, students of GBEEC, the national movement in Cameroon, were proclaiming the gospel.

Guy and Magloire are members of GBEEC. They took the opportunity to bring GBEEC into a partnership of more than 20 Christian organisations, led by Guy’s organisation Missionaires Sans Frontières, endeavouring to share the gospel at each game. Guy sent evangelism teams to each stadium to take advantage of the gathered crowds. On busy street corners and key strategic places, students spent the hour before kick-off playing Christian music, preaching a gospel message, and approaching people individually to tell them about the Lord. In this way, Magloire, whose organisation ‘Opération Jeunesse Précieuse’ was also present, shares, ‘over 3000 football supporters were reached with the gospel message’.

It wasn’t easy. ‘We got a lot of hostility’, Magloire confesses. ‘People were insulting and mocking – but by the grace of God, some listened, some thought about it.’

And wonderfully, Magloire reports that around 500 people professed faith in Jesus for the first time. As they stepped out in faith, ‘many students were encouraged to continue preaching the gospel – and others decided to follow Jesus,’ even as they saw the care and boldness of their fellow students.

Please pray with Magloire for the follow-up to the Cup of Nations evangelism, and the students of GBEEC:

Thank God for the courage and care of everyone who made it possible to proclaim the gospel in this way.

Pray that many more of the 3000 people who heard the gospel would accept Jesus as their personal Saviour and Lord.

Pray that those who made a profession of faith would be well looked after by the team, beginning to be discipled.

Pray that the Lord would provide funds so that leaflets can continue to be distributed.

Pray that students would continue to be motivated to share the gospel, and that they would continue to love Jesus more, being salt and light at university.