JOHANNESBURG, South Africa  – “The World Cup is over, but South Africa is still here,” said a missionary with the International Mission Board (IMB) serving in Johannesburg.

The prayer of IMB urban missionaries in South Africa is that God would use the soccer World Cup to draw attention to the lost people of the nation’s cities.

IMB missionaries minister in five cities that were hosts of the 2010 World Cup: Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban and Port Elizabeth.

Wade Coker, the lead IMB strategist for southern Africa, said the Gospel was shared with thousands of people across South Africa, and hundreds made decisions to follow Christ. In Cape Town alone, Coker cited 287 people receiving Christ.

“To me the most critical work and sometimes the most difficult work in these types of events is going to take place now in the coming month or two,” Coker said, “and that is following up the decisions and … gathering the people together in Bible studies and in new outreach groups.”

Kurt Holiday, an IMB missionary who oversees strategies to reach South Africa’s urban centers, reported that a church has been started in Dobsonville, an area southwest of Johannesburg. “We did Holiday Bible Clubs and soccer clinics, witnessing and handing out tracts, and greeted people up and down the streets,” he said.

Now a small group of new believers regularly gathers in Dobsonville, forming the nucleus of a new church. “I think that is going to end up being the result of the World Cup, and that is great,” he shared.

Over 35,000 pieces of evangelistic literature were distributed in Soweto, including Gospel portions, a Christian sports magazine and tracts. “Every contact that we have will be followed up within the next month. We have an immediate plan,” Holiday reported.

“Using sporting events to get the Gospel out, we’ve shown that it can be very effective and is a way to plant churches, as long as there’s a strategy beforehand and follow-up afterwards,” Holiday said.

Both Coker and Holiday credit the efforts of volunteers in helping to carry out successful World Cup strategies.

“They were essential,” Holiday said. “There’s no way we could have done what we did, accomplished what we accomplished, without their help. As good as [the] missionaries are that we have, we just can’t cover that much ground that quickly.”

Thanks for walking with us on our journey through South Africa during the World Cup.

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Learn more about missions in Africa at www.imbafrica.org.