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.”

Forest Hills Baptist Volunteers in Cape Town from Africa Stories on Vimeo.

Volunteers from Forest Hills Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, share experiences from their mission trip to Cape Town, South Africa.

American and South African students share the love of Christ in a village in South Africa through soccer clinics and big-screen showings of World Cup matches.

Read more about this ministry in South Africa at www.worldsoccerjourneys.com

Grahamstown, South Africa, sits nestled between tall hills. It’s a small, academic community with a major university and three private schools. Students come from all over southern Africa to attend Rhodes University in Grahamstown.

Most township children, like those from Joza, will never experience the rich lifestyle of many Grahamstown residents. Through soccer ministry, Grahamstown Baptist Church hopes to help build bridges and build relationships between the people in the rich community and those in the poorer township.

His bicycle lay on the ground, the wheels still spinning. He’d been delivering water pipes to homes around Kolkata. A man came up to the boy’s body and lifted his limp head. The boy’s eyes were wide open and he didn’t blink. The man placed his head back on the ground and walked away. The [...]