Recently, Alexander Gonchar with the younger team of Christian Soccer Club “Nadia” has returned from Odessa, where was hosted the “Season Final 2014” tournament . They were invited by Oleg Sharapov, the coach of Christian Soccer Club “Joy” from Odessa. Oleg develops sports ministry among children following the example of “Nadia”. There were as Christian teams, and not Christian, who participated in the tournament, so it was the perfect opportunity to witness about God through soccer. Oleg has also invited to the tournament veterans – the team of unbelievers adults. They attended along with all general meetings, listened to Bible studies and participated in the awarding of junior teams.
The tournament had three age categories: 9 to 11 years, 13 to 15 years, and the team of veterans. In the youngest group team “Nadia” has won. The coach and the kids see the hand of God in this victory, because they faced with the fact that the older kids were playing the opposing team. Alexander Gonchar has made quite a difficult decision – not to raise this issue for discussion of the judicial committee. In prayer he put the situation in God’s hands: “if the Lord let us win, it will be certainly not from us.” The Lord really blessed them in a very wonderful way. In the game for the finals Misha Supronyuk and Nazar Kuriat scored winning goals in the “penalty shootout”. These guys were taken on a trip at the last moment, after they had apologized for their former misbehavior, so they were not ready for the tournament as the other guys. But through them God has given the victory, despite the injustice of the other team. Children were really surprised by this event and understood that it was God’s action in the lives of their team. In the final game team “Nadia” won with a score of 5:1, and the miracle was that everyone contributed to the win. The team played as a one.
Not only the kids were happy with the trip, but also their parents. Mom of one boy called coach Gonchar and said: “I know that our children are happy with you.” This is a great encouragement to know that parents trust their children to Christian Soccer Club “Nadia”. The pastor’s wife from Odessa also spoke about the team: “Your children are always there for us as example.” God is working with the hearts of people even through small soccer players and He is holding His hands above all.
Also an important part of the trip was the leadership meeting concerning sports ministry. The biggest problem in this area is the lack of permanent leaders in ministry. Therefore, the coaches were very thankful for the opportunity to have such meetings, to deepen their knowledge about the ministrty, and about sport coaching as well as spiritual. All has agreed with the opinion that such meetings should be held more frequently. After all, Christian sports ministry is quite young in Ukraine. A lot of soccer coaches who want to go in for it very often do not have sufficient experience of spiritual leadership and work with children, or vice versa – they have a heart ready to serve the Lord in this area, but the have not enough football skills to lead the service at a decent level.
We thank the Lord for this trip so much, we also thank IPO “Hope to people” for the organizational support and we thank all who prayed for us. Continue to maintain in prayer sport children’s ministry Christian Soccer Club “Nadia” and to pray for the spread and development of children’s sports ministry in Ukraine.
“But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:14).
Olya Denysiuk,
from conversation with Alexander Gonchar
