| NO HOME NATION has qualified for the UEFA European Football Championship, Euro 2008, which kicks off in Austria and Switzerland tomorrow; but a team from England is still going to Vienna — to evangelise the football fans.
A group from the Roman Catholic Sion Community, based in Essex, is contributing to a 300-strong evangelistic presence, divided into 15 teams, for the tournament.
“A group of 12 of us will be going to Vienna to evangelise to all the people who will be there,” explained Neil Hughes, youth director of the Sion Community, which runs youth work in UK schools.
“We believe there’s a real spiritual hunger among football fans, and we will be doing performances, with song, dance, and drama, and just chatting to people about faith and what they think about the Church.
“There will be leaflets to give out explaining the gospel message, and we are an ecumenical group of Christians who have all signed up to a common creed, which is an impressive achievement. We will be Orthodox, Catholic, and Evangelical Christians. It’s going to be really exciting working together.”
The team will be part of an ecumenical initiative whose name translated means “Christians on the Ball”. It has been set up by the Roman Catholic Church in Austria to tap into the excitement of Euro 2008, and aims at reaching the fans of the 16 nations taking part.
Fr Michael Schaf, pastoral officer for the RC archdiocese of Vienna, said that it was welcoming evangelism teams from Poland, Russia, Africa, Asia, and the United States. “We’ve got a venue in the main square where people can come and relax, and we’ll be holding two large celebrations near the stadium where children can play football, and there’ll be a concert by Christian artist Michael Tait [a former member of band dc Talk]. On 14 and 21 June, there will be ecumenical services in St Stephen’s Catholic Cathedral.
“What’s great is that we’re really ecumenical. People from Free Churches as well as Roman Catholics are all getting involved. It’s a great evangelistic opportunity. We have special uniforms with caps, and one of our slogans is ‘3-2, the numbers of hope’.
“These are numbers all Austrians know, because it is the score the last time Austria beat Germany at football in the World Cup in Argentina in 1978. But it works on two levels, because it also refers to Matthew 3.2 [‘Repent, for the Kingdom of God is at hand’]. Some parishes will be showing all the games on big screens in churches or gardens, inviting fans in and using it as an opportunity to speak to people about God.”
St Stephen’s Cathedral will also house a football-themed exhibition drawing parallels between football and religion. It includes the “I belong to Jesus” undershirt worn by Brazil’s striker Kaka, who regularly reveals T-shirts displaying Christian messages after scoring a goal. Another slogan the group is using for its series of cultural events is “The Church — on the ball for 2008 years”.
Austria plays Germany on 16 June. The final will be played in the Ernst Happel Stadium on 29 June.
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