Birkenhead Community Church in Auckland recently hosted a FIFA World Cup watch party, bringing together around 60 people for a BBQ, football, and a short halftime gospel talk.
Jono Donald is part of BCC and works with Athletes in Action, a ministry of Tandem.
Athletes in Action operates in 90 countries and has been helping athletes and communities engage with the recent FIFA World Cup, the world’s biggest sporting event.
However, the idea for the BCC outreach came in a more traditionally Kiwi way: through rugby.
Inspired by their global colleagues, and wanting to help churches engage, the Athletes in Action New Zealand team has been preparing for the upcoming Rugby World Cup, in 2027.
“In New Zealand, Athletes in Action works with university and professional athletes. We’re in the process of developing resources that churches can use in 2027—things like videos of player testimonies, discussion questions, and ideas for inviting people in.
“I'm a young dad, and there's often these dads on the periphery of church—where maybe the mum comes along to Mainly Music or something like that. We want to help people to think about where there are the opportunities to connect—and sport is one area that makes sense.
“People are gathering to watch these events, so we started exploring what it could look like to have a watch party in a Christian space.”
Jono says it was a good opportunity to trial the event and consider how they might do something similar during the Rugby World Cup.
“I'm part of the leadership team at my church, and have the ability to lead and organise something, so I thought, OK, let's do a watch party!”
He says they put it to the church about six weeks out and found a game that was on at a suitable time and would be able to draw a bit of a crowd.
“The idea was that people could bring friends for a watch party, that people who like football could come and watch the game together, enjoy some food, and then there would be a short message at halftime.
“I challenged our church to be inviting people who wouldn’t normally come to church into our ‘Christian’ spaces—for us, this was the basement of our church in Birkenhead. People are going to be gathering already, so let's just do it in our space.
Jono said they kept the whole thing low-cost and very low-key, with a budget of about $200 for food. He invited some men from church to cook some meat—just a BBQ and some pulled pork—and encouraged anyone who liked football to invite their friends.
“I really didn’t know who would come, to be honest. I thought maybe 30–40 people might turn up, but about 60 came, which was really encouraging. There was one BCC family who have a 10-year-old boy who plays football, and they invited his whole soccer team to come and all of their families, and so they all came and spent time and ate food and hung out with some of the wider church family.”
Jono said they didn’t have any resources like player testimony videos or anything to share at halftime, so he prepared something brief.
“At halftime I wanted something that would be short and sharp but would also engage—like a little ‘gospel snack’ or ‘God snack’.
“I prepared a three-to-four-minute talk about the excitement of the World Cup, and then transitioned to talk a little bit about the Brazilian goalkeeper, Alisson Becker, who is a Christian. I talked about how the glory of the World Cup will pass. A team will win and then we'll all go back to our regular lives. These players will have their moment, but it will end. Then I compared this to the eternal glory and significance of Christ.”
Jono says they invited people to check out church on Sunday and there were lots of opportunities for connecting and conversation. He says it’s something they’ll be looking to do again with the Rugby World Cup and he’d love to chat with anyone else who’d be interested in doing something similar at their church.
“Sport is so relevant to our culture, but it’s often separate from church. I think this is a really easy way to bring the two together. Athletes in Action is keen to support churches and provide relevant, easy-to-understand content that people can use and be inspired by.”
If you’re interested to hear more or talk with Jono about running something similar at your church, contact him at: jono.donald@athletesinaction.org.nz
