December 12, 2024
In December 2024, a breath-taking flurry of activity swirled through the campus of Rhema Christian Academy in Uruk Otong, Nigeria. All of the activity was motivated by the Great Commission.
With a stroke of genius, Aniefiok and Etang Akpan and their fellow-workers came up with a plan a year ago to use football (soccer) to draw young people to Christ. A flat area on the RCA campus turned into a football field, and pre-teen boys in the area were invited to form football teams and compete in a football tournament.
Last year, pre-teens from thirteen villages accepted the invitation and formed four teams that played in the month-long tournament. In the end, thirty-six people were baptized into Christ. This year’s tournament was almost as productive.
The key to the success of this outreach ministry lies in the events that followed the tournament. The first step was to get young contestants and their parents and friends on the campus.
On the morning of December 12, the day of the championship game, the RCA faculty and student body marched through Uruk Otong behind white-clad drummers calling attention to what Rhema Chrisian Academy has to offer the community.
Aniefiok explains: “This creates a moment for us to advertise our school programs.”
That afternoon, hundreds of people from the community came to root for their favorite team. Notice in the following picture hundreds of excited spectators surround the soccer field. Aniefiok says, “A popular musician in our community volunteered his services as the star artist who performed at the final match to spur both teams to victory.
Following the championship game the young people, parents, and friends attended the first session of the Rhema Youth Summit and heard the Word of God proclaimed by a guest speaker.
Aniefiok reports, “Four souls were baptized after hearing the gospel that night. The first participant to accept Christ was Etimbuk Sunday John, the skillful soccer player with one hand. That was the first time we used our new baptistry.”
Hundreds of people again assembled in the new David and Lola Crouch building on the second night, and Aniefiok preached about “The Calls of Life.” Fourteen people responded to the Lord’s invitation and were baptized in the new baptistry.
The next morning, the soccer players who had lodged on campus during the conference prepared to go home. Aniefiok says, “The most sensitive time of the conference was when I addressed the students on Saturday morning before they left. It was hard to say goodbye to each other. No one was happy to leave.”
Who knows how God can use this bond of affection to lead more young people to Christ.
The excitement was not over. Aniefiok writes, “Our worship Sunday morning was well-attended. Many guests who attended the conference came back to worship with us. I preached a sermon on ‘What Are You Waiting For?’ drawn from Acts 22:16. Two souls obeyed the gospel by being baptized. One of the new converts is our new security guard. The other convert is Emmanuel Jeramiah Tom, the popular grassroots musician, the Star Artist during the final soccer match.”
That afternoon, two more precious souls were baptized into Christ. One was a blind woman, and the other was a young village girl who came to watch the soccer trophy being presented to the winning team.
Later that day, four more people were baptized for the forgiveness of their sins and the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit. That brought the number of new Christians during the Youth conference to twenty-sux.
Summarizing what God had done in Uruk Otong in 2024, Aniefiok wrote, “As of December 31, 2024, our campus church has grown to 180 active members, and about 80 % of the members are teenagers. God has added a total of 52 souls (48 baptisms &4 restorations) to our number this year.”
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