We have exciting news from the Friendship Soccer Ministry! For the fourth year in a row Friendship Soccer Club has won the Cambodian Christian Soccer League cup!

As you will remember from previous posts, Fellowship of Hope Church is involved in an exciting and flourishing soccer ministry. The aim of the Friendship Soccer Ministry is to provide young men the opportunity to participate in a sport they love (which they couldn’t afford to do themselves), while also teaching them the Gospel and encouraging them that God has a great plan for their life.

Sara says “Our football team played in final game with FMC team and we won, so this is the four time in four years that we win this cup.” The players were so excited that they danced around the cup for joy!

Sara gives the glory to God for this result and says that the most important thing is, “The Lord so good to us to win. More than that is we won the souls as well through sports. This year many boys in our team interest to come to the church. Please keep praying for our soccer boy to receive Jesus in their life.”

Sara also says that the team has been helping players grow spiritually because the team helps to bring together both Cambodian men who love Jesus, as well as those who want to learn more about Him. The team worships God together as well as bonding through their love of sport. This year has seen spiritual growth in a number of the young men, and some of them have made a commitment to follow Jesus for the first time through this ministry. What an amazing way to reach out and connect with the young men of Cambodia!

Thanks to generous donations from our supporters overseas, the ministry pays pitch hire fees and equipment costs, including uniforms, which  these young men simply could not afford. Our increase in players and expansion to a second team this year has seen our costs increase, so we are in need of more funding to continue this work. We trust our Lord for his provision, and we would appreciate the financial support of anyone who shares our passion for this ministry.

Friendship Soccer Club · Friendship Soccer Ministry · Phnom Penh · Sara

We have all been very very busy lately, and many many exciting things are happening. We have teamed up with an Australian church-based international aid agency, so our Donations page will be up and running again in just a few more days. We are just waiting on a couple of signatures from people on different sides of the planet to make it official… so keep an eye out for the details!

At the same time as all of that paperwork is being shuffled, there has been plenty of activity ‘on the ground.’ The soccer news is that our Friendship Soccer Ministry has grown substantially!

This group of young men approached Pastor Sara and the team when they were playing a social game of soccer in the park one day. All that they were hoping for was to join in for the afternoon’s fun. But after a chat and some prayer, Sara invited them to join the Friendship Soccer Club as a new indoor soccer (Futsal) team. They were all amazed and excited to be offered this sponsorship to play a sport that they love but (being from the slums) could never afford. Thankyou again to those supporters who contribute financially towards this ministry!

The two Fellowship of Hope teams have been getting to know eachother over the course of the competition, and Sara’s hope is that they will be able to build strong friendships and share the Good News with these young men in both word and deed.

Meanwhile, the Harvest of Hope HIV Centre building is close to being completed. Some of the teenagers from Happy Village helped out with the painting the other day…

… as did Ura, in one of his first tasks as the new centre manager for Harvest of Hope. You can read a brief testimony from Ura here. He knows what it is like to grow up in poverty, and he has a real heart for helping kids to find hope in Christ despite their circumstances. Harvest of Hope will be a powerful demonstration of God’s love by providing education and medical support services to a particularly marginalised community of people from the slums.

Even though the building is still being completed, these local boys had heard that we would be opening soon. So they rushed over to ask if they could help the workers finish the job, and then enrol to study as soon as possible. This reminds us of Matthew 19:14 where Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me… for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.”

Construction · Friendship Soccer Club · Friendship Soccer Ministry · Happy Village · HOH · Sara · Ura

As the world is in the grip of Soccer / Football Fever at the moment (due to the 2010 World Cup currently being held in South Africa), we thought that you would be excited to hear that our Friendship Soccer Ministry is producing its own champions.

Our Friendship Soccer Club competes in a local competition every Saturday in Phnom Penh, and was recently crowned Champions after defeating the World Vision team in the grand final.

The Friendship Soccer Ministry ministers to young men, providing the opportunity to participate in a sport they love (which they couldn’t afford to do themselves), while also teaching them the Gospel and encouraging them that God has a great plan for their life.

Thanks to generous donations from our supporters overseas, this ministry is able to pay the pitch hire fees and equipment costs that these young men simply could not afford (and not all of the pitches have such lush green grass as the venue for the Grand Final!).

It provides encouragement, friendship, spiritual input, and a sense of pride and achievement to all who are blessed to participate.

Praise God for the new found hope and pride that we can see in the faces of every member of the team. Please pray for these young men! And please also pray that God would provide more consistent funding for such a valuable ministry to the future fathers and leaders of Cambodia.

Who knows………… maybe one day we will see Cambodia competing in the FIFA World Cup!

Friendship Soccer Club · Friendship Soccer Ministry · Phnom Penh