Church defends Chelsea thanksgiving service

A service by Living Streams Church to celebrate Chelsea’s English Premier League triumph has been one of the most talked about stories online in the football world.

The photos have gone viral and the reaction has been varied. When a flyer emerged advertising a church service to celebrate Chelsea’s Premier League triumph, there were those who thought it was a joke.

But last Sunday at the Living Streams International Church, Rev Dr Ebenezer Markwei, decked in his Arsenal jersey delivered a sermon to an audience with many including ‘DJ’ turned pastor Azigiza Junior in his Chelsea blue.

There are those who say this is another sign of the negative obsession with English football but Rev Markwei said it is a unique way of drawing more people to church and God through the power of football.

“We can use football to advertise beer, we can use football to advertise peace, we can use football to speak to people about different issues and we can use football to address racism so why can’t we use football to speak about Christ if it is possible.

Every platform is a platform for us to speak about Christ and Apostle Paul made a statement, he said by all means that I may win some, by all means that I may win some”.

The idea was the initiative of Azigiza Junior himself a strong Chelsea fan said he has been thrilled with the reaction so far.

“Somebody would have gone to some bar to get drunk, be knocked down by a car, we said no, don’t go and do that. That same euphoria and excitement bring it to church, come and dance with your jersey, come and have all the fun but when we finish we talk to you about Christ.

We did that and we got some people to accept the Lord so it was a great thing”.