Church of Pentecost organises sports evangelism for PWDs

The Ministry to Persons With Disabilities (MPWDs) of the Church of Pentecost (CoP) says Christianity and sports evangelism should be inseparable.

Overseer Alexander Nyame, the CoP National Coordinator of MPWDs, noted that sports could go where traditional evangelism was not effective in reaching the lost, and because the end time was near, there was an urgent need to win souls.

“We must all, with the zeal to preach the Gospel, win souls for Christ and draw people closer, in times where the devil is using several schemes to draw people to destructions,” he added.

Overseer Nyame made this call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on the sideline of a sports evangelism event organised by MPWDs of the CoP.

The event, which registered about 120 participants, aimed at preaching the Gospel to Persons With Disabilities (PWDs) and as well creating an avenue for them to showcase their God-given capabilities through sports.

It witnessed a wheelchair basketball and amputee soccer competition, where four teams for each category, were drawn from the various national teams as well as PWDs within some selected communities.

The participating teams were Energy, Power, Gye Nyame and Riders, while the amputee soccer had Team A, Team B, Team C and Team D.

With regard to the Wheelchair Basketball competition at the of the game, Team C (Gye Nyame) came first, with Team A (Energy), Team D (Riders) and Team B (Powers) came second, third and fourth respectively.

Concerning Amputee Soccer, Team A emerged first while Team B, Team C and Team D placed second, third and fourth respectively.

Overseer Nyame told GNA that here in Ghana and other parts of the world PWDs were mostly not given much attention when it comes to almost every aspect of life including the Gospel.

He said sports evangelism was a medium to propagate the Gospel, saying the Gospel must be preached using all opportunities.

“We all have to understand that when it comes to the Gospel we don’t have to leave PWDs out, because they are persons with souls, and these souls also need salvation,” the National Coordinator added.

Dr Augustina Naami, Member of the National Executive Committee of MPWDs of the CoP, told GNA that the CoP recognizes that souls of PWDs also matter, and in line with the Church’s 2023, CoP came up with objectives to ensure that PWDs were reached, hence the creation of MPDWs.

She said their mandate was to take the Gospel to PWDs; to reach out and to tell them more about Christ, adding that “we have earmarked several outreach activities to be able to reach out, we want it to be fun as well and to show the world that PWDs have capabilities.

Madam Fatima Moro, a Greater Accra Wheelchair Basketball Player, expressed gratitude to MPWDs for the laudable initiative, saying, “Such a thing has never happened”.

She said PWDs particularly those within the sports sector had several activities but had no sponsors, and therefore appealed to benevolent individuals and organisations to come to their aid.

Madam Moro said aside from sponsorship, one of their major challenges had to do with accessibility; PWDs gaining access to public buildings and spaces in the country.