UK-based church holds prayer service for Christian Atsu

The church in Newcastle, United Kingdom where Christian Atsu used to worship have held a prayers service for the late Ghanaian footballer.

The Athletic reports that on Sunday, the Hillsong Church during their service prayed for Christian Atsu with the pastor paying tributes to him.

Pastor Johnny Fergusson, the head of the church reminisced about the times Christian Atsu used to come with his wife, Claire Rupio, and children to worship at the church.

According to the report, pictures of Christian Atsu’s coffin being readied to be flown to Ghana spread through the ceremony and the pastor urged the congregation to pray for Atsu and his family.

“It’s just devastating — he’s 31,” Ferguson says of Atsu, stressing his youthfulness, his young children and his wife Marie-Claire. “I knew him from his mid-twenties and I’ve got young kids myself. I can’t possibly imagine what Claire and the kids are going through.

“The last stat I saw was that 42,000 people have been killed in this earthquake. The numbers are numbing, but when you have a handle on it, it really brings it home that each one of those numbers is a person. Every one is a human life. When you are able to put a face and a name to it, maybe it makes it more of a reality.”

Christian Atsu spent four years at Newcastle United and established a good relationship with the community and the fans.

Atsu in an interview with Newcastle media during his time explained why he did not joke about his religious life.

“I’m here to worship God,” Atsu said in that interview. “I want to live a free life — I want to live the way I want, you understand? In the house of God, I’m normal. Even outside, I want to be normal, to be able to do what I want, not to live a celebrity life. That’s something you can add to it, but I don’t want to add that to it. I want to live a normal life. When I’m like that, I think I’m free.”

Newcastle on Saturday, February 18, 2023 held a minute silence for their former winger who died tragically in an earthquake that hit parts of Turkey.

Christian Atsu’s body was found after 12 days of search and rescue in Hatay, Turkey where he played with club side Hatayspor.

KPE