by Catherine Edwards, Sports Friends Asia Communication Director
19 April 2011

As Ning’s car pulls up to meet us, it looks as if he has his whole team jampacked in the back; a sea of little heads, arms and legs, spilling out of the windows, smiling and waving excitedly. We tail his car down the road and around a maze of back streets, before arriving at the field where Ning holds his soccer coaching sessions each week. As the rear door of his car opens up, a mass of small excited kids pile out onto the field and begin charging round...

By the end of his session one thing is clear: Ning has a remarkable relationship with these boys. We can see that they trust him, respect him, and look up to him as their teacher and coach. The story of how this came about is quite incredible. A testimony of God’s amazing provision which, when combined with a soccer ball and one man’s faithfulness, opened up the heart of a community.

Ning has been passionate about church sports for a long time. He loves to play soccer and facilitate church teams to play against one another. But attending a Sports Friends training gave him affirmation about the potential of sport for ministry, and a new vision - for using soccer to connect with young people in the local unreached community.

A number of years ago, Ning’s church relocated to a strongly Buddhist and Animist community; a village overflowing with a mass of temples and shrines. Two years passed, with the church being present - but not involved – in the community. Ning felt compelled to talk with the leader of the community called the ‘Obator’- a deeply Buddhist man – and tentatively broached the subject of whether the church might begin soccer coaching with the kids in the village. Unexpectedly, the Obator became greatly animated about the idea, and straight away gave permission for Ning to use the field outside the temple as his soccer field. Furthermore, he removed the cows who were grazing there - an obvious bonus - and rallied around the village inviting children to come and play. When Ning turned up for his first coaching session, forty eager kids were there to meet him.

And the story doesn’t end there. One month later, as the community saw Ning’s commitment and loyalty to their children, the Obator had a set of goal posts made out of steel poles and fishing nets to put at either end of the field. Another month later, he noticed that people would come out of the temple and walk across Ning’s session, so he had a gate made to stop the interruptions. Yet another month later he saw that the kids were having to stop when it got dark – so he put up four spot lights to enable them to play late. And so it went on. Every week the field is cut and watered by someone from the village. What used to be a dry and dusty field has turned into a soccer field, and what started out as a bunch of village kids has become a soccer team with a godly coach who invests in their lives.

Six months on, Ning has been appointed the official village coach by the Obator. He has a steady group of around thirty kids who come to his coaching sessions three times a week. Five of those come to Sunday School at his church, and many others come into the church on a Saturday night to watch premier league football games. A Christmas party organized by Ning for the community saw an astonishing one hundred and fifty people show up—many of whom had never set foot inside a church in their lives.

All of this is a testimony to God’s wonderful provision. One soccer ball, one man’s faithfulness, and the infinite blessings of the one true God, have opened up the heart of this otherwise closed and dark community.

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Learn more about Ning and other coaches at Sports Friends.