World Cup 2026 mission campaign goals to mobilise 10,000 churches

Evangelism and discipleship ministry Cru is hoping to mobilise 10,000 churches to spread the gospel during this summer’s World Cup going down within the US, Canada and Mexico.

Cru is partnering with the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), Alpha USA, I Am Second, TryPraying and other organisations to equip churches and individuals to make use of the World Cup to host events and gatherings that may result in “lasting Gospel conversations”.

The campaign, called Victory Beyond the Cup, will see churches and individuals supplied with physical and digital kits on hosting events. The kits cover all the pieces from prayer cards, to conversation starters, to food recipes.

Heather Reddy, executive director of Victory Beyond the Cup, said, “With so many individuals interacting with the World Cup, whether watching with friends, checking scores, and even attending a game in considered one of the United States’ host cities, the chance for Gospel impact is simply too large to miss.

“By removing barriers and making it easy to host and be involved, our hope is that we are going to see a long-lasting change, one which persists long after the winner is crowned.”

The initiative is just not the primary time Christians have used the World Cup as a gospel opportunity.

During the 2018 World Cup in Russia, Mission Eurasia was involved in a significant campaign that saw 400 churches host live screenings and hand out 500,000 pieces of evangelistic literature, including Russian Bibles.

Similarly in the course of the World Cup in Brazil in 2014, The Salvation Army deployed mission teams and volunteers from all around the world to share the gospel and supply local support for communities on the bottom.

Other Christian campaigns have focused on a few of the less savoury features of the World Cup. In Germany 2006 many churches and Christian organisations joined campaigns raising concerns about prostitution and sex trafficking.

At the time Germany had recently legalised prostitution and official prostitution zones were set as much as cater to fans in the course of the competition.