Sport as a tool for Evangelism – Living Waters Church of the Nazarene, Manzini, Eswatini
The Living Waters Church of the Nazarene in Manzini, Eswatini, is using sports as an evangelism tool. Every year in the month of March, the church makes use of a fitness coach and a team to walk every morning around the neighbourhood, inviting people to join them on the walks or to an aerobics class to be done at a different time.
The people of Manzini are generally health conscious, and this is has caused a positive response to the fitness initiative. Also, while the aerobics classes and walks are being led by qualified fitness coach, there is no fee required from participants. Each fitness experience offered by the church during this month is free and very beneficial to the participants.
During the exercise, the church conducts an opening and closing prayer. The lead pastor of the church, Dr Nkhata, and his wife, Rev Sophie Nkhata, take turns briefly sharing the Word of God. They use Joshua 1:3 to explain to the participants the importance of salvation.
Over the years as the church engaged in this type of evangelism, other churches, especially from the Church of the Nazarene, have come to join in the exercise as well as the preparation and evangelism. This has resulted in tremendous growth in participation from many other families who are being reached with the message of salvation.
