As World Cup arrives in North America, Southern Baptists gear up to share the Gospel

ATLANTA – As the world prepares for one of its largest sporting events, Southern Baptists have created opportunities to leverage the 2026 World Cup to share the Gospel.

Sixteen major cities throughout North America will host soccer matches that are expected to draw crowds of 15-25 million people who will come from all over the world to watch the games or be part of the festivities surrounding the events. More than 5 billion are expected to watch broadcasts of the games.

“The World Cup presents a unique opportunity for our Southern Baptist family of churches to engage people from all over the world with the Gospel,” said Tim Dowdy, vice president of evangelism at the North American Mission Board (NAMB). “Our hope is that churches in the cities where these events will be held as well as people from churches around the North America who plan to attend an event will find the tools designed specifically for the World Cup helpful in pointing people to Jesus.”

The International Mission Board (IMB), NAMB and several Southern Baptist state conventions are encouraging churches and Christians to engage their communities with the good news. NAMB has created a web page that captures several of these efforts in one place.

IMB has established an engagement strategy that it has utilized during the last three Olympic cycles to make an impact on the global audience that will be paying attention to the games and events surrounding the World Cup.

“IMB’s digital engagement team has been on the cutting edge of strategies to advance the Gospel across language barriers and to people groups who would not otherwise have access the good news of Jesus Christ,” said IMB President Paul Chitwood.

A key aspect of the approach directs individuals to a website IMB created that asks and answers the question: “Who am I?” Visitors to the site will see the page and all its resources in their own language. They will be able to hear a virtual Gospel translation and download a copy of God’s Word.

NAMB is offering soccer-themed resources – stickers, patches, lanyards and wristbands – that direct people to the “Who Am I?” site through QR codes. Whether hosting watch parties, attending the fan fests or doing street evangelism, these resources can help believers initiate Gospel conversations.

“Now, a sporting event taking place in Canada, Mexico and the United States brings IMB and NAMB together to focus on how we can serve each other and the nations,” said Chitwood. “This is another way Southern Baptists are uniting around our Great Commission work.”

Major cities throughout the continent will be hosting these games, and Southern Baptist state conventions in California, Texas, Missouri and Georgia all have established plans to share the Gospel with the global crowds who will be visiting their states.

With Atlanta being one of the host cities, Georgia Baptists have put together an outreach toolkit that can be used by church leaders and volunteers in churches of any and every size throughout the state. California has two of the World Cup’s host cities, San Francisco and Los Angeles, and launched the Yellow Card Initiative to use the global language of soccer to raise awareness about sin and the need for the Savior.

The Southern Baptists of Texas Convention (SBTC), also a state with two World Cup sites in Dallas and Houston, has similarly put together a web page with instructions for ministering to people through events and other forms of outreach. Missouri Baptists are working with their churches to spread the Gospel among those traveling to St. Louis as they host World Cup matches.

“Fulfilling the Great Commission is what we’re all about as Southern Baptists,” said NAMB President Kevin Ezell. “My prayer is that God opens doors for the World Cup to be an avenue where Christians connect with unbelievers who then connect to Christ.”

NAMB’s World Cup page highlights each of these efforts and encourages churches and individuals throughout North America to leverage one of the world’s major global events to spread the good news of Jesus Christ.