Proclaiming the Good News by sport T-shirts

Sport T-shirts are widely used around the world to convey different messages that are both good and bad. The disciples of Christ have to send the greatest message because they have been entrusted the ministry of reconciliation and it is good for them to use the sport T-shirts for this purpose. In particular, it applies to Christian sportsmen. In this article I will present some important steps in achieving an effective evangelization using sport T-shirts.

Sport T-shirt must have a well designed Christian message

As an example, I will use the sport T-shirt that we use to present the gospel message of Jesus Christ at Taekwon-Do competitions where the sportsmen of “Stolas Leukas” Club participate.

On the front side of the sport T-shirt we put the emblem of our club that has the following meaning.

Maioul sportiv Stolas Leukas - faţa

STOLAS LEUKAS – is a Greek New Testament phrase which in translation means “white clothes”. In our martial arts the training uniform is white, but we named our club this way because of the significance of white clothes in the Bible. In the book of Revelation we are told that the righteous will be clothed in white robes, and that these white robes are the righteous deeds of the saints. Only those who made their robes white in the blood of Jesus Christ, that are those who believe in His name, can have these white robes. We want every disciple of our club to learn the Word of God here, to enter the new covenant with the Lord Jesus Christ and thus become a true disciple of His, so that he may live a holy life on earth and reaching the kingdom of God may wear true white robes, as Jesus Christ said and as it is written:

He who overcomes will thus be clothed inwhite garments; and I will noterase his name from the book of life, andI will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. (Revelation 3:5)(NASB)

RED – the color symbolizing the blood of Jesus Christ which was shed for all people. By this blood we can become clean and get full forgiveness of sins if we believe with all our heart in the sacrifice of the Savior.

For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Colossians 1:13-14)(NASB)

YELLOW – the color of light. Jesus said that He is the Light of the World. We want to have this light to not walk in darkness, and we want all our instructors and their disciples to shine as lights in the world living in full obedience to God, as written in Scripture:

Do all things withoutgrumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to beblameless and innocent,children of God above reproach in the midst of acrooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that inthe day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did notrun in vain nortoil in vain. (Philippians 2:14-16)(NASB)

THE MAP OF MOLDOVA IN BLUE – is the desire and vision that we had at the foundation of this Taekwon-Do club: to have a true Christian country, where the Word of God is studied and lived not only on the lips of people who call themselves Christians, but deep in the heart, as the Scripture says:

Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,singingwith thankfulness in your hearts to God. (Colossians 3:16)(NASB)

THE FIGHTER – performs a Taekwon-Do stretching, which is like a big step that includes Moldova from north to south. Jesus calls us to tell the Gospel to every creature, but He says that we should begin in our country. He told his disciples to be His witnesses in Jerusalem, in Judea, in Samaria and to the ends of the earth. This is the desire for each instructor and disciple of our club: to become a messenger of reconciliation that God has brought to us in Christ Jesus and to share the Gospel, as the Scripture says:

But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called youout of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)(NASB)

Maioul Sportiv | Stolas Leukas | SPATE

On the back of the sport T-shirt we also included our club emblem to reinforce the message, but also added a verse from the Bible that shows that Christian life is a fight, is the true fight and thus urge all people to make effort to be victorious in this fight. The verse is 1 Timothy 6:12:

Fight the good fight offaith;take hold of the eternal lifeto which you were called, and you made the goodconfession in the presence ofmany witnesses. (1 Timothy 6:12)(NASB)

We also put on the sport T-shirt the Web-address of the Club website and of the portal Moldova Creștină, where sportsmen can find answers to many questions they may have about God and faith, and if they do not find answers, they are welcome to ask their questions to get an answer from the Bible.

Using Sport T-shirts

Competitions are another nice opportunity for sportsmen to win not just medals or try their power, but also to build relationships with other fighters and to tell them about the faith in Jesus Christ. Therefore, it is very nice when every team that participates in competition prepares some gifts for coaches and athletes of other teams and the T-shirt is a very good and successful gift. It brings joy to all, contributes to building relationships and is a nice opportunity to tell people about Jesus Christ when we explain the significance of the elements of the sport T-shirt.

Each athlete and coach of the Club must be willing to wear such a sport T-shirt and he always has the opportunity to tell others about the significance of the elements of the T-shirt and invite others to training and to become members of the club.

The sport T-shirt can be a nice gift for the friends of the club instructors and disciples, when it is their birthday or on other occasions when they wish to make a gift.

If you are a sportsman, use sports to share the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ with all people and think how you can make a sport T-shirt that will help you to send this message both to your disciples and to other people. So help you God.

Translated by Felicia Rotaru