Winnipeg Christians host Grey Cup activities
WINNIPEG–Come Nov. 22, The Meeting Place, a seeker-oriented church in downtown Winnipeg, will be empty.
Normally, its three Sunday morning services attract 2,000 people. But on Grey Cup weekend, the congregation will meet at the Winnipeg Convention Centre, to host the official Grey Cup Sunday service.
Senior pastor Paul Wartman expects attendance to swell to 5,000. He says hosting a Grey Cup service fits perfectly with the church's seeker-sensitive vision. "It's an event that the city at large identifies with," he says. "It's a venue for people with a great deal of suspicion about church to feel more comfortable coming to a service."
The Meeting Place hadn't planned on the football-themed service, but a request from the CFL coincided with the idea to hold occasional services in a larger venue to unite attenders from all three services.
Why was The Meeting Place asked to host the event?
Grant Koropatnick, director of operations for TMP, explains that the church's worship band has performed at pregame "tailgate" parties at Winnipeg Blue Bomber home games. A CFL executive remembered them during a planning session of the Grey Cup committee. Athletes In Action representative Dave Johns sits on that committee and was asked if "those guys" could do a Grey Cup service. Johns contacted The Meeting Place, which agreed, even with only five weeks notice.
That may sound like a lot of time, but the event requires about 300 volunteers, seeing to everything from audio/video and lighting to security and emergency response, not to mention childcare for 400-500 children.
"We're telling our people that we're taking Jesus to the Grey Cup," says Koropatnick.
The Mennonite Brethren congregation is urging its attenders to invite non-Christian friends to the event, hoping that a church service centred around the Grey Cup weekend will create a stronger contact point for people hesitant to come to a regular church service. Michael "Pinball" Clemons and other Christian athletes are scheduled to give testimonies.
Pastoral staff hope that the service won't drain the sanctuaries of other Winnipeg churches. "The heart of what we're doing is to use this just like any other Sunday, to make Christianity culturally relevant."
Big breakfast
A day earlier, AIA is hosting its annual Grey Cup Breakfast featuring "Pinball" Clemons, Winnipeg Blue Bomber defensive lineman Craig Hendrickson and other CFL athletes.
The breakfast "gives the community positive Christian role models from sports," says Johns, who is also the Blue Bomber chaplain.
"Canadians are pouring into athletic centres, but the churches are sure having trouble getting people into their buildings. [Christians] have a longer lasting, more exciting message than any stadium, so we want to utilize this platform to talk about faith," he says.
Johns says Christian athletes should get off any pedestal, but keep their platform to say that there's more to life than football.
Grant Memorial Baptist Church is also holding an evangelistic service at its sanctuary in conjunction with the Grey Cup weekend.
There hasn't been an official service endorsed by the CFL since the Grey Cup in Regina in 1995, where the service was held in a large tent near the stadium.
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