The pandemic lockdown has been long in Metro Manila in the Philippines. There was no physical activity during the first year of the pandemic, which created a great need for human interaction.
For several years, GCM Philippines would do the annual Sports Festival aiming to bring growth and leadership development in an environment of teamwork, fun, and competition.
How could they carry that tradition into the new reality?
Let’s do the festival online!
The organizing team made up of 20 staff and volunteers met regularly for two months to prepare spiritually as well think through the details of the event.
“Not everyone is a gamer – says Christian Armenta, the Win Strategies Team leader for Global Church Movements Metro Manila- We had to think about four categories of online activities where everyone could find themselves: Mind games like online chess, scrabble, etc., mobile games as Mobile Legends or Mario Kart, Entertainment Games where instructions were posted and explained to everyone, and the Talented category where they included games like LitViMusda, digital painting, sound composition, dance on Tik-Tok, etc.”
The E-Sports Festival was advertised through their social media platform as well in their small groups and worship night gatherings. The event was held from January 20-27, 2022.
At least 70 people registered, students, alumni, and new people who were not part of the GCM movement before. Participants were shuffled into three teams, in a well-thought way to make sure that they would have a good distribution of talents and gifts required in all four disciplines of competition.
Teams need a name too, and here is where I love how spiritual lessons are intertwined in an unforgettable way.
“We took the core values of Cru and named each team according to the core values. Three teams: Growth, Faith, Fruitfulness. Each team had to talk about that value, what that meant and how we could grow into that personally and as a ministry. We empowered students who are part of the GCM movement to lead the teams. They were coached by our staff”
The project was led by Joshua Bongon, one of the student leaders with GCM, who was closely then coached by Jamari Espartinez, the current team leader of Metro Manila GCM team.
E-Sport Fests were planned and thought out in detail from advertisements on social media to teasers, roosters, team pictures, count downs, and an online scoreboard that was updated daily by score masters and commissioners.
Teams created their online group chats where they could connect daily, access live videos, instructions for the games, and just commune with each other.
Each team showed their support and learned the value of unity and friendship, as well as the very essence of the POWER OF TEAMWORK.
All loved E-Sports and said in one voice: “It is worth replicating. Let’s do it again”.
We would like to leave you with Danielle Mayor’s words on her experience. Danielle is the Prayer Strategy Leader for Global Church Movement Metro Manilla, and she served as the admin of the “Fruitfulness” Team.
“As I observed, everyone had a blast. The bond between new ones and already involved disciples grew stronger through it. There was an atmosphere of encouragement and room for all to just have fun.
I really appreciate our leaders for their commitment to being the manpower for this event. Seeing Josh, a student, leading us as the overall coordinator was very inspiring. You can never belittle the potential of what God can do in the lives of the next generation.
This is their generation, and they know best the language to connect well and what excites their peers. I love learning from them”
This is an inspiring story of innovation and empowerment of the new generation in an urban context.
How are you innovating and empowering the new generation in a world that is constantly changing?
