C2 Church Reaches Out

C2 Church in Columbia, Missouri, loves outreach. For ten weeks in the fall, the church hosts soccer games every Saturday for kids K-6. It also invests in Boys and Girls Missionary Challenge (BGMC), taking C2’s influence well beyond Columbia. In both outreaches, children play a central part. 

Connected with Upward Sports, C2’s soccer program has had a solid footing in the neighborhood for over eighteen years. Darci Risner, connections pastor and the program’s director, says that was before she and her husband, Jeremy, started as youth pastors in 2009. They became lead pastors in 2013. 

Part of the attraction is the soccer program’s faith-based approach. Weekly practices consist of teaching basic soccer techniques and concluding with a ten-minute devotion. Last year’s devotions focused on the fruit of the Spirit. This year, they center on virtues.

Risner says they are seeing that their efforts have a positive impact on the kids. “It’s a safe place for them to learn how to be competitive. With Upward, the kids know which team wins, but pretty much everybody's a winner. It's teaching these younger kids how to play the sport but in a good, Christlike way.”

Upward soccer draws kids from other churches, from C2’s school (Christian Chapel Academy), from those in the community who have heard about Upward and are attracted to its good values.

Thirty-two soccer teams compete on Saturdays. The numbers ebb and flow, Risner says, with anywhere from 260 to 300 players participating. The entire church gets behind the effort, setting up sound equipment, lining the field, running the concession stand, and refereeing. Add parents, grandparents, and siblings to the mix, and the numbers swell to around 1,000.

Jennifer Daack, children and families pastor at C2, volunteers at the games. She explains, “Sometimes there are kids who have never heard about Jesus who come into our Upward program, and they ask lots of questions. Sometimes they find Jesus through soccer, which is kind of crazy.”

That approach is just what some people need. “Not everybody is going to be reached by the traditional invite to church,” says Daack. “Sometimes just coming in and getting comfortable and then experiencing an environment that is encouraging and positive — they're like, ‘Something about this league is different.’”

Risner is delighted with the growth of the soccer program. That and her sixteen years as director have prompted her to start training a person to assume her duties. But she doesn’t plan to step away from the program entirely. “It’s so rewarding,” she says. “Even with me training a new director, I still am going to be a part of it because I just love seeing the joy on the kids’ faces and the parents getting connected.”

While Daack loves helping at the Saturday games, her heart for missions and service has inspired C2 to think outside the soccer field.

For years the kids at C2 have raised thousands of dollars for BGMC through projects and fundraisers, like pie auctions and selling mums. Last year, they focused on COMPACT Family Services. Thanks to the kids’ involvement, the church sent a missions team to COMPACT this past summer to do projects for the ministry. 

Daack explains, “A year ago, COMPACT was a kids’ ministry focus that we were raising money and praying for. Then our church caught that heart.”

Though encouraged by this, Daack wanted the kids to do more.

She got that conviction this past summer from Jeremy’s sermon series on the steps of discipleship. One of those steps was service. But considering the age of kids she works with (birth through fifth grade), there were limitations on what they could do.

“They can't drive,” Daack says. “They're dependent on their parents. They have limited giftings or talents at this point in their life, but I wanted them to feel like they were a part of something really big. I wanted what they did to matter, like they were doing something that really was kingdom work.”

Daack contacted Tom Trask, who oversees Convoy of Hope and the FeedOne initiative that supplies food to thousands of children. The two came up with an idea: The kids could make bracelets advertising FeedOne to be distributed at a music festival in September. 

Trask supplied the materials, and Daack supplied the kid power.

All summer the kids stayed dedicated, some assembling bracelets at church and some at home. When they finished, 250 bracelets had been crafted by young hands and willing hearts.

Daack says, “This was a big deal for them when they were making the bracelets for Convoy. They were so proud of themselves. It was a great way to tie in the sermon series with an actual action.”

Until another service project comes along, C2’s kids are staying busy. They learn more about missions through the BGMC Trading Card Game and decide which ministries to help. This year they are raising money for Asia’s Little Ones and the Protect Me Project, expanding the compassion of Jesus even more.   

That fits the heartbeat of C2 Church: leading people to find and follow Jesus. Whether through sports or kids’ ministry or whatever means to reach out, C2 is all in.