Church Plant Engages Multicultural Community Through Sports

A Columbus area church plant is using the international love of sports to share the love of Christ in its multicultural community.

Redemption Hill Church, Galloway is on the westside of Columbus. Pastor Josh Rosentreter planted the church there two and a half years ago with the unique make-up of the population in mind.

“One of the things about our particular community is it’s very diverse,” Rosentreter said. “We have a large Ukrainian population here. We have a large Islamic population in our area.”

One of the things about our particular community is it’s very diverse

In addition to the Ukrainian and Islamic populations, Galloway is also home to a Hispanic community and rural Caucasian residents. 

“If I go on a run, I turn left and I jog a mile, I run into a very large mosque,” Rosentreter said. “If I turn right and I run a mile, I run into a biker bar tavern. So, we have both of those worlds happening all around us.”

For the past three summers, Redemption Hill has sponsored sports camps  to reach the different ethnic groups in the community. “Football and soccer are must-haves in our community. We’re still in Columbus so kids love football,” Rosentreter said. 

“The first year we did sports camp, we didn’t have soccer, and kids showed up in cleats and shin guards anyway,” he said. “When they hear sports, they only know one. It is the world sport.”

For the past two years a team from Park Baptist Church in Rock Hills, South Carolina, has come to facilitate sports camps. “It’s been a really great partnership.”

This year Redemption Hill held two sports camps. The first was in June and participants could choose from football, soccer, baseball, and badminton.

“Badminton always starts small, but it always becomes a bigger one by the end of the week,” Rosentreter noted. “The people who do it are really great and they recruit the kids and it’s a lot of fun.”

The second sports camp was in late July and featured football, soccer, and pickleball. The church set up a pickleball court in the parking lot of the Galloway sports complex.

Sports like badminton and pickleball are interesting to kids who are hesitant about participating, according to Rosentreter.

“So that helps us again, when kids are like, ‘I don’t really like sports,’ we say, ‘but have you ever tried this one? It’s not as much running and sweating,’” he said. 

Sports aren’t the only focus during the 4-day camp. “We ask the kids if they want to learn the whole Bible in about four days.” Attendees learn about creation, the fall, Jesus, and Jesus’ return during camp.

The Bible lessons are reinforced during small groups. “They take them back to their sports and then in those smaller groups, they sit them in a circle and review the story for the day,” Rosentreter said. 

Block parties are also a vital outreach tool during sports camps. The first camp ended with a block party and the second camp started with one. 

Both sports camps and block parties have given Redemption Hill an opportunity to connect with its community. “We get a lot of addresses and where people are and then we share the gospel with them,” Rosentreter said. 

On ”Witnessing Wednesdays,” church members and staff go out to visit people at their homes and invite them to church. “We just make a little goodie bag for them. We say to them, ‘We want you to know you are welcome at Redemption Hill Church,’ and then we engage them and try to share the gospel with them,” Rosentreter said.

Six weeks after last year’s block party, a man and his wife showed up at church. He grew up Catholic and over the course of six months, he came to faith in Christ. He was baptized at Redemption Hill in March 2024.

“Obviously, I think that one of the best things that happens for our church is it gives our people an opportunity to connect with more people in our community,” he notes. This summer, Redemption Hill has connected with 139 children and over 400 people at block parties. 

Obviously, I think that one of the best things that happens for our church is it gives our people an opportunity to connect with more people in our community

Connecting with the community is costly, but the Lord has provided. Gifts from two churches and an SCBO evangelism grant helped provide the resources for sports camps and block parties. 

“That was a huge help,” Rosentreter said. The donated funds provided sports equipment, permits to use the local park, and inflatables for block parties. 

As Redemption Hill continues its community outreach, Ohio Baptists can specifically pray for this church plant, according to Rosentreter. He asks for prayer for the follow up efforts.

“We’ve definitely experienced that the best fruit really comes from those one on one conversations. And so just pray that we’re bold enough to just take that next step to knock on the door and that the Lord would open it. Then we would walk through and share the gospel, and that the Lord would use that to call people to himself.”