by Eric Himes
The Central Territorial Youth Department has launched a gaming ministry for members and friends of The Salvation Army. Playing into the phenomenon of Esports, CYN (Central Youth Network) Esports utilizes the popular gaming communication platform Discord to create a place for friendship, community and discipleship.
While this community of Christian gamers has grown, it also welcomes those who don’t believe in God or know about Jesus to interact with Salvationists and hopefully find faith. It features weekly video devotions and an active prayer request community chat.
Gamers can livestream videos of themselves playing games on Twitch, YouTube Gaming and Facebook Gaming. In fact, the youth department launched its first stream of CYN Esports members on Twitch and hosted its first event called Fortnite Friday where the game is designed by youth and a short devotional is shared.
CYN Esports has been an exciting new ministry undertaken while stay-at-home orders and social distancing have been in place. We are grateful that during a scary and stressful time we’ve been able to provide a positive place for people to gather virtually, have fun, support each other and hear the gospel. As a result, we’ve seen genuine friendships and community grow.
