South Africa | Growing Disciples on the Basketball Court

Ruben connected with the Novo InnerCHANGE team as a teenager when they went to his high school to recruit new basketball players. Ruben joined, and the basketball coach poured into Ruben, mentoring and discipling him. When Covid hit, the basketball teams got shut down. A lot of the kids InnerCHANGE was mentoring were lonely and some became deeply depressed. Most were from single parent families surviving off very small government grants; they lived in a culture where alcoholism, drug use, and people suffering from HIV were commonplace. To stay connected and support families, InnerCHANGE formed a group of team captains and coaches, who reached out to families during lockdowns and began home visits once restrictions were lifted. Ruben was recruited to this team to serve among his peers.

The home visits paid off because when they were allowed to gather for basketball again in 2021, Ruben was already well known by the parents and kids and was asked to be a coach. He also joined in on an InnerCHANGE apprenticeship, going deeper into discipleship and what it meant to bring good news in the neighborhood. He called himself a “missional missionary.”

Since 2022, Ruben has been leading his own basketball team with InnerCHANGE. He’s still very young (22), and his dream is to get a degree in sports management. Ruben has been able to incorporate that passion into his ministry space with the kids on his team. He leads his team through a Discovery Bible Study (DBS) every week on the court. He’s also leveraging social media to expand his reach, impacting people in places like Kenya and East Africa through sharing videos of his team on the court, testimonies from parents, etc.

InnerCHANGE basketball coaches, including Ruben, still visit each player’s home monthly, ministering to entire families through spiritual conversations, DBSs, and building trust. Ruben has grown as a leader, especially in vulnerability, drawing on his own hardships to create safe spaces for kids to open up. He’s been a blessing to the InnerCHANGE team and the families he serves—and God’s not finished with him yet!