|TOP|As the countdown to the World Cup enters its final stages, churches across Germany are continuing with preparations to make of the opportunity to reach out to the thousands of fans that will descend on the country for the kick-off in Munich on 9th July.

The Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church of Germany (EKD) have joined with the Union of Christian Churches (ACK) to hold an ecumenical service of worship in Munich’s Liebfrauendom cathedral to be broadcast live by one of Germany’s major television companies ZDF.

Head of the EKD, Bishop Wolfgang Huber, will preach at the service, while intercessory prayers will be offered by Jorginho, one of the Brazilian 1994 World Cup Champions.

Representative of the German Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Karl Lehmann, will also attend the service along with the Archbishop of Munich and Freising, Cardinal Friedrich Wetter.

|AD|Members of the Federal government will join the church leaders, including Federal President Horst Koehler, German Minister of the Interior Dr Wolfgang Schaeuble, and Minister President of Bayern Dr Edmund Stoiber.

The head of the German Football League, Dr Theo Zwanziger, will also attend the service.

Celebrations and church-led initiatives will also take place outside the Liebfrauendom to coincide with the ecumenical service and the entire World Cup.

Meanwhile, German churches and Christian organisations will seize the opportunity throughout the entire World Cup to put mass evangelisation into action through the network Kickoff 2006.

The World Cup venue cities are all geared up to help foreign fans find a home from home and bring them to the love of God through numerous events being staged alongside the matches.

St Marienkirche in Dortmund will hold a Gospel-Nights evening of worship music with German and international choirs and musicians, followed by the international worship festival “Hallelujah Ruhrgebiet”on July 2nd, which is expecting 15,000 people to join in.

Meanwhile churches in Cologne will offer multi-language services for the fans of the countries that will play in that city, while Hannover’s Marktkirche has organised a special street-soccer tournament.

Churches throughout the host cities will also hold special events for prayer and contemplation of “life beyond the World Cup”, with churches in Berlin organising special “half-time” and midnight devotions.