About AIA
Athletes in Action Holland (AIA) is a movement of young people and churches with a passion for sports, people, and Jesus, who uses sports as a means to an end: sharing the gospel of Jesus. Engaging in sports easily creates contact and bonding that allows for relationships to be built. Every year, AIA organizes projects worldwide, events, and sports camps (download our ministry reports from the download page).
Founded in 1998 by Henk Stoorvogel (see history), Athletes in Action has grown from a group of 120 athletes touring the Netherlands in 1998 to an amazing movement with nearly one thousand young people, sent out to serve churches and share the gospel through sports worldwide in 2010.
Partnership with churches
However, not only numbers have changed. Over the years, AIA’s vision gradually has broadened and deepened. The focus shifted more and more to collaboration and partnerships with churches instead of isolated projects. Church based sports ministry is at the core of this vision: sending young people as recreational athletes to serve churches and equipping those churches to build movements of passion, grace, and love through sports in their own neighbourhoods. The primary goal is to partner with local churches to train and equip them in sports ministry by sending teams that will demonstrate and share this vision practically through games, clinics, recreational activities, seminars, and much more.
Events
Besides the projects AIA organizes inspiring events to motivate youth to make a difference in their community and build them up in their faith to a more personal relationship with our Saviour Jesus Christ. Youth can participate in one of our sports camps, a unique blend of high level sports training, personal growth and discipleship for teenagers, ages 12 – 15.
More about Events and Sports Camps
Staff
Athletes in Action Holland currently employs 34 people, both on full time and part time basis. The team is strengthened with a number of interns or volunteers. Staff includes employees working at AIA’s headquarters in Groningen (located in the north of the Netherlands), field workers serving in several large cities in the Netherlands and Short Term INTernationals (STINT’ers) working abroad to prepare projects, train churches and provide follow-up. In 2010 AIA has six STINT’ers based in South-Africa who are training churches and building on the foundation laid by our teams during this summer’s projects. Over the years a total of 33 STINT’ers has been active in Greece, Israel, Brazil, Albania, Turkey, East-Asia, Uganda and South-Africa.
Athletes in Action Holland is part of Agapè. Agapè is the Dutch branch of Campus Crusade for Christ International (CCCI), a worldwide organisation for spreading the gospel and building the Kingdom. The departments of AIA include Recruiting, Training, Media and Public Relations, National Projects, International Projects, Sports Camps, Innovation, and Office/Logistical Support. All are working together to fulfil the mission of AIA, both at the head office in Groningen (northern part of the country, see map) and in the field in various cities.
