AROMA thrives after more than a decade of ministry through sports

MESSIAH STUDENTS TRAVEL THE WORLD SHARING THEIR FAITH WITH COMMUNITIES

Since its start in 2011, A Revolution of Missional Athletes (AROMA), Messiah’s sports ministry, has traveled the world to spread the gospel.

Although the program had some setbacks during the COVID-19 pandemic, the program is back in full swing for its 12th year. They even added of a few new initiatives such as a summer discipleship and ministry intensive.

“AROMA has been the part of my experience at Messiah as a student that has encouraged my own personal faith development and relationship with God the most,” said Brendan Provan ’21, M.A. ’23, who serves as AROMA’s strength and conditioning coach. “I love our mission for student athletes to participate in the kingdom of God through sport and how we get to do that through strength and conditioning, small group Bible studies, chapels, camps and more.”

Along with hosting a weekly chapel series, gathering 175-200 students in Hitchcock Arena, AROMA hosts local sports camps and plans trips to countries all over the world.

This year, the program plans to send teams to Costa Rica, Colombia, Zambia, Uganda and Guatemala. Four of the teams are full varsity teams—the woman’s soccer team, women’s volleyball team, women’s field hockey and the wrestling team—and the other two are a mix of varsity and non-varsity athletes.

All students who want to combine faith and sports are encouraged to join. The program shows that sports are a great way for students to build relationships and help others see that fullness in life is found in relationship with God. “Sport has a unique ability to bring together people from all walks of life, parts of the world and socioeconomic backgrounds, so it has a tremendous unifying capacity when used for that,” said Aaron

Faro, AROMA

— Molly McKim ’23

director.

summer programs at Messiah your summer

Messiah offers a variety of unique summer-learning experiences for students taught by our renowned faculty in a fun and challenging environment.

Oakes

For more information about each camp or to register, go to:

Athletic