As Kansas City begins welcoming a projected 650,000 visitors for the FIFA World Cup 2026, churches and local ministries are ramping up their efforts to spread the gospel and provide biblical hospitality. Notably, Christians are being persecuted in 14 of the 48 countries participating in this year’s World Cup, according to Open Doors, a ministry that tracks Christian persecution. “For the first time in history, millions from unreached and persecuted nations will travel freely to the largest Christian nation on earth,” writes author Mike Burnard for the Christian blog The Third Way. “They will step into spaces where the gospel can be heard openly, encountered personally, and received without fear – something many of them have never been allowed in their home countries.” Several churches and ministries in the Kansas City area are responding. “The nations are coming to our doorstep,” Kansas City’s Abundant Life Church writes about the World Cup. “People from across the world – different cultures, languages, and beliefs – will be walking the same streets, eating in the same restaurants, and sharing this moment.

The Treasury Department offered a glimpse this week of how the new federal school choice tax credit will work, giving educators and policymakers insight into the program. The American Federation for Children, which sent two representatives to a roundtable hosted by the IRS and Treasury Department Tuesday, said the new guidelines give “every governor in every state the clarity they need to opt in immediately.” “The guidance released today made clear what families and education leaders have known since the law passed: the EFTC benefits children across educational settings – public, private and even homeschool in some states,” the federation said Wednesday in a release. “Treasury will also issue clear rules to prevent misspending. With 31 states already opted in or signaling intent to do so, the remaining holdout governors must act now.”