Sports Ministry for the New Millennium: A New Paradigm

by Larry P. Clay
June 1st, 2001
As evidenced by the marked escalation of interest in sports over the course of the past century, there is little doubt of the unifying elements innate to sports and sports-related events. On a global scale, sports and its related activities and events exhibit the unique characteristic of forming coalitions amongst otherwise disparate groups of individuals for one purpose, in one environment, simultaneously. Sports enthusiasts in the United States prove on no less than a daily basis the illuminating prowess that sports displays. As well, there has been a dramatic rise in fitness and health-related programs throughout both national and international populations. Community-based sports leagues have formed and developed over the past decades as a means for advancing neighborhood camaraderie and as conflict resolution techniques within inner-city environments as well as suburban and rural areas of the United States.
The Church and its local ministries certainly cannot afford to ignore this upward trend in sports-related activities as a way to reach out to communities with the Gospel of Christ. Each locally-operated church can, in their Biblically-mandated position of accountability to make disciples, begin the process of initializing contact with believers and the nonbelievers alike by new enlisting new strategies for community outreach through sports.
Church-based environments afford individuals and community groups attractive, non-threatening settings in which to formulate new friendships, foster fellowship, recruit and sustain development of discipleship, train and develop leadership skills, establish educational and practical solutions for conflict resolution, perform service in the name of the ministry and the gospel of Christ and, most importantly, design and put into application effective outreach programs for local communities. Sports possess multivariate elements that work to create an environment based on the commonality of interest found amongst individuals and groups of diverse multicultural backgrounds. An environment ripened by the spirit of Christ and founded in the textual solidity of Biblical scripture can provide both Christians and non-Christians alike the opportunity to form enduring relationships with one another based on the commonly-held interests that sports engender. An effective sports ministry creates an environment for non-Christians to become involved with Christians while in receipt of the Gospel of Christ. Rather than risk becoming isolated from and alienating entire segments of a community population, the Church will serve its mission and objective well by taking note of this element in society that has the power to sway and envelope a broad-based population in such positive manner.
The following investigational project examines and formulates in-depth discussion regarding the development of a new paradigm for sports ministry that can be utilized as an effective tool for outreach programs and activities. The principles of edification, evangelism, and equipping are core elements of this model design, in which each tenet is given equal weight in importance in church life, building upon and enhancing the opportunities that exist within any given community for outreach activities to be conducted by the church.
Having approached and bypassed the advent of the new millennium, we are witness to astounding technological and scientific breakthroughs and advancements. In order for the Church to retain its leadership position throughout the balance of the twenty-first century, it will serve its mission to the teachings of Jesus Christ well by employing new strategies and modalities to identify, recruit, maintain and positively sustain larger numbers of the population on a global scale toward the mission of disseminating the Gospel of Christ. Through an investigation and examination of six currently operational model sports ministries located regionally throughout the United States, this study fashions a rich fabric of elements that will inform a new paradigm for sports ministry that should serve the Church and its intended purpose well into the new millennium.
The most effective means for reaching the largest populations of individuals and tapping into the richly endowed mine that trademarks the twenty-first century, this investigational study espouses the merging of sports and religion in common spirit to advance unity, comity, and community. To harness the infinite power of the gospel of Christ through merger with the potent sphere of influence that sports enjoy, and which resonates throughout the world, it is only commonsensical for the Church to engage in a merger with sports in its challenging journey into this new world.