Share your faith through sport

1. Be creative
   

   Most sports have fixed rules and regulations, but that doesn’t mean your outreach has to. Gareth Thomson is the CEO and founder of Kingdom Wrestling and runs Wrestling Church, where 200 people come to watch live wrestling and see Bible stories acted out in the ring. Gareth says, “Wrestling is the hook, but Jesus is the transformation.”

2. Use community spaces
   

   Most estates have public spaces for games or sport. These offer great opportunities for connection and to help people improve their overall health and well-being. Mark Oliver, who leads Scripture Union’s Sports Mission Team, runs a football project for around 50 young people in a community space in Gateshead. Afterwards there is an optional session in the church; with pizza, more games and space to explore faith. Mark says, “I think it’s getting easier to talk about Jesus with young people. I don’t know whether that’s just because I’m getting more confident as I get older, but or whether there’s more of an openness, probably a bit of both.”

3. Run classes
   

   Kingdom Wrestling runs classes for children and adults. Gareth makes it clear that this is a Christian enterprise, and that offers freedom to share with people who ask questions. Gareth says, “People are looking for hope, and we’re the hope bearers, we’re the hope carriers, right?”

4. Think outside the God slot
   

   Mark encourages us to go beyond the traditional “God slot” tagged on to the end of a sports session. Mark says “I think that God’s really interested in how we move, how we play, how we act with each other, how we are as embodied people, like Jesus was.”  In his sessions young people are expected to shape the culture, asking them to think it through for themselves. “How do we want this group to have the best environment that it can for you guys to thrive every week. How are we going to treat each other? What you want to bring, what you want to receive from the group?”
   When the young people own that they also police it, Mark says, “if someone kicks off and loses their rag, then one of the kids will go, ‘Hang on, we agreed that that’s not all right. You’ve got five minutes in the sin bin!’

5. Get to know the nans
   

   Relationships don’t stop with the young people. Tom Grant, Head of Proximity, shared a story from early youth work days on his estate in Netherton, Liverpool. While working with kids, he also made a point of getting to know their parents and grandparents. One evening a game of dodgeball took a scary turn, Tom says, “The kids started setting the dodge balls on fire and throwing them at us. Honestly, you try really hard when you’re playing for your life!” Speaking to one of the ringleaders, Tom said he would call his Nan after the session. “He’s like, ‘You don’t know my Nan!’ I said ‘I was speaking to Barbara this afternoon’ … he was such a lovely, polite young man after that!”

6. Pray
   

   It might not be the first thing you think of when planning a sports based event, but it should be! Sarah Small, head of the Eden Network, reminded us that prayer is where mission begins. “If you want to reach people, but you just haven’t found a way, then start by praying and then asking God, would you give me an opportunity?” 

We’d love to hear what you get up to!

Contributors

• Gareth Thompson: CEO and founder of Kingdom Wrestling, seeking lives transformed through professional wrestling.
• Mark Oliver is from Scripture Union and leads the Sports Mission Team.
• Sarah Small is the head of Eden.