Our church is wrapping up it’s fifth season of Upward Soccer. It’s become a fixture on our calendar and I can’t imagine not doing it. But like any outreach program, it needs annual evaluation.
We broke all the rules when we first launched our first season. I was still in my first year at the church and we were without a pastor. The congregation was reeling from rapid shifts in leadership and division generations. At that point we only had about 30 kids attending during our main worship service.
I pitched the program to the church on a Sunday night, then paused for questions. One timid older lady raised her hand, “So, we’re going to play soccer against other churches?”
I had a lot of explaining to do.
That first year we registered nearly 80 players. The second year it rose to 120. Then a year at 150 and another at 180. This year down to 130 because we moved the program from Fall to Summer.
All this raises the obvious question of fruit. Has this ministry met it’s goals? Does it reflect excellence? Have we added new families to the church? Have members been empowered to serve? Have we introduced children to Jesus?
The answers are not as clear as I wish.
Overall using Upward has made our soccer league a model of excellence in our community. Every year kids come to our program for a family and kid friendly approach to sports. They love the positive experience we provide. The training, materials, and support from Upward has made this possible – especially since I knew nothing about the sport five years ago.
Each year we’ve added at least one new family to our church, sometimes more. These are usually estranged church members from other congregations. Our sports outreach has helped us connect with them and move them back toward active discipleship.
I credit the program will bringing our church together in difficult times. Our younger parents coach the teams while the older group work concessions or maintain the fields. We followed the Upward prayer guide and had hundreds of people lifting up the program to God.
The kids who came to Jesus are a different story. The short devotions during practice just didn’t lead to many spiritual breakthroughs. Yes, there have been kids who built on what they knew and took steps of faith. But overall I can not point to any specific conversions on the Soccer field. That’s not to discount the real impact on some kids who first connected with our church through sports later came to Christ in other programs.
Moving forwards, Upward Soccer has been a positive and healthy activity for our church. While I wouldn’t recommend it strictly for evangelism, it was very helpful for outreach and making new connections with un-churched families.
What Do You Think?
How about you? Does your church run a sports outreach? I’d love to hear about your experience. Simply leave a comment below to respond.
The top and middle photo from this post are use with permission from Tim Brister’s photo stream on Flickr.
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We started a basketball league five years ago and it has continually grown. We have been blessed with great coaches (men and women) who can teach the game of basketball and teach the kids about Christ! It is a great way to get to know the kids other than Sunday school or Wednesday nights. This is a great outreach into our community and gives our members a door to speak to families in a casual setting. It is a lot of work!!
Dear Friend,
Greetings from Bangladesh in His name!
Yes Sports is a wonderful language sharing Gospel, especially it is very much useful in restricted countries to attract more children, youth and community people.
You can try using sports for God’s glory.
Please keep in touch all of us in our team.
Thanks,
David Avoy
We should always find a way to spread Jesus´s powerful messages and that´s what Sports Evangelism is all about.
Great job!!!
this is very effective especially when one is trained it is an ice breaker in places of persecution and missionary places where there are Muslim dominate i have tried myself and found it effective
Thanks for the info, this will enhance my Choral Readers, by including a sports activity. May god continue to bless you.
I work in the children ministry within the Nairobi area. (Kenya). Recently we got together with two other churches and held a sporting event with the help of UW. It was the first time we had such an event targeting the children. It was also the first time we did something in concert with churches around us.
Thus, we have been thinking on how to move forward with a program like this. The thing I find about church (and the gospel) here is that it is often seen as something that women engage in.
We have sports icons whom the boys really admire. However, often those icon make big blunders in life. I see sports as a way of helping children see that there is one who is perfect. There are also several examples in the letters by Paul that liken our walk with the Lord to sports.
Nevertheless, I really value the evaluation captured above as we plan for our children ministry programs.
Yes it’s work.
Sport Evangelism is a great way to attract people more expecially children. As a children worker i have proved it for very long time and it is working well, You just get up pick a ball and go into any community field and drop the ball and start kicking it alone by the time you think there many children around you from all tribe and religion, soccer dose not have tribe or religion. I have 62 children in my ministry now all from soccer games. It is a potential part of my ministry to children.
Ladies i hear what your saying i am a youth leader in our church we do have to make sure we are not just entertaining but i have to say i love the idea of the sports being incorporated i see the unity that it provides in bringing the churches together. It only enhances it all as a whole. It is not to take the place of the Sunday School or Junior Church etc… I see it as potentially part of our Youth night program.
never but i love that aidea thanks tony
To Riuth above…
I see your point and have wondered some of the same things! Are we putting on a program for entertainment or evangelisim? I see nothing wrong if the two are combined but the line gets muted sometimes and if we are not careful all of our efforts look more like every other secular “fun” event!
I notice mostly men have responded. First I want to say I have been a lay servant forever and a pastor’s wife for over 40 years. My main service was with the children in teaching Bible Clubs, Children’s Church, mission programs. They were my main focus, but activities were part of that outreach. My question is this: Did Paul have a tent making class to draw people to Christ; Did the Disciples take people fishing to draw people to Christ; Did those who had professions bring people in to teach them those profressions or were they more concerned about bringing them to Christ. I am not being a stick in the mud…but Jesus is the ONE who draws people to Himself. We need tools and avenues of reaching children, but are we investing more time and money into something that does not bring in a harvest? These are just thoughts…not criticisms. Just think about HIS method of reaching a lost world. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. You can tell a woman wrote this. HA!
May I reprint your article on my blog http://www.reachingoutloud.com?
Certainly. Just include the link back per our Open Content Policy.
Three years ago our outreach department organized a junior golf program for 5th and 6th graders at our partner public elementary school. Initially I was able to attract volunteer instructors however more recently the economy has limited lay involvement. Because I believe so strongly in the ministry opportunities junior golf offers, I am strongly motivated to continue.
Yes, I have been running upward in Cape Town South Africa for three years. I have found my experience almost mirror image to yours. The one benefit we have is that it is a great opportunity to reach underpriviledged kids in the neighbourhood because there are many children from orphanages and homes that attend. This gives us access to them which would not have otherwise been possible. It also encourages racial and cultural mixing between black and white children which is very important when preparing children to have a missions mindset in South Africa.
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