Reaching Young People Through Sports Ministry

70% of children and youth are involved in sport in some way – that is significant! If you are interested in reaching young people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, you need to give attention to the role of sport in their lives. Beyond the statistics of involvement and participation let’s start by asking the question, "Why should we use sport to reach young people for Jesus?"

In This Article

• Why Use Sport to Reach Young People?

• What Is Sports Ministry?

• Practical Strategies for Sports Ministry

• Meeting Kids Where They Already Are

Why Use Sport to Reach Young People?

Here are 3 reasons:

1. Sport is a common language

We all can appreciate the challenges of understanding and relating to young people. From the cultural trends and sayings to the world they live in, there is so much flux and change. Additionally, we live in a nation with so many languages spoken within the home. As a church, it can be daunting to consider a way to effectively communicate and engage with young people – sport, thankfully, acts as a common language. Just think, little to no words are needed in creating two teams to play a friendly game of soccer.

2. Sport helps children overcome difficulties

As a parent myself, we want to build resilience in our children. Sport acts as a safe medium to try, fail, learn, grow, win and lose. Not only on the physical development side, but by playing in a team and trying to overcome a challenge or an opponent, emotional and intellectual resilience is built as well. As it says in 1 Timothy 4:8 “Physical training is of some value…”

3. Sport builds bridges

There are many things that divide people and very few things that bring people together. It happens to be that sport and food are the top contributors in bringing people together. If you want to effectively connect with young people in your community, it’s important to lean into the platform of sport and play to do so!

What Is Sports Ministry?

Now if we see the value in sport and play as a platform then our next big question should be "What is Sports Ministry to children?"

Here is a simple definition to start: Sports ministry is intentionally applying the lessons within a sport or game to connect people to Jesus and His Story.

The goal of sports ministry is to introduce young people to Jesus as the greatest Coach (to keep the sport metaphor going). This requires intentionality and proper application/teaching within these spaces. From this perspective, it’s helpful to see the full landscape of what is meant by the term sports ministry and the variety of strategies that can be used.

Understanding the Sports Ministry Landscape

Below is a graph that reveals interest in sport on the x-axis and interest in Jesus on the y-axis. Crossing the x-axis refers to someone giving their life to Jesus and crossing the y-axis refers to someone who starts to actively take sport seriously and find an identity within that sport.

Therefore, the right of the graph is doing ministry IN sport, whereas the left of the graph is doing ministry THROUGH sport – this means we simply use sport as a vehicle to share the gospel! You will see that children’s ministry evangelism and discipleship strategies within the sports ministry landscape will all essentially be concentrated on left side of the graph; with a particular emphasis on the “novice” category, and teaching children how to play.

Practical Strategies for Sports Ministry

To expand, in serving with Scripture Union Canada we have seen that the most effective ways to share the gospel with children through sport include the following strategies:

• recreational multi-sport summer camps

• recreational multi-sport mid-week clubs

• family games and festivals

• watch parties of sporting events in a church space

• fun experiential team building games

• gospel-related lessons that can be taught from sports and games

Meeting Kids Where They Already Are

Beyond these strategies, let me encourage you to also consider the question, "Where are young people already playing sports in my community and how can we as a church effectively meet with them there?" Attending a baseball game, a dance recital, or track and field meet to name a few with genuine support and encouragement will go a long way in building relationships and show that you care!

Taking the Next Step in Sports Ministry

So, as Jesus called a bunch of fishermen as disciples (young people who enjoyed their sport if you think about it). Let’s also go with the intentionality of connecting young people with Jesus and His Story through the amazing platform of sport and play!

To learn more about how Scripture Union Canada would love to partner and train you as a church to run sports ministry outreach events such as camps, or midweek sports clubs you can go to: scriptureunion.ca/sports

Finally, feel free to contact me directly to learn more: jonathan@scriptureunion.ca

Jonathan serves as the Director of Training and Outreach with Scripture Union Canada, where he leads sports camps, midweek clubs, and equips churches in children, youth, and sports ministry. He holds a Bachelor of Science from UOIT and a Master’s of Theology from Tyndale.

Jonathan lives in Uxbridge with his wife Megan and their three children. He loves spending time with family, playing sports, and reading old books—and is passionate about helping young people connect with Jesus through sport.