The Sports Values, Cultures and Vision

Dr. Thamsing Lamkang *

Share the Vision

Each church and ministry is at a different level in their understanding of sports in the church ministry. We must determine where they are and help them to move to a broader and more complete understanding. In order to do this we need to:

- Have a good understanding of sports ministry yourself. Prepare to teach the local leaders in a formal setting.
- Pray and ask God to open the eyes, hearts, and minds of your hosts.
- Assess the church's understanding of sports ministry and give them specific steps to move forward.
- Identify "Sports Ministry Timothy's" in your host church or ministry that you can build into and train.
- Make sure that the pastor or ministry leader is behind the vision for sports ministry. Call or meet with him one-on-one as necessary.

Transfer the Vision

- Organize sports ministry seminars for one to two evenings during your project with the key local leaders. Plan ahead by sending your outlines in advance so that they can be translated into the local language!
- Through individual meetings, the Sports Challenge Event, or sports ministry seminars (taught from information on pages in this handbook) with key leaders you assist them in fully grasping the vision.
- Help your hosts identify the target group (age, gender) that they wish to reach and walk with them to plan activities that will connect with this group.
- Require members of your host congregation to join your team during the project.
Give them preliminary responsibilities for them to prepare and to ensure that they take ownership of the project.

Demonstrate the Vision

- Serve them through appropriate sports ministry activities and outreaches.
- Spend as much time as possible with your "Sports Ministry Timothy."

Release the Vision (Follow-up)

- Help them to identify the next steps they can take to follow-up on those who they have met through the project.
- Stay in regular contact with your "Sports Ministry Timothy" after the project to encourage them and assist them in developing the ministry.

Assignment- Vision

Using the ideas mentioned above and the following information, create your plan to intentionally transfer the vision of Sports Ministry to your host church or ministry.

Why Sports?

Do you realize that if you use sports you are using one of the greatest tools possible to reach this world with God's love? As was previously mentioned in the introduction, there is nothing like sports that bring together a community… a country… the world. Many people of all ages watch, read about, or participate in sports on a weekly basis. Since so many people watch or are involved in sports and recreation it is a tool that we should use to reach our world with the gospel. Whether in Cuba playing baseball, in Romania playing chess, in the Netherlands playing football, or in Slovakia playing basketball many people have come to know God's love and accept Jesus through relationships that were built through sports!

Churches are looking for ways to become relevant in their own communities. The tool of sports allows a church to reach out to two segments of the population that are often the least represented in any congregation – youth and men. Still, in many parts of the world and in many churches sports and recreation are seen as worldly activities, even sinful and a waste of time. Although one can dispute this opinion with his own ideas, the basis for he does should be God's Word. Let's look to scripture then for a higher perspective. There are four principles that we will explore.

BIBLICAL FOUNDATIONS

The Principle of Liberty

Many things in life are not good or bad. They are neutral. Often what make something good or bad are the way it is used and/or what our attitude is when we use it. Take television, movies, the internet, money, and yes, even sports. Paul is an advocate of liberty. He is not saying he is free to do whatever he wanted, nor free to do anything that was unrighteous. He is indicating that he was free from any sort of legalistic posture or man-made rules if they interfered with the proclamation of the gospel.

1Cor.9:23 say, "And I do all things for the sake of the gospel…" That was Paul's driving desire. Paul is saying that he is willing to be culturally relevant even if it means adapting to another culture at the expense of his own culture. If Paul were alive today, he might be an athletic musician or a musical athlete because those are the two main interests of the world that would give him greatest access to people in order to proclaim Jesus Christ.
Principle of Divine Diversity
The God of the Bible is a majestic, multi-faceted God. He is diverse in His essence "Father, Son, and Holy Spirit". He is diverse in his character. He is diverse in His ministry. We can also clearly see this as we explore the different names of God. How many names of God can you think of? What are the characteristics of God which mean the most to you? The point is that our majestic God works in a variety of ways. In the same way, God allows us to be creative to use sports in reaching others for Jesus.

Principle of Silence

While there is nowhere in scripture that clearly states we can or cannot use sports or recreation, the sentiment that the Bible is silent is actually an argument for using it. In dealing with the silence issue, the question must be asked, "Who wrote the Bible?" Using scripture to answer the question, the answer is of course, that God wrote the Bible 2Tim.3:16 and 2Pet.1:21. That then leads us to a second question, this one dealing with God's character.

"Is God holy?" The obvious answer is "Yes." The conclusion is therefore that a holy God would not have used sports or athletics as a metaphor for the Christian life if it was wrong. While the Bible is silent, the use of sporting metaphors clearly indicates that God has no problem with sports. Look at Heb.12:1-3, 1Cor.9:24-25, 2Tim.2:1-5.

The Principle of Human Giftedness;

In Psalm 139, the Psalmist is praising God for the fact He is an omnipresent God – so omnipresent that He was even involved intimately in his birth (v. 13). The Psalmist declares that God has created him as a spiritual being "inward parts", as a physical being "frame", and that God's work was thoughtful and careful "skillfully wrought" – a literal translation is to crochet, to delicately create lace. The implication is that God has made each person exactly as he willed and that creation is "fearfully and wonderfully made."

God has also blessed each person with certain physical skills, and/or abilities, and that each person participates in kingdom building when those skills and abilities are used to declare Jesus Christ. That means that when the soloist sings, or the pastor preaches, or when the athlete uses his or her platform for serving the purposes of God, each is fulfilling God's will as it pertains to their kingdom purposes. To fail to use what God has given us through the creation of our physical being denies the order and sovereignty of God.

Conclusion;

There are many other principles that could also be included as a part of this study. These few, however, will give you a good foundation for the Biblical basis of sports and recreation ministry. I pray that you will take them to heart and consider what you and your congregation might do to use sports to spread the gospel. We know that God desires that "none should perish, but that all should come to repentance 2Pet.3:9."

The only way some people may ever hear about the love of God is through you and through the opportunity and relationship that you build with them as you watch and/or play sports together. When we use sports we may be using a game, but we are not playing a game. Eternity is at stake! So …PLAY ON!!!