Outreach takes many forms in the modern church, and some churches have found a unique opportunity to serve their neighbors through an outlet that already holds sway in most communities: sports.
Sports ministries bring participants (primarily children and young people) into a local church setting and pair the athletic activities with an evangelistic or discipleship element. Such ministries are not only more efficient at reaching many people at once -– particularly the unchurched and de-churched -– but they also typically allow for deeper relationships as a result.
Conversations with PCA churches nationwide reveal that congregations usually take one of two main routes: developing in-house sports ministries themselves, and partnering with existing sports organizations in their communities.
Congregations such as Cornerstone PCA in Columbia, South Carolina, for example, open their facilities to Christian ministries that use their fields or gyms to put on faith-based sporting leagues. Such ministries leverage existing relationships to witness to young people and their families, sharing the gospel and introducing them to Jesus. PCA churches also host national sports ministries like Upward Sports to further their outreach.
Other churches use their own facilities and staff to host sports leagues and camps on the home field. When organized well, sports ministries can be an effective way to build relationships and disciple young people. ByFaith spoke with several congregations around the PCA to learn how they make the ministry work.
Lessons from Texas
At Christ Presbyterian Church in Houston, Texas, the congregation hosts an annual week-long soccer camp for local children. Led by parishioners who are passionate about the game and eager to share their Christian witness, this camp brings in hundreds of young people from the greater Houston area to teach them soccer skills and teamwork in a lively, dynamic setting.
The congregation hosts the camp on a large field that doubles as a retention pond on the property. When the church is not hosting camp, the church permits area schools to use the facility, expanding the church’s outreach even further.
Several factors help to ensure a good experience for the campers. Each day of the camp includes small group settings for Bible study and discussion. According to Axel Sotelo, assistant pastor of community outreach at Christ Pres, to maintain a consistent witness across the experience, church elders and pastors train camp staff in gospel presentation ahead of time and often help lead those groups.
The second factor contributing to ministry success is congregational buy-in. The members of Christ Pres throw their weight behind this ministry, donating equipment, food, water, and supplies to ensure that staffers and campers have everything they need. Sotelo notes that on hot summer days, small gifts like watermelon and fresh fruit make an enormous difference to campers’ well-being. This buy-in also includes administrative support: Sotelo encourages churches to charge a nominal fee, as that helps limit the number of campers who sign up but fail to show, therefore making it easier to estimate the need for congregational donations.
The third factor is perhaps the most important: fun. At the end of the week, Christ Pres hosts a one-day festival to round things off and help the church to follow up with members of the community. In Houston, this followup often means Spanish-speaking parents who, with a language barrier, might not otherwise feel welcome at the church. Even though it comes at the end of the week, this “family fun fair” is a central part of the ministry, creating greater opportunities for engagement and outreach that a simple end-of-day car pick-up line never would.
“It’s a great opportunity to engage kids and parents with the gospel,” Sotelo said.
Insights from Indiana
A thousand miles away in Indiana, Crossroads Community Church in Fishers operates a longer effort to welcome athletes and families. Since 2007 Crossroads has offered multiple programs in different sports, including basketball, softball, and volleyball, but its largest ministry at present is a weekly soccer league for 3-to-8 year olds which runs annually in August and September. With over 80% of participants coming from outside the church, over those two months league staff seek to demonstrate biblical witness as they teach kids how to play the game.
As with the ministry at Christ Pres in Houston, the key to making it work is full congregational participation. From the time the church moved into a new building in 2005, Crossroads members believed creating a sports field and gym were high priorities for the new facility, and they continue to devote a portion of their annual budget to sports ministry.
“Our sports outreach dovetails with the life of the church,” said Ray Schaaf, director of youth and sports ministries at Crossroads. “It is enjoined with so much of what our members already do.”
The ministry also utilizes a clear structure in its soccer league. During league season both practices and games take place on Saturday mornings, easing the burdens of travel and time, and ensuring that all participants (parishioners and community members alike) will be able to attend Sunday worship. Also like Christ Pres, training league staff ahead of time is central. Devotions for kids between practices and games are age-appropriate, with a clear gospel message at the end of each day. Coaches—who are all Crossroads parishioners—are trained ahead of time to lead these devotionals and answer any questions that might arise.
But a third factor that helps the ministry succeed is knowing the local population. Certain sports thrive in certain regions, and finding a good fit between what area athletes want to train and what a church can offer genuinely helps to bring people in. Because basketball and volleyball are such major sports in the Hoosier State, Schaaf says, the church decided to embrace that fact rather than go against the grain.
“Because the congregation is already so invested in these areas,” he says, “it yields greater relational fruit.”
Feedbacks and Follow-ups
Measuring success in these instances can be tricky, but both churches have developed feedback indicators to tell whether their efforts are having any results. The most immediate indicator is repetition: whether participants return for subsequent activities, feeling welcome not just at the camps each year but at the church as well. These touch points are critical to capitalize upon, Sotelo says, as you might only have one chance to extend a further invitation. Like Christ Pres, Crossroads also hosts a type of “capstone” event, highlighting a youth soccer day at church when the league concludes — an effective way, Schaaf notes, to bring families into the pews who might not otherwise come.
Yet these indicators can be subtle. It is often true that efforts at evangelism take repeated encounters or positive experiences in a church setting to soften someone’s heart to the gospel. In an age in which athletics have become not just highly specialized but also now lucrative, both Sotelo and Schaaf note that showing Christian humility, patience, and brotherly love on the playing field can set a powerful counternarrative against the growing elitism and professionalism of many sports. Even at an early age, that narrative can sink into a young athlete’s heart.
Since humans are “fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14), both Sotelo and Schaaf agree that delighting in the skill of our workmanship through joyful movement and loving team-based camaraderie are profound ways to honor our Maker.
“Ultimately, we try to give our participants the building blocks of faith,” Schaaf said. “We give them the gospel in a way they can digest it, and live life with them in an enjoyable way.”
A regular contributor to byFaith, Benjamin Morris is a third-year student at RTS.