WHAT'S THE BIG IDEA?

This has never changed…it has always been to reach the world of sport (local clubs and teams) with the Good News of Jesus.

To do this we seek to help:

1.Christian sportspeople understand their sports club/team as a place to:

• enjoy God’s gift of sport and worship Him.
• share life and the Good News of Jesus with those they compete with.

2. Form and support teams in towns and cities across the UK and Ireland to be missional in their local sports scene whilst being rooted in the local church.

WHY TEAMS?

It’s hard to go alone and we’re called to do mission together. The long-standing mantra from Colossians 4 v 2-6 has been to Pray, Play, Say and then Paul in v7-18 talks about the importance of a Gospel centered team. So, we want to see teams of like-minded people who will drive this work forward and lead the charge in reaching their local world of sport.

There are two models of what teams could look like:

• Church team: a small team leading the charge for sportspeople in their church who are involved in competitive sport.
• City wide team: people across a town/city involved in several local churches who come together to think clearly about the local sports scene and lead/plan activity in their town/city.

The team’s function is to lead activity within the town/city/church supported by staff and digital resources from Christians in Sport.

WHAT ARE THESE TEAMS TRYING TO DO?

The work of these teams will hopefully result in two outcomes:

• Sportspeople across a town or city being given an opportunity to hear and respond to the gospel.
• Christian sportspeople being supported to think intentionally about sharing life and the Good News of Jesus in their club or team.

HOW DO TEAMS DO THIS?

There are three focus areas:

Guest Events: plan and run guest outreach events like the Sports Quiz. Our annual Sports Mission Pack is full of ideas for running events that enable the Good News of Jesus to be proclaimed whilst continuing to build relationships with sports friends. Consider holding these once a year or once a term depending upon your context.

Training events: plan and run training opportunities for Christians involved in competitive sport to think about worship and witness within their sports clubs and teams. Clubhouse is our training package and can be held once/twice a year or potentially accessed online.

Prayer: Plan and gather people together on a regular basis to pray for a witness across local sports clubs and team. These short and intentional gatherings help gain momentum and could be monthly or termly; creating a culture that encourages personal and group evangelism through:

• using Train 1-2-1.
• reading the Bible 1 to 1 with a sports friend.
• a meal and a message - invite sports friends into our homes for a bite to eat and intentional conversation around faith. Use this this guide to help.

Use these gatherings to pray for sports friends by name and challenge each other with specific next actions each month – use
this resource to help you think this through.

HOW DO WE CREATE AND CONTINUE MOMENTUM?

Here are some ideas that might help you and the team to find more Christian sports people and cast vision. The list is not exhaustive or a prescribed list; rather some thoughts that will help you think further.

• Ask your church leader if you can work towards identifying sportspeople in your church; those who are playing in clubs and teams. For example, create a survey to help identify sports players in your church and put a notice in the church news sheet.
• If you have a student worker or youth leader, ask if they know of any students or young people playing club sport.
• A Whatsapp/social media group can help create identify, unify and enable people to add others they know of.
• Share the vision with sportspeople in your church; gather them together (e.g. 20 minutes before a church service).
• Cast vision to the rest of the church: help them see the intentionality behind this strategy and the people group of sport. Continue to appreciate that some may have negative views about sport and a Christian’s place within it.
• Two helpful videos you could show are below - Run the Race and Pray Play Say. You can download these if you click on the resource.
• Analyse the local sports scene; for example, comparing how many clubs and teams there are with how many Christian sports players are in your church. (cf. Matthew 9v38 - harvest is plentiful but workers are few). National Governing Body websites are a good place to start identifying the clubs and teams in your local area.
• Paint a picture of the unique opportunities and challenges in the world of sport.
• Keep casting vision within the church for transparency and backing.
• Continue to help the church to understand the mission field of sport, the opportunities that lie within and the issues Christians face within that subculture.