Sports mission stories: Salvationists united

Four sports mission advocates share thoughts on how sport runs hand in hand with mission, worship and discipleship.

I’m a run director for junior Parkrun and co-ordinate the volunteers who man our community café on a Sunday. It’s a great way of engaging with an existing sporting community, meeting people where they are and joining in with that.

God meets us at our recreation ground every Sunday morning. We read in Matthew 18:20 that ‘where two or three are gathered together in my name, I am there in the midst of them’ (New King James Version). God is made visible as we build relationships with others. We can’t fail to see God at work in that. As people start to share something of their everyday with us, we are able to tell them that we have been and will be praying for them. By being part of these communities, we are simply joining in with God’s mission.

Without my faith, I’d just be supporting a sporting event like anyone else. My faith is the ‘why’ behind my sports mission. I want to be, and want the volunteers in the café to be, a visible expression of God.

I hope that God will use the relationships I build with the other run directors, volunteers and families who attend as a way for me to share something of his love, something of the Jesus story, through our conversations. As we play sport and talk life, my prayer is that they might see something in me that they feel they’re missing in their lives.

I am a big believer in sport and wellness. Sport of any sort is good for our mental and physical health as well as our spiritual health. I support young people to keep active by volunteering for the British Army Cadet Force, where I supervise expeditions and I’m a mountain bike leader. I have used sports in corps ministry through after-school or holiday clubs. I also hike with friends.

This year I hope to complete the West Highland Way and the four-day Nijmegen March. All these offer me an opportunity to meet others and have conversations about faith, especially on hikes, because there is often nothing else to do!

God is in everything if we are able to stop and look properly. Sport is no different. I have seen God in deep and meaningful conversations on long walks, in mountaintop views and in the intricate details of the trees, waterways, flowers and wildlife I have encountered.

One of my favourite memories is while training for the Cateran Yomp a few years ago. My friends and I did a practice walk. On the Sunday morning, as we trudged through the foothills of the Cairngorms, a friend of no church background said: ‘You must be missing church!’ So we sang every song they knew, from ‘He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands’ to ‘Amazing Grace’. There were questions about faith too. The Cairngorms were the most sacred place to be that day!

Sport is a melting pot of society. Often, all the feelings that are bubbling under the surface of communities are played out in sport. Feelings of inequality, non-acceptance, misunderstanding, poverty, gender gaps in access to participation. My faith helps guide my response to those tipping points of human interaction. When there seems to be division highlighted in sport, my faith reminds me we may end up sharing Heaven one day, so we’d better make sure that we can get on here.

I attend my local Parkrun and gym so I can be involved in my local community. I have seen meaningful connections made and, sometimes, wearing my Army T-shirt has opened conversations for faith about The Salvation Army.

My faith has changed the way I perceive exercise; it’s my prayer space and where I realise that my body is the temple of God. I’m called to love God with all my heart, soul and mind, and when my body is healthy, I feel my heart, soul and mind are better to work for God.

For many years, I was a rugby union referee and got into the top 15 in the country. I am now a referee coach and mentor at the elite level, supporting referees to develop and improve. By building a culture of continuous self- development I have the privilege of getting to know men and women in a deeper way. It’s a massive privilege as I get to know much more about them than just rugby.

I have had the privilege of sharing about God at people’s greatest times of need. I have led funeral services for rugby players who did not know or have a ‘vicar’. I have prayed at a dinner table with Māori, Irish and South African people. As we prayed grace over our food in our native tongues, there was a very tangible experience of God the Holy Spirit.

I cannot separate sport from who I am. They are as intrinsically linked as God is to every other part of my life. I’m known as ‘the rugby vicar’ and I believe God has given me a massive opportunity, which actually has a mutual benefit to the rest of my life and ministry.