Church Sports Outreach | Sports Ministry | Recreation Ministry

The Problem With Having Sports Facilities at Your Church

Tim Briggs — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:00:06 +0000

Most people wouldn’t see any problem with having sports facilities as their church. Think of the many blessings it provides. It creates opportunities for ministry, right? It’s centralized and easier to manage, right? You don’t have to rely on anyone else, you control everything. Sure, it comes with headache–upkeep, hidden costs, pressure, etc. but those headaches are worth dealing with to get all of the benefits.

So, what’s the problem? Having facilities on your church campus will tend to draw other Christians to your sports program.

Of course, this is only a problem if you’re looking to use sports to reach your non-believing community with the gospel. If you’re merely running a program, then this is a positive side-effect.

Geoff Surratt on his blog today wrote about how church buildings don’t attract non-believers but other Christians and the same is true for sports ministries and facilities. Having facilities at your church is like having a billboard that says: “We do sports and we talk about God. Come!” For other Christians in the community, this looks like a “safe place” for their child to play. If you do adult sports, you’ll likely draw Christian adults looking to get away from secular leagues and play in a more positive atmosphere.

This problem is solvable but it takes a lot of work. How are you going to get non-believers to come and participate in your ministry? How are you going to get all these other Christians from outside of your church on mission? If you don’t have strategies to address these questions, your program will quickly morph into a Christian country club.

My goal today want NOT to trash churches who have sports facilities but rather to clearly state one of the challenges. Now that the U.S. is moving more fully into a post-Christian worldview, it’s going to prove to be more and more difficult to get non-believers to come to you. More and more, as church sports ministries, we are going to have to go to them.

Church Spotlight: Orchard Hill Church

Tim Briggs — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:25:58 +0000

A little over a year ago, Orchard Hill Church in Pittsburgh, PA was on the brink of launching a new athletic facility which included a gym and some multi-purpose rooms. Simultaneously, and by no coincidence, they were looking to launch a sports ministry. The church built this facility to be more relevant in the community and use the space as a bridge to connect with people through sports and recreation.

Having never embarked on something like this before, they were looking for help. And where do people go when they look for help? That’s right, Google. After googling for help with sports ministry, they connected with us.

We’ve had the privilege of walking with them every step of the way as they have launched this ministry and learn how to use sports to impact people with the gospel. We have been so impressed not only with their numerical and sport growth but also with their heart to reach people. As we often tell churches–activity will not be your challenge, ministry will be. It’s difficult to experience explosive growth while still keeping a heart and intention for ministry but Orchard Hill has worked diligently at this. I’ve been amazed at how many unchurched people from the community have already plugged into their ministry.

I would encourage you to check out their sports and rec page on their website to see the types of activities they are involved in. Cindy Runco is the Sports & Recreation Ministry Director at the church and has done a great job. With a strong background in children’s ministry, as well as a long history at the church, the sports ministry has positioned itself to be successful long-term.

I asked Cindy to share a quote about her experience working with us and here’s what she said:

What an awesome privilege to work with CSO! They have have helped me to keep Sports & Rec focused on God’s glory. In an outreach ministry where the focus is sport, CSO has taught me to explore new ways to reach others through sport, their lives and God’s truth. As a result, we’re adapting ministry to reach the sports & rec community. To help accomplish this, CSO has provided me an endless amount of support resources, including private mentoring, group support and webinars! With their help, and God’s grace, we’re working on keeping Christ at the center of the ministry. I’m so encouraged by what God has done for us, our relationship with CSO, and what He will do…it is simply amazing!!!

Making the Most of Every Opportunity

Cindy Bledsoe — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:24:07 +0000

Sports ministry provides us with great opportunities to build relationships with people and an environment where they can be transformed by the gospel. Great opportunities however are many times accompanied by great obstacles, and it is no different for the sports minister.

Some obstacles that sports ministers face on a daily basis include:

The magnitude of the logistical component of running sports leagues.
Feeling the pressure of keeping or increasing the number of participants in programs.
Not feeling equipped enough in spiritual matters or to share the gospel with someone.

Any one of these obstacles are enough to derail a ministry. It is easy to see how these obstacles can keep us from all that God wants to accomplish through our ministries. They can however also serve to remind us to use God’s standard of success in ministry versus our own and to rely on Him to help us overcome the obstacles so that we may make the most of every opportunity that comes our way.

What obstacles are you facing in ministry today?

“Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.” Colossians 4:5-6

Off-Topic: The State of Social Media

Tim Briggs — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 15:58:36 +0000

If you’re one of those people who are fighting social media–you should read this article. Social media is like the telephone or the TV was–you’re only going to be able to fight it for so long before it becomes a cultural phenomenon. Here are some excerpts:

Trevin Wax: Justin, what do you think is the next big shift coming in how social media is used by participants?

Justin Wise: I believe that social media will continue to integrate more deeply into the minutiae of everyday life. Social will find its way into what we eat, what we wear, where we are (and where we’re going to be), what we’re listening to. Social is and will continue to be everywhere.

When I say “social,” I really mean two things:

The ability to share
The ability to interact

…

Trevin Wax: How do you see businesses, ministries, and blogs using social media as part of their strategy?

Justin Wise: If you asked 100 different people this question, you’d get 100 different responses. In the same way that organizations adopted the telephone, they will have to adopt social. Simply put, social will continue to develop and prove itself as a viable, must-have strategy building block.

…

Trevin Wax: What role will content creation and content curation play in the next phase of social media development?

Justin Wise: I think you’ll see a further bifurcation between content creators and content curators. People will drift into one camp or the other.

Disciple-Making Through Sports

Tim Briggs — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 03:20:16 +0000

Ed Stetzer just wrote over on his blog about three church trends, one of which what he called the ‘Elephant in the church’–that being the lack of discipleship. Here’s what he says:

The elephant in the Christian church today is that we are not seeing robust disciple-making taking place. You are more likely to find evangelicals affirming that there is more than one way to get to heaven today than you were 15 or 20 years ago. Why? We’ve done great at getting them in the door and occupying their spiritual appetites, but we’ve done terrible at actually growing them up and grounding them in the faith.

Many churches are now rediscovering ways to push more depth from the Sunday morning stage, better ways to assimilate the crowds into small groups and discipling relationships, more organic ways to nurture spiritual formation, and stronger ways to create missional expansion in their communities and around the world.

First of all, I would agree with his assessment that this is a major concern. One of the biggest struggles I see in discipling people is how to get them to integrate their faith into every area of their life. Believers tend to segregate their lives and divide them into ‘sacred’ and ‘secular’ categories. Church-based activities, charity, and good works go into the “Christian” bucket (sacred). Everything else (work, relationships, etc.) falls into the ‘secular’ bucket. The gospel doesn’t reach into the secular category nor does it even apply.

Getting people involved in sports is a great way to help to disciple people in integrating their faith. Sports/competition often reveal what’s going on in a person’s heart. As John Wooden said, “Sports don’t build character, they reveal it.” Sports can reveal all the brokenness and idols we have in our hearts and, if properly utilized, can be used as a great way to spark spiritual conversations. Helping someone realize how to integrate their faith into their pursuit of sports can help open doors to all other areas of their life.

The Millennials (18-29): Infographic

Tim Briggs — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:44:45 +0000

This infographic is from pewinternet.org. Here are a few things I found particularly interesting:

4 out 10 have a tattoo
Just 1 in 5 are married
36% rely on their family for financial support
37% don’t have a job

The One Thing That is Sure to Kill Your Ministry

Tim Briggs — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:00:41 +0000

From Blogging Theologically:

What is the one thing that will kill your ministry faster than anything else?

…

Pride.

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has a passing familiarity with the Proverbs. There is nothing that kills effective ministry faster than pride (even if that ministry seems to be thriving on the outside). Consider the following:

Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. (Prov. 16:18)
Haughty eyes and a proud heart, the lamp of the wicked, are sin. (Prov. 21:4)
“Scoffer” is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride. (Prov. 21:24)
The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. (Prov. 8:13)
When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with the humble is wisdom. (Prov. 11:12)
Before destruction a man’s heart is haughty, but humility comes before honor. (Prov. 18:12)
One’s pride will bring him low, but he who is lowly in spirit will obtain honor. (Prov. 29:23)

Seven times in these passages, God’s Word says the same thing:

Pride is an abomination.
It leads to destruction.
It brings disgrace.
It humiliates.
It is hated by God.

We dare not pass over these words quickly. If God truly hates pride this much, then we must consider our actions in the face of criticism and in light of success. If we follow the wisdom of Scripture we see that seeking celebrity will kill our ministries. Bad company will kill our ministries. And failing to listening to wise counsel will kill our ministries.

Do we get the picture, yet?

To be proud in ministry is to jeopardize our ministry—to risk God, in his loving kindness, humiliating us if we start foolishly believing that the number of people who show up matters, how many copies of our books are sold or that we’re above being corrected (even by nobodies who apparently attend Star Trek conventions and live in their moms’ basements). Brothers in ministry, let this never be said of you. Surround yourself with godly men who love you enough to tell you the truth, accept criticism well and fear God above all else. Wisdom and humility will save our ministries—pride will destroy them.

Read the whole post here.

The Job of a Coach Simplified

Tim Briggs — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:21:48 +0000

This is something I developed for a children’s basketball league that I help run at my church. We have a formal job description but this was a supplement to the job description to help bring it to life a little more. As you can see, these are diagnostic questions that coaches are to ask themselves.

1. Did I glorify God with my coaching today?

a. In other words, did I make God famous today with how I coached?

b. How did I do with integrating basketball, life, and God today? Did I look for teachable moments to teach the kids more than just basketball?

c. Was I patient, loving, and gracious with the kids and parents today?

d. Did I find myself welling up with anger or frustration today? If so, why?

e. How important was it to me that my team won or performed well? Was winning or performing well at the top of my priority list today?

f. Did I enjoy coaching today? Why or why not?

g. Did I exhibit humility today?

h. Did I treat the referees, other coaches, leaders, and volunteers with respect today?

2. Did I build redemptive relationships today?

a. In other words, did I look for opportunities to engage in people’s lives with a desire to help them grow spiritually?

b. Did I engage in conversations with parents prior to and after practice?

c. How much did I try to get to know the kids today beyond basketball?

d. How available am I to parents? The kids?

e. Am I building deep relationships with my parents and kids or just maintaining superficial ones?

f. Am I asking “how” and “why” questions to my parents and kids?

g. How often am I praying for the families on my team?

h. How often am I trying to connect with the families on my team outside of practice and games?

What Does CSO Do–Graphic

Tim Briggs — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:00:06 +0000

We’ve been updating some of the pages on our website over the past couple of weeks and one of the pages we have changed is our About page. People often have a hard time understanding what our ministry does so in light of that, we created a graphic and with some accompanied text that hopefully help communicate the work of our ministry.

Does this communicate to you?

What Does CSO Do?

Since we are involved in sports ministry, we’ll use a sports analogy to answer the question of what CSO does. Every player who plays a sport needs three things: 1) A coach, 2) Teammates, 3) Equipment

CSO offers these three things to a sports ministry at a local church. The staff at CSO serve as coaches and mentors for sports outreach leaders. We provide training, classes, and leadership development to help these leaders integrate sports and ministry. Secondly, we help sports ministers connect with other sports ministers. CSO has worked with hundreds of churches in the United States and partner formally with 30+ churches in the CSO Network. This extensive network allows staff and lay leaders to connect with one another and learn from each other. Lastly, CSO aims to resource sports ministries through the CSO blog and Resource Center. The blog and resource center serve as places to read articles, watch videos, and listen to messages geared around sports ministry.

To learn more about how CSO can help your church, visit the CSO Network page.

Off-Topic: The Trinity and Social Media

Tim Briggs — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:42:44 +0000

Tim Gombis has a great post on Trinitarian Relational Dynamics & Social Media Friendships. Below are some excerpts:

In her book, Alone Together, Sherry Turkle discusses the changes to friendships brought about by social media.

She argues that internet social networks offer the hope of intimate friendship along with control over the dynamics of that friendship. That is, we can simultaneously hold friends close and keep them at bay.

I was thinking the other day about this dynamic in terms of Trinitarian-oriented friendships. Theologians speak of the relationships between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perichoretic terms. That is, the Father is always welcoming and enfolding the Son and the Spirit, providing divine hospitality. And the Father is always going out and entering the Son and the Spirit in order to know and delight in them.

Human relationships are meant to imitate intra-Trinitarian relational dynamics so that to some extent flourishing friendships are those characterized by entering and welcoming, increasing authenticity, and mutual delight.