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Some churches offer competitive kids’ sports leagues such as Upward. Others have a gymnasium and are hoping the recreation space can somehow translate into more and better disciples of Jesus. Still others are using sports and recreation in creative ways beyond the church property, drawing together people of like interests to hike, golf, run or hunt.
But despite the method, Paul Stutz is sure of one thing: the church recreational programs that are “planned and implemented with the intention of introducing Christ through known leisure pursuits” are typically the ones that bear spiritual fruit.
Changed lives must be the goal, added Stutz, assistant professor of administration and church recreation at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.
“The leisure lives of people are far more difficult to corral because of the diverse nature of recreation,” Stutz said. Drawing on over 30 years of church and seminary experience in the field of recreation and youth ministry, he said effective evaluation of such programs requires a plan before they are developed and implemented.
“Many churches construct a gym thinking that it will fend for itself in changing lives,” he explained. “Not so,” he answered, encouraging church leaders to start by asking why they want to offer the program, what spiritual outcomes are expected, and whether the program or activity is conducive to ministry.
The next step is to determine whether it’s an activity people want to do, Stutz said.
At Houston’s First Baptist Church, an online interest survey allows people an opportunity to express whether they’re interested in new opportunities for outdoor recreation as diverse as backpacking, road and mountain biking, canoe/kayak and rafting, rock climbing, running, skateboarding, skeet/trap shooting, surfing, triathlons, and motorcycle trips, and a variety of hunting and fishing sports.
Development of that ministry begins when volunteer leadership emerges, explained Dave Budrick, recreation minister. “As people step forward to say I want to lead this ministry, I spend time getting to know them and making sure it’s a good fit.”
“Parks and rec folks are masters at assessing the leisure needs of the populations they serve,” Stutz said. “They do not offer programs that are not substantiated by intentions of potential participants.”
Once the value of a program is affirmed and a convenient schedule selected, Stutz said leaders should consider whether the spiritual emphasis is on evangelism, discipleship or fellowship and how that will be integrated into the activity. “Programs that do not lend themselves to ministry should be avoided.”
“Our members use these opportunities to reach out and find their neighbors, co-workers, and friends, inviting them to a duck hunt or skeet shoot,” Bundrick said in evaluating the new ministry tagged “Outdoors Unlimited.”
“With a church our size, it’s helping members connect with other members who have similar outdoor interests. Then they use those opportunities to find neighbors, co-workers, and friends and say, ‘We’re going to go do a duck hunt or shoot skeet. Why don’t you come with me?’”
It comes down to building relationships and looking for ways to share Christ, he explained. “We challenge our folks to go into that event praying and looking for an opportunity by being sensitive to the Holy Spirit.”
Bundrick said, “Most of our success right now has been in helping church members who were on the fringe. They would show up Sunday for one hour and that was the level of their commitment. Then after meeting up with other folks, meeting once or twice a week to ride together and join up in races, you start seeing them there on Wednesday nights for Bible study, getting plugged in and connected.”
First Baptist Church of Maypearl has had success attracting new families to the church through Upward Basketball, according to Paul Bowman, recreation minister. “In each season we have seen several children saved,” he noted, reporting five conversions this year.
“Our key has been our people seeing Upward as an opportunity to build relationships with unchurched families,” Bowman said.
Leaders can use various measurement devices to gauge success, Stutz said, such as professions of faith, an increase in Sunday School attendance or enhanced social relationships among church members.
When an ongoing sports ministry no longer achieves evangelistic or discipleship goals, church leaders must re-evaluate continuation. Several years ago Sherwood Baptist Church in Odessa decided its Upward sports ministry did not merit the investment of volunteer time and expense.
“We saw very little result and tons of effort,” explained Pastor Ivy Shelton. “We switched to AWANA because we knew we didn’t have the manpower to do both well,” he said, referring to the discipleship program for children. “We have found that we have become much more effective evangelistically by concentrating our efforts through other means of outreach.”
That decision didn’t end its recreation ministry, however. Now the family life center serves a ministry purpose nearly year round for a Christian school as well as a home school association. “They do those programs better than we ever could,” Shelton said, “and so we enable them to do what they do well.”
The AWANA program uses the gym for the recreation time while members continue to make use of workout facilities, racquetball courts and the gymnasium. A ladies aerobics class meets every Tuesday and Thursday for exercise and prayer.
“I’m certainly not knocking sports evangelism. It was just good for us as a church to drop the version of it in which we were engaged,” Shelton said.
Bowman said he is trying to balance ministry with the competitive atmosphere that comes with sports. “I am seeing a huge swing from adult emphasis to kids’ sports,” he said, pointing to the need to reach entire families instead of only attracting children.
“One of our best successes has been in doing Family Fun Nights with an evening of games designed to involve the whole family,” placing an emphasis on family events instead of individual group sports, Bowman added.
Changed lives and intentionality are concepts unique to church-based recreation and sports ministries, Stutz said. “All leisure service folks want their programs to change lives,” he said, referring to the common municipal mission statement of enhancing the quality of life for citizens.
“That doesn’t come close to carrying the weight of providing recreation and sports programs that introduce participants to Christ and how their lives can be eternally transformed by him,” Stutz said. Every ministry should be evaluated by that standard, he insisted.
Teams from the Church at the Cross in Grapevine have offered soccer camps as an entry point when ministering in Laredo. From 30 to 50 members participate each year with teenagers making up about a fourth of the mission team.
“Soccer is something that a lot of parents played when they were younger so they easily connect with bringing their kids to a camp,” explained Taylor Brooks, a member of the Grapevine church who just completed his fourth year of leading a group on mission in South Texas. “Most of the kids already know how to play and those that don’t are easy to teach.
Brooks said the investment is very inexpensive as the group begins with basic drills and moves on to play games. “We take a couple of $50-dollar nets and a couple of soccer balls and start playing.”
Water breaks provide the perfect opportunity to share testimonies of faith in Christ. “We get to know the kids and they play against us. Then they’re tired and come back to hear our story.” Brooks estimated that nearly half of the camp participants attended a block party designed to attract families.
Teenagers from Grapevine maintain relationships with many of the young people they work with each year. “When I went back with our youth I found out they had been texting and messaging on Facebook with kids we met last year, telling them we’d be headed back down and some of them showed up again,” he recalled.
“All of this was organized to build momentum for Saturday nights when families were able to meet the pastor of the church,” Brooks said. “We saw three families come from soccer camp to connect the dots all the way through to the church where they really opened up about the needs they have.”
That kind of intentionality in ministry distinguishes sports and recreation offered by churches from secular programs, Stutz explained. “Other leisure service agencies have other intentions, but the church is unique to the spiritual application.”
He encouraged churches to give the Holy Spirit opportunity to work within sports and recreation programs through intentional times of biblical teaching, spiritual reflection, and prayer.”
