I want to make sure this is clear.
I am not anti-sport.
Despite the title of this blog,
I don't see sports and church as mortal enemies.
I actually see them as complimentary endeavors.

But in their complimentary-ness, they both suffer from the same ills:
When either church or sports claims too much power over our lives,
it goes from being a meaningful source of communal growth
to being an emotionally scarring idol.

I'm not interested in denigrating sports programs that build our children's confidence.
I'm not interested in positioning the church against sports programs that teach our children
healthy community building, leadership skills, graceful sportsmanship, and problem solving.

I am concerned when parents tell me they can't say no to their coaches for fear of their wrath.
I am concerned when sports programs for middle schoolers, and even elementary schoolers,
are treated with a level of pressure and stress as if they were professional sports franchises.
I am concerned when sports are treated with the same unhealthy college pressure as an
honors math class, if you don't start every game when you're 10, you won't start when you're 13,
and then you won't make the team when you're 16, and then you'll never go to a good college,
and you'll never get a good job, and you'll never be happy, and, and, and

And. Fuck. That. Noise.


I don't view sports in its truest form to be antithetical to church in its truest form.
Churches even used to be the organizing body for the local sports program.
Sometimes they still are.

But as I look at the sports culture as it stands, I see the sports culture turning into an idol.
The modern day sports culture employs all of the tyrannical techniques that people claim
are the reasons they don't believe in organized religion.

The pomp and circumstance. The empty superstitious traditions.
The brainwashing that arbitrarily says we are better than you.
The use of guilt to manipulate you into participating.
The threat of exile if you don't tow the line.
The cultural dominance that automatically assumes everyone celebrates your holidays.


These are the things that can turn both church and sports into dangerous idols.
We need to exorcise these things from both of these institutions.

But there are things that sports programs do right.
Things from which we need to learn or we risk letting the idol win.
Cultural shifts to which we need to attend or we risk fading into obscurity.

So let's get started…

If there is one thing I can't stand it's ministerial fatalism.

I'm sick of going to Youth Ministry Workshops just to hear attendees bemoan their feeling of helplessness in the face of secular dominance.

It usually goes like this: "Sports are fun. Sports get you into college. Coaches can bench your kid. Coaches hold all the power over our kids and our parents. HOW COULD CHURCH EVER COMPETE WITH SPORTS?!?!?!"

First, I'll write in a later post about how I don't actually think church and sports are mortal enemies, but let's put that aside for a moment.

Because there is truth to this idea that church now faces competition in a new way. Church time is no longer protected time. Church no longer has a monopoly on community-building or meaning-making. The way we've operated as church needs to change. But that doesn't mean it's the end of church, and that doesn't mean church is helpless. Unless you ask the question: "How could church ever compete with sports?!" then your church is helpless. Asking that question is starting from the assumption that Church is powerless, and if you as a spiritual leader believe that Church is powerless then it's a simple matter of self-fulfilling prophesy.

It's the same pet peeve I have in committee meetings. I can't stand it when I propose an outside-the-box idea to the response, "It won't work for these reasons…" You're right. It won't work because you're starting from the assumption that it won't work. That kind of fatalism is the great virus infecting the church bloodstream.

It's not just a matter of personal pet peeve; it's actually about the heart of our Christian faith.
Over and over again, the Bible tells stories about people seeing death and God seeing life,
people seeing the impossible and God seeing opportunity.

Ezekiel sees dry bones, God sees building blocks for breathing human bodies.
Peter says, "I'm drowning;" Jesus says "Ye of little faith."
Moses says, "But I have a stutter;" God says, "I'll give you the words. Plus, here's Aaron and Miriam to help."
Sarai says, "HAHAHAHAHA! I'm too old to get pregnant;" the angels say, "SURPRISE!!! God can do anything!"

So I propose this shift in mentality:

Rather than responding with "It won't work for these reasons…"
Try this: "These are the challenges we'll face…"

This mentality shifts the focus from a question of "Will it work?" to the question "What will it take to make it work?"

"Will it work?" is a boring "yes or no" discussion that all too often tends toward the "no."
"What will it take to make it work?" turns our discussion into an exercise in imagination.
With this subtle shift we go from a church of Fatalism to a church of Possibility.


"How could church ever compete with sports?!" can only be met with the response, "We can't."
"What can we learn from the success of sports in our modern culture?" has endless options, limitless degrees of strategies to address the problem.

My quest to finally figure out the answer to that second question "How can we learn from the cultural dominance of sports?" has its origin in another one of those Youth Ministry Workshops.
In the Q&A session, a fellow Youth Ministry Director posed the lament,
"There's no competing with sports when you can put sports on your college resume, but you can't put church on your college resume."

AND MY GUT WANTED TO SCREAM!
WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!?!?!?! OF COURSE YOU CAN!!!!!
Church was ALL over my college resume, which might say something about me always being destined to be a minister.
Or maybe it says less about my nerdy love of church and more about the strength of Youth Ministry Program that raised me.

And that's when I started thinking… let's leave the fatalism behind.
What can we learn from the success of the sports culture?

How can Church be a more kinetic experience?
How can Church be playful and fun?
How can Church instill the feeling of achievement?
How can Church offer our Youth sincere leadership opportunities?
How can Church be a space for people's passions and talents to shine?
How can Church feel worth waking up for?



These are all questions I will address at length throughout this blog.
For now, suffice it say, you can leave your Fatalism behind here.

As Jesus said, "Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well!"