What does God want you to do?
Words of encouragement from the Revd Alan
Comfort
Alan Comfort
played 250 competitive matches as a professional footballer in the
late 80's before injury finished his career at Middlesborough. He
has since been a vicar within the Church of England for the past 16
years and chaplain to Leyton Orient for 15 of those years. He is
currently vicar of St John's, Walthamstow
As London prepares for the arrival of the 'greatest show on
earth' in 2012, many of us, and our churches, probably feel quite
overwhelmed? We know this is an amazing opportunity but church life
is busy enough already and sport is not playing to our strengths if
we're honest, so what are we to do?
This is not as simple a question as it seems so please allow me
one non-sporty personal story to begin an answer. Two years ago
whilst Vicar of a church in Loughton, we were preparing to open the
church after a wonderful facelift and refurbishment. We wanted to
reach the widest possible section of our community through our
opening events, so as many as possible might see and sense what God
was saying to them. We needed a breadth of events that could tap
into the different groups. The young families, sporty and so on, we
were already involved with because this was our natural gifting,
but we wanted to look outside of this. In the end, and the
highlight of our opening week, we settled on a beautiful evening of
classical music with a national performer who graciously allowed me
to speak for five minutes of the God who loves each of us. The hair
didn't stand up on the back of my neck nor did the earth move as I
listened to this beautiful music, but it did for many of the people
who came. People we had long since lost contact with or never known
in the first place. Remember Paul's words in 1 Corinthians 9:22: "I
have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I
might save some."
OK, but how am I/we going to get sports ministry off the ground
in my community through our church within 18 months? I may be
sporty by nature but I'm 45 now and organising is my other great
passion. I find people to do things. Within every church there are
people who love football, who love cricket, will love the Olympics
and most of all love children, people and God. If you are a church
leader, or on a leadership team, find one key person who can do the
bits you can't and do it with them. Don't leave them alone to try
and convince a church into an Olympic programme, walk it with
them. Too many clergy or elders think "job done" once you
give the official seal to an activity but sometimes it needs just a
little more. Again you don't have to be sporty to create the
network but clergy often have the opportunity. I recently got a
sports club going for the World Cup simply through the support of
two primary school head teachers and the Beavers and Cubs. The kids
came because of their school or club supporting it.
Then watch the team and ministry grow! I have met few church
leaders who like sport quite as much as I do but I have met
countless who don't turn up at things because it's not their thing.
When we run sports clubs I spend all my time talking to parents as
they watch their kids. I let others coach and I reach out to
people. Can you hear what I'm saying? This is about connecting with
people. Support your sports leadership team as it grows, help them
to understand your vision for blessing the community and drawing
people towards God through Jesus, convince your church to buy some
basic equipment to enable the club to start, and you will find a
few certainties: children love sport, parents love watching them,
and the church will get involved. Once a relationship begins to
develop, drawing people/families into church is an equally
difficult challenge. Some small changes can open the doors more
than you will ever know. Recently, we asked for parental permission
to film all the kids playing sport at our club. We then played the
five-minute DVD during a family service and invited all the
families to come. About seven families came and so the next stage
of the journey began.
The Olympics will be a 'once in a lifetime' moment in all our
lives. The rest of the world is coming to us, to London, and sport
will be at the forefront of everyone's minds. I am convinced
that every church should and could have a sports ministry, to place
alongside its Sunday school, choir, band, housegroups and women's
fellowship and whatever other ministry God has blessed it with.