Reaching Out to Athletes

The ministry to athletes on our campus started two years ago with two students and one staff worker. Now the chapter has 17 student leaders and 40 active members. In the process of growth, we’ve learned that many of our school’s varsity athletes are interested in Christian things if there is a friendly place of welcome for them.

The seeds of ministry were planted when a mother asked me to look out for her oldest son, Ben, a freshman football player. I saw how hard it was for him to fit in with our I-V group. Ben had less free time due to sports, and he struggled academically, so he had to work hard on and off the field. To get involved in the chapter . . . well, it just didn’t happen. In essence, we’d be expecting him to give up being an athlete.

The Vision

In Acts 17, Paul bent over backwards to speak the gospel to the Athenians, even quoting secular poetry and referring to idolatrous statues. Paul’s example inspired us to start a new ministry to reach out to athletes in their world. When Jesus healed the man with the demons (Luke 8:26), this man was not allowed to follow Jesus with the others. Instead, he was sent out to those who rejected Jesus in order to tell them how much God had done for him. We felt that God might be sending us out to those athletes who weren’t actively following him so we could share what Christ has done for us. We hoped the witness would spread among the athletes and reach all those who were open and interested.

Our group got started the second year with two student athletes who were committed to fellowship. One played varsity and one played club. I was an ex-football player who came to Christ in college, and now I’m on I-V staff. We decided to start an athletic outreach small group, though we didn’t use the word ‘small’ (not very good for outreach purposes). The plan was to launch and develop an athlete GIG that would be growing and stable.

When doing New Student Outreach contact cards, we asked people if they were a varsity or club athlete and followed up with those people. We talked with the athletic department, and a coach officially sponsored our group. We put up some signs for the first meeting in the athletic center. We offered free pizza and socialized the first night. About 15 students came. Some never came back, but nine students started coming regularly and inviting friends.

What it looks like

Our group is called Hopkins Christian Athletes. The meetings are low key and friendly. Many students come from a Christian background but have never studied the Bible themselves. We greet people, sing a song (usually something such as “Lord, I lift your name on high”) and then do a funny version of the name game and announcements. We pass out New Testaments and read the passage out loud. Next we pass out pencils and have people reread the passage on their own. They underline their favorite parts and put question marks in the confusing parts. Then we break for snacks and drinks and split up into different groups: football players, male athletes (not football) and female athletes. Whenever a team has more than five people coming, they get their own group.

Then we discuss the passage, looking at people’s favorite verses and questions. We let it all go, and encourage people to just say what they think and not worry about being “right.” The leaders just try to help the discussion stay in the text for a while and hit the main point, then transition to application and how we can live more like Jesus. We talk about all kinds of things: where we find our identity, dating issues or partying, just to name a few.

One key with this kind of group is that we never correct people who share their opinions. The leaders help people participate and trust that in time the truth of God’s Word will be known. After about 35 minutes of Bible discussion, we share prayer requests in small groups and pray. Then the person who prepared the study shares a charge for two minutes and encourages the group to follow Christ. We thank people for coming and try to end officially on time, but then hang out for a while and clean up. We meet for one and a half hours on Thursdays, using the same place each week. The leaders have an additional breakfast preparation meeting at 8:00 a.m. each week, and once a week everyone is welcome to meet for lunch together.

Our group grew because we focused on just loving people who are interested in coming and not being so concerned about whether someone is a real Christian yet. We want everyone to grow toward Christ and his love. When people feel they are loved and accepted in a low-key setting, they want to invite their friends. It’s comfortable. We also have ice cream outreaches twice a semester to invite friends to, as an alternative to the regular Bible study.

Commitment

Once athletes have the meetings in their schedule, they hardly ever miss, even with tests the next day. But it’s too hard for athletes to be involved in the larger chapter activities, so expectations need to be clear, and the participation bar should be lowered. Through our athletes ministry, the weekly focus on Bible study, prayer and being together keeps these student athletes moving toward God and his intentions for them.