INTO THE STADIUM
By Bryan Mason
Spring Harvest/Authentic Lifestyle. 216 pages. £6.99
ISBN 1 85078 502 3
Bryan Mason, of Christians in Sport, is passionate about doing evangelism through the medium of sport. The purpose of his book is to encourage individual Christians and church leaderships to seriously consider engaging in a sports ministry.
He spends a modest amount of print setting sport and leisure in a biblical context and I felt that more space spent on this would have been helpful. But the main thrust of the work is inspirational and practical. He rightly identifies our culture's engagement with sport and leisure and sees it as a great opportunity for Christians to engage in a wide variety of pursuits with the aim of forming relationship bridges with the unconverted in order to gain a hearing for the gospel.
His work is immensely practical. It covers everything from vision casting, through getting the church leadership and congregation on side, to developing a programme of activities. The book brims over with examples of what can be attempted and how to go about organising events. There are also many live examples of what actual churches have done and the impact that has been achieved. The heartbeat of the book is a passion for seeking the lost and using all legitimate means to win a hearing for the gospel.
The book itself is well organised and well written, and would be especially useful to Christians and churches who are just beginning to explore the potential for sports related evangelism.
