TIME OUT!
The gift or god of Youth Sports
By John Perritt
Christian Focus. 175 pages. £7.99.
ISBN 978 1 527 101 777
This is a book aimed at Christian parents whose children are heavily involved in sport.
Written by a passionate sports player and youth worker, it seeks to bring to light the joys and issues that we may face in sport. Youth sport and Christian faith can sometimes be in contention, so each chapter zooms in on aspects that relate to being involved in any sports setting.
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The author’s American background shines through a wealth of analogies based on the NFL, MLB and NBA, leaving the British reader a little lost in some of the terminology. It would perhaps then be most relevant to a parent of someone chasing the American dream of a College sports scholarship. If life for you or your child revolves around fitness sessions, training and matches, this book offers biblical wisdom to challenge your thinking. See that sport, although a gift of God, is not the most important thing. As the chapters go on, the author sincerely presents the need for parents to think about what it looks like to pass on their faith to the next generation. Parents and the church family must take an active role in this, not just leaving it to the work of the pastor or youth worker.
Time Out! is really helpful in reminding us that sport is a wonderful way we can use the gifts we have been given by God to glorify him. However, the book is lacking in not addressing how sport can also be a way we can reach out to the lost. Sport presents a huge mission-field in which God has placed individuals, parents or players to share their gospel-changed lives with their teammates. Time Out! speaks into that world, especially to an American readership, and certainly offers some useful thoughts on how a gospel-minded approach to a sporting career might look.
