One of the main things that Christians in Sport does is help Christian sportspeople connect their sport and faith. Brian Glyn writes about one of the new ways of doing this that they have been trialling:
The world of sport is unique. Sport offers a wonderful opportunity for worship as Christian sportspeople enjoy their God-given bodies, gifts, and talents. However, sport is often a challenging environment for Christians seeking to live out their faith distinctively and speak of the hope they have in Jesus.
So how can the Christian sports player prepare as they wake up on a match day, or head to a team social? How can Christians in Sport, as an organisation, offer support and encouragement to the thousands of Christian sports players doing this every week?
Fortunately, our increasingly digital society means we have the opportunity and the technology to be able to do this. Our online resources have continued to gain popularity in recent years, as have plenty of other apps, blogs, and media outlets dedicated to serving Christians. So, in Autumn, we developed a new devotional resource with the intention of supporting sportspeople, specifically on the day they compete.
What is Game Day?
Game Day is a short, five-minute reflection from the Bible and guidance for prayer, written specifically for sportspeople preparing to compete. We trialled Game Day throughout October and November 2021, releasing one devotion each week via email. These devotions, were based on the Lord’s Prayer, working through how it might shape a Christian’s view of sport, and how it might drive their action and words on the field of play.
Great success
With over 500 people subscribing, the trial was a great success. Game Day subscribers ranged from parents reading it with young people on the way to weekend fixtures, to university sports players, as well as current professional athletes across the world. We’re using the feedback collected from the trial to further improve Game Day, with the aim to release a devotion every week of the year from September 2022.
Our hope is that Game Day might become a devotional for Christian sportspeople to use regularly on their competition days, reflecting on Biblical truth and taking encouragement from it to go into the world of sport to worship God and witness to His goodness.
Look out for our second series due to be published in the Spring: you’ll be able to sign up at christiansinsport.org.uk/GameDay
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