Trends Impacting Local Church Sports Outreach

Excerpts taken from Dr. Greg Linville’s address to the Atlanta SOLD meeting January 7, 2010 (First of two articles) 

Will local church Sports Ministers and Church Recreators allow current trends be the sole determinant of what programs and services local church sports outreach ministries offer or will they become trendsetters? There are three avenues which can be pursued concerning trends:
1. Maximize current cultural trends for the benefit of the gospel
2. Become trendsetters and culture shapers
3. Continue to do what we’ve always done in a head long pursuit of becoming irrelevant

To maximize current sporting assumes we need to know what they are:

SPORTING TRENDS

• There has been a move amongst the Boomer and Millennial Generations towards Individual Recreation and Personal Fitness while participation in team sports declines
• In addition “echo boomers” (20 & under) tend to prefer individualized electronic leisure pursuits and reject competition
• None-the-less, participation in youth sports leagues continues to rise – particularly for early and middle grade school ages. Some experts believe this segment of team sports may be plateauing
• It is postulated, one of the reasons teenage team sports are declining is the fallout from a movement to eliminate competition from youth sports. League officials no longer keeping scores or standings and in addition, “award” every participant with the same trophy, regardless of their effort, skill or accomplishment. Without competition youth feel there is little purpose in participating
• Of the team sports which are experiencing an increase in participation, Lacrosse is the fastest growing team sport in America followed by Ultimate Frisbee and Rugby. These sports are particularly popular with the youngest segment of the millennials (20-35) and the older segment of the echo boomers. This is partly a result of these generations still enjoying sport and competition but not under the strict supervision and direction of adults
• Individualized Recreation is on the increase
• The fastest growing parkland being purchased and developed is linear – 10 feet wide and miles long. This is to accommodate the huge increase in “sidewalk” leisure pursuits: biking, roller blading, cross country skiing, jogging, hiking
• Personal training is at an all time high
• Outdoor Pursuits continue to thrive
• Record numbers of R.V.s, boats and all outdoor recreational equipment are being purchased, even in a poor economy
• Both the Vancouver Winter Olympics and the South African Soccer World Cup ventures are bankrupt and the broadcast network for the Olympics estimates a loss of 20 million dollars
• Many analysts believe sport has also plateaued as a marketing tool and finance generator, possibly due to the disillusionment of the general population with the so called “role models” as well as the obscene amounts of money they make

OTHER RELEVENT SOCIETAL TRENDS

• Rising illiteracy
• America will soon have more grade school and middle school children who are unable to read and write than those who can
• Within 5 years the vast majority of children 18 and under will have never known what it is like to be “unconnected” electronically, having always owned a personal electronic, communication devise
• Not only do these devices make proper spelling and reading irrelevant, but in fact, proper grammar and spelling aren’t worth the time and effort its takes to type them out on small hand held electronic gadgets
• Computer based spell and grammar checks facilitate illiteracy
• This causes local church youth leagues concern because a large part of the way we do ministry is to ask players to read scripture, devotionals and/or famous athlete’s testimonies
• More youth play in Lord’s Day morning soccer leagues than attend Sunday School

OVERALL CHURCH TRENDS

• 3-400 churches close their doors in America each month
• Over 50% of those who will attend a worship service this week will do so at less than 12% of the church sites!
• These two stats explain why the “mega-church” has proliferated the past twenty years
• Yet, this too may have plateaued as there seems to be a move amongst the “20-somethings” towards less institutionalized, more “house-group” styled communities of faith
• The mega church has replaced the “neighborhood” of the 1950-70s
• They provide a safe environment for children and families
• They provide social networking of like-values people
• They provide services such as athletics, coffee-shops, counseling and lending libraries
• Many provide a school and/or work cooperatively with the growing home school industry, particularly by providing the physical education portion of education
• The multi-site church is growing
• The same preacher is heard/seen via electronic links at multiple sites, sometimes even in multiple states/countries
• The broader church has seen a major shift from being led by men to being led by women
• Many main line denominations have 50% or more of their local parishes led by women particularly in rural and in some urban settings
• Seminary attendance continues to see the percentage of women increase and in some setting women regularly outnumber the men
• Where women become the Senior Pastor, church attendance usually plummets and it is the rarest of occasion to have a growing church led by a woman
• By comparison churches which target men report significant growth – often explosive growth
• What is called contemporary worship is now at least 30 years old and can now be officially termed “traditional” while what has been called traditional would be considered classical.
• Unless churches make room for a new contemporary style, they will lose the echo-boomer generation

CHURCH TRENDS PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LOCAL CHURCH SPORTS OUTREACH

• Larger churches have the “critical mass” necessary to build state of the art athletic facilities which will winsomely attract the non-churched
• With the loss of safe neighborhoods & secular youth athletics erring on one of two ends of a continuum (either de-emphasizing competition or overzealous coaches, parents and leagues which are often closer to child-abuse than coaching) local churches can provide a true haven and be a true beacon for the entire community. Great opportunities abound for culture-shapers
• When many churches are struggling to be attractive to men, those with energetic sports and recreational departments will play a key role in grabbing hold of and keeping men involved

TRENDS WITHIN LOCAL CHURCH SPORTS OUTREACH

To be missional. Instead of administrating “in house” youth or adult leagues some churches challenge church members to participate and coach in community leagues so as to be “salt & light”

To engage in long term relational evangelism rather than relying upon “big event” styled evangelism which depends upon engaging a “big name” athlete or coach to speak at an event

To have experienced and even “professional” public speakers to give huddle talks before, during or after games/recreational activity

Using social networking to communicate, recruit and/or proclaim the gospel message

CONCERNS ABOUT THESE TRENDS WITHIN SPORTS OUTREACH

• The missional approach of challenging laity to go and be “salt & light” is wonderful in concept but often dismal in reality because…
o While the laity is inspired to go out they are not equipped, trained nor held accountable
o The laity often find themselves to be a “lone voice” in a very secular setting and while they remain personally faithful, they are often not fruitful because the find themselves in such hostile situations. A certain “critical mass” is necessary for true fruit to be borne
o The churches that send out their laity rarely build natural conduits or bridges from the secular leagues back to the local church
• Even though the “big name / big event” style of evangelism has inherent problems when it is the only strategy used, it would be unwise to never utilize at times within an overall, long-term, strategy based upon a relational approach to evangelism
• There are real advantages to having gifted, experienced and trained voices share the gospel message within sports outreaches, but the great asset of a bumbling, yet sincere, testimony from a respected teammate or coach should not be unappreciated