Christians in Sport reports on seven sports camps, five of which were residential:
Over 600 young people attended across four venues in the UK and Northern Ireland. The camps provide specialist sports coaching and team competitions for young people who are serious about sport and play regularly in a club or team, as well as focused teaching on the good news of Jesus and what it looks like to follow Him in the world of sport. Sports Plus aims to encourage young Christian sportspeople in their faith and help those who don’t yet know Christ to explore the claims of Christianity.
Sports people transformed to play
Hundreds of thousands of young people in the UK are involved in sports clubs and teams each week alongside school sport. Sports Plus camps seek to support Christians in those clubs to live and speak for Jesus.
The evening and team meeting’s theme was ‘Real Life’, working our way through John’s gospel. In the mornings 1 Peter helped show what it looked like to be ‘Transformed to play’. John 20:31 was the week’s memory verse, where John sets out the purpose of his Gospel: that the reader might believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing in him you might have life in his name. 1 Peter helped young people see that by trusting in Jesus they have a transformed life and identity, and can live it out in the world of sport. For sportspeople, knowing that success or failure in competition does not define them is wonderfully freeing, and it was hugely encouraging to see young people grappling with this over the course of each camp.
Real life sports camps!
Ian Lancaster, Director of Sports Plus, said: ‘In the summer of 2020 we ran an online Sports Plus experience over three days. It worked great but it was nothing like the real thing! Residential camps are vital to the work of Christians in Sport and are often cited by young people as pivotal moments in coming to trust in Jesus and connect their sport and faith together. Therefore, we give thanks to God that Sports Plus camps were able to operate in person with minimal disruption.
‘For the team of leaders that God provided, it was a joy and a privilege to be back serving King Jesus alongside each other again this summer.’
Reaching the world of sport
As we look forward to Sports Plus 2022, plans are underway for residential camps across the UK and Northern Ireland. We’re incredibly thankful for God’s provision for 2021 and our hope is to see this work grow to reach even more young sports people for Christ as we trust in God’s provision for the future.
