Recreation
By: Keith White

Recreation is a vital ministry because it is both evangelistic in its appeal and nurturing in its essence. 

The first responsibility of any ministry is evangelism. Evangelism begins when you get someone's attention, and recreation will get almost everyone's attention because it appeals to their personal interests. When Jesus said to a band of fisherman that He sought, "I will make you fishers of men," He was appealing to their interests. 

The second responsibility of a ministry is to nurture the children of God and to provide the stimuli for their growth in Christ. What better way is there for people to learn to apply these virtues than through sports and recreational activities? 

In Galatians, Paul speaks of the fruits of the spirit as being love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith and temperance. Recreation can indeed be a vineyard in which such fruit can be cultivated, nurtured and ultimately harvested. 

Recreation now can become a ministry used as a tool for the implementing of the gospel and the uplifting of Christ.

People may readily leave their communities and drive across town to participate in a church sports or recreation program, but they will be less likely to become active in that church if it is not close to where they live. Participating in a church recreation program is great, but the goal is for the people to be plugged into a church home where they will be regularly fed by the Holy Spirit. The number of people being touched by the gospel of Jesus Christ would increase by thousands if churches could reach out to their communities through sports and recreation. The reason some don't may simply be the lack of recreational training, staff and funds.  

People in your community might come to church, but they will play ball and recreate.somewhere. You've got to reach them to teach them, but you've got to bring them in first!

Misconceptions That Keep Some Churches from Having a Recreation/Sports Ministry

·          No experienced staff to develop sports ministry

·          Not enough finances within the church budget to support a sports ministry

·          Lack of knowledge to train leadership

·          No church recreation facilities

·          No knowledge of where to go for assistance

·          Not enough church members to field teams

Even though these are thought of as obstacles that might prevent a church from having a recreation/sports ministry, they are truly opportunities for the church to achieve great and mighty things through God's blessings. 

Churches working together to reach their communities for Christ can overcome all these reasons listed above. 

Remember that recreation/sports ministry, when used as an outreach ministry, will impact lives and reach people that might not otherwise walk through church doors. People will look for a church home that can meet their family's needs, and this includes their desires in recreation/sports fellowship. 

Tools for Developing a Recreation/Sports Ministry 

1. Survey

This is used to identify recreational interest in your church and community. It will also help identify potential leadership in different areas of recreational ministry.

2. Outreach Follow-Up Procedure

In order to have an effective outreach ministry, there must be a procedure in place to follow up with the lost and unchurched participants. Outreach does not happen by accident. You have to plan and work at it. It is hard work, but the end results and impact on the ministry can change the heartbeat of your church and community.

3. Leadership Training

As with any other ministry, a recreation/sports ministry is only going to be as effective as the leadership. Training strong leadership is a must.  

4. Sports Teams and Leagues

A very effective outreach ministry is having youth and adult sports teams. The biggest problem is finding other teams to play against that have the same outreach ministry objective. 

Partnering with other churches to form a league is a great way to achieve your ministry objectives. Putting a Christian team in a secular league can be disastrous. It is true that ministry can surely take place, but more likely, the non-Christian teams will negatively affect the Christian teams. 

It is better to bring unsaved and un-churched people into a Christian environment where the rules and policies of the league share the love of Christ. If there is not a Christian league available for your teams to join, start a league by asking other churches to join together to form one. Many times other churches are searching for the same outreach opportunities but don't know where to go to start.  

5. Camps and Clinics

Offering summer sports camp and clinics for children and youth is a great way to reach your community for Christ. The camps will also become an effective springboard into getting those participants to join your children and youth sports teams later on. 

6. Special events

Hosting special sports and recreational events are an effective way to reach your community. Some of the events might be a sports festival, mini Olympics, 3-on-3 basketball tournament, or a church member/non member golf tournament. 

There are many more sports ministry opportunities and your church could and should be very creative with these events. The survey can be a great tool to identify what type of events would be well received by people in your church and community.      

Keith White is the d irector and founder of Playbook for Life Ministries.

Church Recreation Ministry Guidelines
By Dale Lee

What is your definition of a Church Recreation Ministry (CRM)? My definition is "A Church Recreation Ministry sponsors activities that support the church's mission statement and enables church members and community members to spend time with each other in an enjoyable environment." This definition puts emphasis on the church having a good mission statement.

The organization of a local church that is needed to support a CRM will vary. If a church has one team operating at a time, the team's coach may be the CRM staff that reports to the church council, paid staff or the pastor. The CRM will need to become more formal in structure as the number of sponsored teams increase.

It is common for a CRM to focus on sport teams that limit what a CRM can do if it is one dimension. The focus of a CRM can be divided into three types of activities. They are sport teams, clubs and fellowships. What a church can do with sport teams, clubs and fellowships are determined by the interests and creativity of the church's members.

Mission Statement and Goals
The mission statement will define the purpose of the CRM and the general results that are to be achieved by the CRM. Goals should be developed that will give specific directions as to how the mission statement will be achieved. The CRM's mission statement will support the church's mission statement.

Examples of general results that a CRM mission statement can contain are:

•  Support the church's mission statement

•  Promote the church

•  Provide activities through which church outreach efforts can be achieved

•  Provide a way for community members to participate in a church-sponsored activity

•  Provide a way for church members and their family members to participate in sports in a wholesome atmosphere

•  Provide a way for church members to spend time together (fellowship)

•  Have rules that will require participants in a league or team to participate in church services and organizations

•  Provide a sport team for the church members to play a sport

Budget
The CRM budget will vary from church to church. Some church will pay all or part of a team's entry fee. Other churches will require the team members to pay the entry fee through a fee each team member will pay to join the team.

Using the church's facilities for recreation activities will cause more wear and tear on the facilities than a Sunday School class or a potluck meal. Part of operating a CRM is to have plans to help maintain the facilities. Marks on the walls or floor with a few damaged chairs, tables, etc. can become complaint topics for people that are against the CRM. The cost of repairing the wear and tear that will occur to the facilities need to be included in the budget of the CRM or in the church's Building Maintenance budget.

If the CRM is sponsoring activities for community children, there will be some children that may not have the money to cover the cost of participating in the activities. Plans should be made for assisting children that need financial assistance. Will the church have a budgeted amount to assist the children? One way is to have church members provide "scholarships" for the children.

If the CRM activities are viewed as church outreach activities, the church outreach budget could provide some help to cover the cost of the CRM activities.

New Activities
"Is a CRM going to sponsor a new activity?" is a question that deserves scrutiny. To answer this question, several other questions need to be answered.

•  Does the new activity fit within the CRM's mission statement?

•  Is there appropriate interest by enough people to support the activity?

•  Has a person agreed to lead the activity?

•  Where will the activity be conducted?

•  How will the expense of the new activity be funded?

•  When will the activity begin?

•  If it is a sport team, what is the league in which the team will participate?

•  What will be done to promote the activity and enlist participants?

After beginning a new CRM activity, be sure to give a new activity appropriate time to determine if it will be successful. It is not unusual that a new activity may need several adjustments to its rules and organization before it will become successful.

Rev. Dale Lee formally worked for a YMCA branch, where he was responsible for the adult softball, basketball, and volleyball leagues.  He owns Lee Clowning Ministry, which provides entertaining educational programs and training seminars to churches, www.lm2dm.org .