Spiritual Formation | 1/12/2026 4:55:00 PM

Written by: Addi Pelham

When I think back on my childhood, I wish I could say most of my time was spent in a thriving church community—worshiping with fellow believers, serving in my city, and building Christ-like friendships. But like most kids and families these days, the rhythm of my life did not revolve around a church calendar. My consistency came from practices, games, and tournaments. My time was spent on the court, and I grew a passion for the community forming around me. My teammates, my mentors, and my coaches became my people—and my passion was my sport.

When Christ grabbed hold of my heart as a sophomore in high school, He quickly lit a fire in my heart for missions as well. I felt the weight of the Great Commission: "Go into all the world and make disciples." I thought obedience meant boarding a plane, moving across the globe, and reaching the "ends of the earth." My passion was real, but it took time for me to understand that the mission field the Lord calls us to is not always across the world. Sometimes it's the soccer field across the street—or the very place we are already standing.

And today, if we truly ask ourselves, "Where are our communities gathering?" the answer is right in front of us. They are gathering on fields and courts and in bleachers—and may not be in church pews.
On a Tuesday night or a Saturday morning, and sometimes even on a Sunday, you are far more likely to find families at a baseball field than a Bible study. Kids are at practices. Adults are in rec leagues. Parents are watching from the stands. College students are often drawn to their universities because of the fandom of their university teams or by the opportunity to play for them.

True discipleship requires presence, time, and consistency. The average sports team gives you all three without even trying. If we want to reach the lost, why would we not go to the places where people are already gathering? People are passionate about sports—sometimes in healthy ways and more commonly in unhealthy ways—but either way, this means athletics is one of the most strategic mission fields of our generation.
 
The Ministry of Going Where People Already Are
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 9:22, "I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some." This wasn't a metaphor—it was Paul's strategy. He went where people lived their lives and joined them.
Jesus used the same model. He called fishermen while they were fishing. He met tax collectors at their tables. He discipled a small group by living life alongside them—eating together, walking together, traveling together, and enduring hardship together. That sounds a whole lot like your average team to me. Jesus built disciples the same way a coach builds a team: through daily presence, shared mission, and consistent investment.
It would be easy to critique the system and say, "This is not as it should be." And truly, there is something to be said about the idol athletics has become. However, we must ask ourselves: How can we redeem that idol? How can we take what the enemy intends for harm and use it for good?

Myles McKee, who used sports to minister to hundreds of kids in inner-city Birmingham, said in an interview, "It's not about fixing all the things; it's about joining the people." It is easy to walk in as the church and shake our heads at the issues. But are we actually willing to step into the messy systems and change them from the inside out?

We are lucky if one family is giving two hours to church a week. Athletics are usually given ten hours a week. We must ask ourselves: Where are people experiencing consistent presence today? Is it inside a church once a week? Or is it in locker rooms, dugouts, practices, gym floors, and stadium bleachers? These are the exact spaces where we need to send passionate Christian missionaries to reach the lost and the next generation.
Why Athletics Is One of the Most Effective Platforms for Discipleship

1. Sports create natural, built-in community.
Teams bond quickly over sweat, struggle, conflict, loss, and celebration. You don't have to manufacture vulnerability; the game does it for you.

2. Sports reveal people's real selves.
Pressure exposes character. Failure humbles. Injury opens hearts and reveals idols and identity. Competition demands character development and exposes our sinful tendencies. These are fertile moments for spiritual growth.

3. Sports gather people who may never step into a church.
A lot of families are more faithful to basketball practices than to church. Even at a Christian university, many athletes aren't there for the spiritual environment—they're there to compete at the highest level. Athletes are an easy mission field of people who usually do not have an interest in the gospel, but are searching for meaning, significance, and purpose.

4. Sports give access that traditional ministry rarely does.
When you pursue relationships under the banner of "mission work," walls often go up. People with wounds from the church stiffen. But when you share hours of meaningful connection every week over a soccer ball or a shared goal, doors open for gospel conversations. And this is where true ministry begins—with someone who never intended to meet Jesus at practice yet somehow did.
 
A Modern Example: The Mission Field Across the World
A close friend of mine and her husband recently moved to the middle east for him to play professional basketball. On paper, he isn't a missionary. But in reality, his platform gives him access missionaries often could never earn.
He enters the culture through something the community already loves. They respect athletes. They welcome them with open arms—even celebrate them. Suddenly, he has relational authority and trust with people who might distrust or reject a traditional missionary.

Because of basketball, he is invited into homes, conversations, and hearts that might remain closed to any other outsider. Stories like this convince me even more that sports open doors to hospitality and true relationship faster than almost anything else.
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
I want to emphasize the goal: the point is not to idolize sports the way the world does or elevate them above the local church. The local church—worship, teaching, and fellowship—is absolutely essential and cannot be replaced.
But we must also remember that Jesus stepped into the world—into the dust, the noise, and the mess. And He calls us to do the same.
As one article put it: "If we want to see revival, we must be willing to lose games, or homes, or time, or money. Indeed, we must be willing to lose everything for the sake of winning just one soul—let alone a hundred."
 
The Fields Are Ripe—And They Just Might Be Athletic Fields
When I picture athletics, I picture the harvest Jesus talks about in Matthew 9:37: "The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." So where is the harvest? Where is your mission field?

For me, it is the population of collegiate athletes who came to a university to play a sport—but whom I hope to meet with the hope of the gospel. As my boss, Chris Klotz, often says, "You can reach people when you meet them where they are most passionate." For us, we try to reach athletes where they are most passionate—their sport.

What would it look like for us to send out coaches, athletes, and parents into the ripe harvest of athletics as laborers for Christ?

I am more convinced each day that sports are one of the most powerful vessels for discipleship, community, and passion. Not because sports are ultimate, but because people are there—and Jesus has always sent His people to go where people gather and be the salt and light that brings hope.

The question is no longer whether athletics can carry the gospel. The question is whether we are willing to be the missionaries who carry the gospel into athletics—as coaches, as players, as parents, as teammates—because we are willing to have the same goal as Jesus – to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10).