Imagine the scene last Saturday at 7.30 in the morning. A cold north easterly wind had becalmed the storm battered beach on the South Coast, the sun was struggling to rise and the swimming group from New Forest Edge Churches were gathering, huddled together in front of hibernating beach huts. Teenagers, retired people, someone who builds military drones and someone who builds wind farms, an MP and his wife and two vicars: we were all gathered to get very cold and wet and eat bacon rolls. As we waded into the freezing water, all manner of groans and motivational cries were uttered as each one of us secretly thought – ‘of all the hobbies in the world, how did we end up choosing this one?’
Sports ministry like our Saturday swimming group has been used powerfully by the Lord Jesus to see his Church bear fruit and grow. It enables many to look at our churches and see that we are also for people like them, defying some stereotypes. It provides opportunities to enjoy our beautiful setting on the South Coast and in the New Forest National Park. It provides community, inclusion, great stories and experiences and so much joy. More than that, it has been a tool for seeing some find life in Christ who gave his life as a ransom for many – including those who love sport. An initial encounter with Christians and the local church through swimming, mountain climbing, running or cycling has often led to conversations about the Christian faith, followed by Christianity Explored and personal faith. But is this right? Is it dishonest to offer sport when we, as a church, really want to offer something of Jesus Christ? Are we being deceptive, trying to trap people with sport (something they want) in order to force conversation about Jesus (something they may not want)? If our sport ministry is aimed at children and young people, could this even present a safeguarding risk?
The Church of England has invested a great deal in a Sports and Wellbeing Ministry scheme, recently piloted through four dioceses. At the heart of this - especially in the amended motion at the February 2025 General Synod - is evangelism through sport. At the end of the Synod debate, a leading progressive voice in the Synod raised the question of the dishonesty of sports ministry and the question of whether such ministry is also anti-sport. Since sport is play – an end in itself – does using sport for another end not ruin its very purpose?
The question is very interesting. In his book Text and Truth, the late 20th Century philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer explores the ontology – or nature – of play. A game, he argues, becomes real when it is played. Its rules become the very fabric of the world and its aims become all-important – for a moment. We’ve all seen it. When the game is entered into fully, all that matters is winning. Furious pitch-side parents need to be reminded, ‘it’s only a game’ as they pour scorn on the referee. The benefit, then, of the game, of play, is that it allows us to enter another world for a moment.
But is play an end in itself? Everything takes place in a context and we rarely have a single aim when we partake in sport. When I go out on my racing bike, I do so to get fresh air (1), to keep a lid on my weight (2), to have time to think and pray (3), to enjoy the view (4), to have something to post on Strava (5) and to impress/horrify locals with my appearance in Lycra (6). If I cycle with someone else, I add to these goals social ones too. The dad who takes his daughter to play football wants her to enjoy the game, get exercise and make friends. When we open ourselves up to making new friends, we run the risk of their interests and passions becoming our own.
When a local church facilitates a Three Peaks Challenge – as mine did a few years ago – the multiple aims of such an endeavour are implied. To imagine that a run with Christian or a football match with Christians is a secular space is naïve. Nothing is being hidden. Indeed, we have no reason to assume the normativity of secular space since, as the theologian John Milbank said, ‘Once, there was no secular’. A place free from conversation about God is artificial: it must be carefully manufactured and policed. This is, perhaps, the greatest dishonesty since ‘the earth is filled with His glory’ (Isaiah 6.3). Play, then, can have no greater purpose than to bring glory to God by being enjoyed and by being the means, under God, through which some find life in Christ.
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Ben Sargent is Vicar of New Forest Edge Churches: Bransgore, Burley, Hinton Admiral, Sopley and Thorney Hill & Member of the Church of England General Synod. He is a Latimer Trust trustee and has written various articles and some of his books published by Latimer can be found here.
Views expressed in blogs published by the Latimer Trust are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official position of the Latimer Trust.