Thoughts about youth sports on Sundays

An increasing number of youth sporting events
 and practices take place on Sunday mornings.

I recently received this email message from a dad who was struggling over the prevalence of youth sports on Sunday, “I’d like to get more involved (in ministry) eventually, and I don’t want to make sports before church in the lives of my kids, but I’m not sure what else to do.  I am praying on this...it’s a struggle.” Pastor and Newark, NJ native Martin Odom wrote in the Patriot-News, “It concerns me that many of the sports enterprises for young people in our area hold the majority of their contests on Sunday mornings. I don’t know when Sunday morning became the optimal time for football games and soccer matches, but it keeps many young people out of church on Sundays.” Read the rest of his op-ed here.

Ultimately each family must settle on their own convictions (see Romans 14:4-6). Some will come to the same conviction as Olympian Eric Liddell did, “God made countries; God makes kings, and the rules by which they govern. And those rules say that the Sabbath is His. And I for one intend to keep it that way.” Read more about Eric Liddell in a family-friendly devotional format here.

Caz McCaslin, the director of Upward Sports in a blog post yesterday suggested some families viewing Sunday morning as “their personal ministry outlet.”  McCaslin writes,

Churchgoing families missing church to attend their kids’ sporting events on Sundays IS a problem…but it’s not nearly as big a problem as all of the families that don’t attend a Bible-believing church at all.

If they won’t come to church with us, then we are commanded to BE the Church to them! I believe God is providing our church member families with an opportunity to use their gifts and talents in sports to share the love of Jesus at those events. 

Read Caz McCaslin’s blog post Youth Sports on Sundays: A Paradigm Shift here.

What are your thoughts?

What would it look like for us to train, pray over, send and celebrate families whose “mission field” is their child’s athletic field?