"I love the sense of satisfaction that I get when I’ve done a swimming workout or race, and know that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of the swim. It’s the best worship I can offer him."

Penny Heyns

A once in a lifetime opportunity:

Return to the book list for this category.

This paper, written before the 2012 Olympics, aims to get more people involved in Sports evangelism. It describes what More than Gold is, sets a context of UK sport and then presents the McCown sport in ministry map which categorizes the world of sport in five categories – novice, leisure, player, elite and high profile.

There is a fairly superficial account of the history of sport and Christianity – largely based on Muscular Christianity by Ladd and Mathisen. The paper finishes with a section headed “More than Gold the Local Church and the future of sports mission”.

The paper makes some claims that I struggle with. The argument that More than Gold

“presupposes an underlying ecclesiology that was present in the origins of sports mission in Victorian England in the late nineteenth century but that has been absent for the last century” seemed to me to be rather overstated. I doubt if “Ecclesiology” was high on the agenda of the More than Gold board.

I would also question the claim that Peter Lupson’s excellent book documents the “impact of churches on the development of sport and evangelism in the UK”. The book tells us how churches formed football teams and perhaps why. I don’t recall many examples of teams being formed for reasons of sports evangelism.

The paper presupposes that More than Gold is trying to reach the world of sport for Christ. I would suggest that is more focussed on reaching the world through sport. Again the assertion that 2012 More than Gold’s high quality, purpose-designed evangelistic resources are “not always dependent on High Profile testimonies” is perhaps overstated, reflecting a Christians in Sport policy.

Weekly sports email