Football continues to bring people together!
Andy Waddams, Director of Communications and Engagement, writes about how football connects with faith in this world cup season.
It’s just over a week until the FIFA World Cup begins and for those of you old enough to recall the last time the tournament was held in North America, you may remember an opening ceremony where Diana Ross, mid performance, ran across the pitch to take a penalty kick. Her shot split the whole goal net in half, even though her shot missed the goal by some distance! There’s an opportunity before us during this world cup season and my hope and prayer is that we don’t miss the chance to share the hope that we have in Christ.
Whether you’re a fan of football or not, it remains a global phenomenon connecting hundreds of thousands of people in unity and support or in rivalry.
Paul’s missionary journeys come to mind at this time, travelling to new places and experiencing new cultures as he and his team were sharing the good news of Jesus. I think particularly his ability to use popular elements of the cultures he found himself in to pique interest in Jesus.
Football, or soccer as it will be known in the host nations, is such a huge part of our culture across the home nations and you may be interested to know that many of this year’s title winning team are ‘prayer bros’. The social media account from Ballers in God highlights the Christian faith of many young men and women in the game whilst encouraging its followers to know Jesus more. There are a number of resources that have been produced specifically for this current world cup campaign that could be of use in your community:
Goal of Life - a football-themed Gospel from our friends at Hope Together.
Download the Goal of Life School Assembly Plans for both Age 9 (Year 4) and Age 11+ (Year 7+) to help you make the most of your World Cup outreach.
United England Toolkit – a toolkit for those who want to speak up for a united England.
We know that there can also be significant challenges during large international tournaments. For example, according to research from Lancaster University, domestic violence in England rises an estimated 38% when the England football team loses. And the increase in national flags can bring with it a rise in nationalist rhetoric causing fear for many among our communities, something we saw in the last year.
These are perhaps other important ways we can engage and minister in our communities during this summer’s tournament, sharing where possible Christ’s love for all people in all circumstances.
Last year we produced a page to help us respond well to the rise in flags and Christian nationalism.
Information for the national Domestic Abuse Helpline.
Personally, my journey to faith started in a youth football team and I enjoyed a further 15 years playing the ‘beautiful’ game, even winning a few trophies along the way, admittedly at a level a little lower than World Cup. A living example of the way that football communities can help people know the love of Jesus, we welcomed many other men into our team over those years. A similar story to one in our diocese where Luke Sampson from The Bridge, Coventry started a football team last year enabling the benefice to connect and share faith with young men in their community. You can learn more about the league here.
For those who will enjoy the feast of football over the next few weeks: enjoy, connect but don’t switch off the gospel possibilities that present themselves.
For those who aren’t so enthusiastic, it is still worth noting this cultural phenomenon and seeing if there are ways in which you may gather people and point to Jesus, don’t give it a straight red card.
Back to that 1994 opening ceremony and Diana Ross’s penalty kick mentioned earlier, even with a miss and split the net in two, there is maybe a gospel message brewing for someone there about a perceived miss: Jesus’s death, leading to temple veil being torn in two that we might all now be able to come to God – a bit of a stretch? Or is there a message in there about the Lord by his grace bringing powerful results even if our efforts don’t seem enough. Another clunky segway? Perhaps, but there’s noble intent in using this world cup season to point to the goodness of God. Other options could be hosting a gathering to celebrate the global nature of the tournament or leaning into the theme ‘it’s coming home’.
Can I encourage you to be creative, have fun and use this world cup season to share Jesus’ reconciling love to people?
If you are thinking of showing any of the matches at a gathering, please do consider any broadcasting licences you may require. In previous tournaments the government have lifted these restrictions with certain caveats, the diocesan communications team will let you know if that happens again.