Information for Youth Leaders & Teachers

Youth Leader Guidelines

 

 

The dream

The role of the youth leader

How do Christians in Sport work with the local church?

What next

 

 

The dream

There are almost seven million 11-19 year olds in the UK.  Some 70% of young people see themselves as ‘sporty types’ whilst 58% of 11-16 year olds spend on average, each week , five hours or more playing sport. These are figures from recent surveys!

What an enormous mission field! Who will go and reach this huge target market with the good news of Jesus?

Christians in Sport exists to see lost sports people saved for eternity by the good news of Jesus – How?  By equipping every Christian sports person to be a shining light in a dark place – the sports world.

It is the dream of Christians in Sport to see young Christians in every single sports club in this country representing Christ and helping to build the church. 

Colossians 4v2-6 gives us a framework for representing Christ in our sporting environment.

 2Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. 3And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. 4Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 5Be wise in the way you act toward outsiders; make the most of every opportunity. 6Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone.   (NIV)
 

Just imagine a new generation of Christ-like young people taking time to:

 

·      PRAY for their lost sporting friends – (v 2 Devote yourselves to prayer)

 

·      PLAY in a way that honours God – (v 5 Be wise in the way you act towards outsiders)

 

·      SAY something of the good news of Jesus – (v 6 So that you may know how to answer everyone)

 

The role of the youth leader

The bible gives us a twofold strategy for Church based Christian youth work,

 

·     Making disciples

·     Reaching lost young people

 

       It must be recognised that they are not mutually exclusive but part of the same process.    

       Indeed ‘reaching lost young people’ is the first stage of ‘making disciples’  and should be  

       viewed accordingly.  So we should view the aim of all youth work as ultimately making disciples.

 

Making disciples

The last commission of Jesus in Matthew 28v19-20 was to go and make disciples of all nations.  Jesus does not say ‘go and make people who profess faith, who seem a little interested”.  He wants the disciples to go and invest in others as he had invested in them. If we are going to be true to the call of Jesus in our youth work, then shouldn’t we invest our time in making life long disciples of young people?

 

In Colossians 1v28 Paul stresses that his job is to simply proclaim Christ and in doing so, to present all people mature in Him on that final day. Paul is intent on making real life followers of Jesus and bringing them to a full measure of understanding. If you are involved in church youth work, stop and take a look at it now. Is it intent on making disciples? Is it working hard to present young people mature in Christ? 

 

What does ‘Making Disciples’ look like in sport?

Making disciples is simply making people become more like Christ.  Jesus spent time with his 12 disciples, took them places, taught them things so that they would do likewise.  PRAY, PLAY, SAY in sport is to be more like Christ.  We want young people to understand what it really is to live a life of fullness, using the sporting gifts God has given them to the best of their ability and for the glory of God. We need to teach young people how to really play in a way that honours God and represents Him well.  Once young people understand the joy of playing for God so they understand the need of their lost friends.  We need to teach our young people to pray for their friends and to be able to say something of their hope when opportunities arise.  As part of your discipleship Christians in Sport wants to help you as a local church disciple your sporty Christians to pray, play and say in their sporting environment.

 

When we talk about reaching young people with the good news of Jesus why don’t we start with what we already have? Jesus’ method wasn’t technical or complicated he simply invested in the few to reach the many. Young people are the greatest youth workers around!  It is them who build up natural relationships and friendships! If we invest in our Christian young people to represent Christ and equip them with the right tools to share Jesus, then we can expect the church to grow. We need to disciple for evangelism!

 

As part of discipleship we must provide accessible opportunities for young Christians to bring their friends to, so that they may hear the gospel message.  What a confidence booster to help the young Christian be Christ-like to their friends knowing that their youth worker is striving hard to provide quality opportunities to present the gospel in full.

 

Where then do we invest our time?

The youth leader should spend the majority of their time discipling young people on the right hand side of the cross, in order to bring them to full maturity in Christ.  In turn this equips the young people to go back into their sporting environments and share Christ with their friends who have yet to understand the relevance of the cross for themselves.

 

 

Discipleship line to illustrate the process of discipleship

 

 

 

 

Reaching lost young people

That leads into the second job of a Christian youth worker; their mission to see young people saved by the good news of Jesus.

 

Paul, in Colossians 4v3 says ‘pray for us too, that God may open up a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ’.  Like Paul, we as youth leaders should make opportunities to share Jesus Christ with young people who don’t yet know him as their Lord and saviour.

 

Often, youth leaders spend all their energy trying to break down the weird barriers and build relationships with the young people themselves by being ‘culturally relevant’.  Sport can break that barrier without any problem. We must be ready as youth leaders to provide them with opportunities to come and hear the gospel, as we also proclaim its relevance to them.

 

So the two strategies of a youth leader’s job (discipleship and reaching lost young people) are never mutually exclusive. Indeed the first seeds sown through a school assembly, testimony slot or outreach event must always be viewed as the first stages of discipleship. Therefore time spent proclaiming the good news in different contexts must always be with a view to bringing them to full maturity in Christ. Without the discipleship process in place on the right side of the cross, all the work on the left hand side of the cross is without aim. 

 

 

Discipleship line to illustrate the process of reaching lost young people

 

 

 

 

How then do Christians in Sport work with the local church?

 

Making Disciples

If you are a Youth Leader, Teacher, Coach or Parent can we help you support the young sporty people in your care? We always want to be involved with the local church and help the local youth leader get amongst their sporty young people. Could you meet as a group with your sporty young people to encourage, equip and enthuse – to help them pray, play and say?

 

What you do!

·    Make the word of God accessible and relevant to young sports people as part of you discipleship.  Help them understand who God is, what He has done through Jesus and what that means to play sport in the light of this and represent him.

·    Have an understanding of the sports culture and awareness of the sports world in which young people are involved.

 

How Christians in Sport helps!

·     Runs training courses for leaders involved with young people to disciple their sporty young people for evangelism in their sporting environment.

 

·     Provides the church with events they can bring their sporty young people along to (i.e. Sports Plus Camps).

·     Provides relevant resources for;

  a)  the young person to grow

  b)  the youth leader to reach and disciple young sporty people

·     Ensures the Christians in Sport website is accessible and useful to young people and their leaders.

·    Contacts and supports the young person through regular weekly email.

  

Reaching lost young people

As you attempt to reach lost young sporty people with the great news of Jesus there must first be a discipleship program in place. Using the context of sport can you run events or get involved in activities that provide a platform for speaking about Christ.

 

 What you do

·    Faithfully open the bible relevantly and accessibly to teach young people the good news of Jesus

·    Put on events that enable this to happen

 

 How we help

·     Provide a range of resources that enable you to speak relevantly of Jesus (assembly plans, evangelistic talks) whilst putting on a quality event (Night of champions event, sports clubs)

 

 

What next?

 

We are trying to map out the young people in the country who are standing tall for Jesus in their sport. We would love to know if you are discipling young sporty people – please let us know by contacting Ian Lancaster at ian@christiansinsport.org.uk and we will be in touch to see how we can best support you.

 

There are young sporty people all around this country who are leaving church because we are not investing in them. Get discipleship right and we can expect to see growth both in maturity and numerically. The fruit is ripe for harvest; let us invest in the making disciples who in turn go and make a difference for eternity.

 

Ian Lancaster