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Case Study: Church Plant Builds Trust Through Soccer
Laura Coulter | Content Writer at Upward Sports
Eleven thousand new churches. That’s how many churches have been planted through Send Network across North America since 2010. These new churches can bring a gospel presence to places where churches are few and far between, or to people who, for whatever reason, haven’t connected with other churches. Church planters come into communities with intentionality and strategies for meeting the needs of people right where they are and welcoming them into a community that is focused on Jesus.
While church planter Gib Saint Jean was looking for ways to connect with families in the Ellicott City area of Baltimore, Maryland, he learned that Send Network was partnering with Upward Sports to help church planters with sports ministry. It felt like a natural fit for Gib, who has plenty of experience when it comes to sharing the love of Jesus through sports. He knew that sports could be a great outreach tool for his new church plant, aptly named Community Church, to connect with their community.
Gib also knew that a soccer league in particular would be appreciated in his neighborhood. Ellicott City is a diverse area, with people of at least 20 different nationalities living within five miles of Community Church’s location. With the global appeal of soccer, Gib saw it as the perfect opportunity to reach his neighbors. He says, “Being a church that wants to be multi-generational, multi-ethnic, I understand that sports will reach the family that can’t speak English, but they know soccer and we can connect over that.”
So, before Community Church even held their first service, they launched an Upward soccer league for their community. Wanting to help the new church plant get started, Upward stepped in to provide systems, tools, strategy, and advertising resources for Gib and his team.
“Being a church that wants to be multi-generational, multi-ethnic, I understand that sports will reach the family that can't speak English, but they know soccer and we can connect over that.”
Even with Upward’s support, building a league completely from scratch (without any of the resources of an existing church), was going to take a lot of perseverance on Gib’s part. The process to find a location to hold practices and games was complex, but, thanks in part to a school worker who was familiar with Upward, Gib was eventually able to secure a local elementary school field—for free!
The Community Church launch team (as well as two other churches interested in experiencing what it would be like to launch an Upward league) worked to get the word out to families in the area through mailers and flyers handed out at schools. Ultimately, 39 kids in K5-5th grade ended up participating in the league.
At evaluations, Gib told the kids, “I’m going to try to make this the funnest league that you’ve ever been in.” He says, “I was just determined to make sure that they were able to learn the game, that they were able to make friends, that they were able to be encouraged and have the gospel be presented to them with love.”
As a brand new church plant, Gib didn’t have a lot of volunteers on hand ready to jump in and coach. But his team was able to recruit college students from nearby universities through FCA. “They’re all college athletes,” explains Gib. “And so they know the game. It makes them a little bit more competitive, but they bring a passion about it and they enjoyed it. And so it helped me kind of pour into them as they’re pouring into the younger kids in our area.”
A few parents of players also helped coach. One of them told Gib, “I wake up every Saturday morning, excited to coach my kids and to be a part of this league.”
As Gib had hoped, the league reflected the diversity of Ellicott City and was made up of families from different backgrounds and even different religions. Gib shares that even though some parents were conflicted about having their kids play in a Christian league, they soon realized how much their child enjoyed the environment and decided to stick around. Gib has been able to meet with parents over coffee and to have spiritual conversations outside of the church building. Meanwhile, the principal at the school they’re using for field space told Gib she had received great feedback about the league from the families whose kids attend her school.
For Gib, it’s all about building that trust with families in the community. He says, “A part of our vision was to see families to be reached and to be a great presence as a new church. We want a great relationship, a great reputation in the community. And so I think that for us, this accomplished that . . . If you don’t have families that you’re reaching, then you’re missing out on the future generations of sharing the gospel and the next generation of leaders. And so it was important for us to reach families because we want to make disciples of all nations and all generations.”
Community Church held their first worship service on Palm Sunday, after their soccer season had already started. Gib is hopeful that as their church continues to build trust with their neighbors and be a positive presence in the community, they’ll see people not just join their church, but also the kingdom of God.
Conclusion: Sports ministry is a great way for new churches to establish trust and a positive relationship with their community.
Learn more about Upward Sports and our exclusive partnership with Send Network at http://www.upward.org/SEND.
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