Unleashing the Power of Faith on the Field
Adversity is a reality that we all will face at some point in our lives—and for some of us, it’s a daily reality. Certainly sports is no exception. With every training, practice, and competition comes adversity. The same holds true with adversity in our day-to-day ministries.
Since adversity is a fact of life, what can we learn from the adversity we face in sports and apply it to our daily sports ministries?
Let’s face it, oftentimes, the adversity we face in ministry comes in the form of seemingly difficult people. However, we usually are completely unaware of the adversity that people may be facing, and it can impact the way we react to them. Perhaps the person is in a family crisis…maybe he or she is dealing with an illness we are unaware of. Whatever the situation, we simply aren’t always aware of what is happening in the private lives of others.
So, it is especially important for us as sports ministry leaders to be willing to step back with patience and grace, evaluate the situation, and ask the right questions. When we start out by immediately reacting, we can lose credibility, and that’s the last thing we want to do when trying to minister to people through sports.
This posture of grace, empathy, and patience—being slow to speak or react as it says in James 1:19-20—comes from the fruit of the Spirit’s work in your life (Galatians 5:22-23) and helps you to handle adversity and difficulty people in a Christ-like manner. Now you have a much stronger likelihood of bringing peace, love, grace, and understanding to the entire situation.
On the flip side, we also have a big responsibility to protect the environments of our leagues and programs. How do we do this if a person is angry or unreasonable? It’s our responsibility to be prepared and ready for such situations because we have to maintain order and protect the integrity of our environment to be effective in ministry. Expect that at some point, you are going to encounter someone who won’t be appeased and is set on causing problems and division. Pray for wisdom and seek godly counsel for the best way to respond, so that you are above reproach in all you do (Romans 12:18).
In the end, think about some of the adversity you have faced in your ministry programs and ask yourself, “What have I learned from this, and how can I respond better moving forward?”
The Bible says in James that we are to consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds, so I leave you with this: When was the last time you did this? It’s hard to find joy in these challenging situations when taken at face value. But when we hold fast to the promise that it will produce perseverance in us, which leads to maturity and completeness in Christ (James 1:3-4), then it’s much easier to accept adversity when it comes, and to actually find pure joy in trials and adversity as we lead in our ministries.
