In the fourth article in our series on sport Jonny Reid helps Christian parents weigh up the issues around allowing youth and children to play sport on a Sunday
A few years ago Christianity Today, a widely read magazine in America, published an article by Megan Hill, a mum who is going through this dilemma in real time. Her son was a good young baseball player with games on a Sunday. In her piece she wrestled with this problem and concluded:
“Sports are good. It’s good for children to use their bodies, to cooperate with others, to compete under authority, and to discipline themselves to perfect a skill. But the triumphs of the playing field are a dim shadow of the true blessings of Sunday.”
I wonder how you’ve thought about the question on sport on Sundays. How can Christian parents make good, faithful and wise decisions?
The first thing to say is this is a matter of conscience for us. In Romans 14, Paul looks at the question of areas that Christians disagree over that are not central to the gospel and calls them “disputable matters.” As he says:
“One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.”
Paul is not saying this question does not matter. He is calling us to think and consider it carefully, whilst not falling out over it. So, to be clear, I’m not going to give you a firm answer to the question of sport on Sundays. My aim though is to give you three questions to consider as a family which flow from three key principles.
1. We can worship with all of our life
Where I’d disagree with Megan Hill is the false dichotomy she seems to make between sport and Sunday. She goes onto say “When we shuttle the family minivan from one Sunday game to another, we are actually depriving our children of vital practice time. Practice for heaven.”
Sport, like music or art or work, is a gift. It is not meant to replace worship but to extend it
I want to completely agree with her that worshipping together as believers is a essential. But in Christ, worship is not confined to a building or a Sunday. We don’t just ‘practice for heaven’ for an hour a week, instead all of our lives are now able to be lived as worship. Because of God’s mercy we can “present [our] bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Romans 12:1) All of life can be worship.
Sport, like music or art or work, is a gift. It is not meant to replace worship but to extend it. It’s a gift to be enjoyed and a a gift to help us understand more of and delight in the giver. So when it comes to this issue the first question to ask is if we are worshipping God in all of our lives, not just at church? As parents are we exhorting our children to see sports as a way they can glorify God and enjoy him?
2. We all need rest
We are not God, he alone does not need to sleep or rest. Yet incredibly, even though he has no need to rest, he did. He chose to rest, not out of tiredness but as a declaration that his work was finished.
are we obeying God’s call and invitation to rest?
We, as those made in his image are now called to do the same – not because we’re unlimited like God, but because we are not. Sport shows this well. Without rest, there is no recovery. The rhythm of one day of rest in seven isn’t just wise, it’s part of our createdness.
Rest though is more than just physical. Jesus says we can now find rest in him (Matthew 11:29). True rest is not just an absence of work or activity. It is the active pursuit of Jesus. It is about finding time to delight and enjoy him.
So as a parent, ask this of yourself and of your family: are we obeying God’s call and invitation to rest?
3. We were made to meet together
With these two principles by themselves you could end up playing sport every Sunday and relaxing on the couch on a Saturday. But this ignores the fact that the Christian life was never to be done alone. Time with other believers is essential in the life of a Christian family. But time itself is not the only thing. The Bible calls us to worship with others, from different ages and backgrounds, weekly, locally and intentionally. As Hebrews 10:25 exhorts us “do not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”
am I, or my family, in danger of letting our sporting commitments crowd out the call to gather with God’s people?
I don’t think it’s too strong to say that the most important thing Christians can do is to gather with other believers, to sit under God’s word and participate in the sacraments. As Director of the Faith and Sports Institute, Paul Putz, puts it, “If sports are taking a family entirely away from any connection, community, and participation with a church, that is a problem for growth in the Christian life.”
Read more:
Why God invented the game: Five faith‑filled reasons sport matters to your family
How to raise children who know they are loved by God - and you - even when they don’t “perform”
Sport, faith, and friendship: Evangelism for the everyday parent
We need each other. Look around in sport. Even in individual sport there is a team of others supporting, helping, encouraging. We need each other to keep going. The weekly church gathering is an essential encouragement for us.
So we need to ask each other: am I, or my family, in danger of letting our sporting commitments crowd out the call to gather with God’s people?
How to go from here
As Paul encourages us, we need to consider it carefully. We need to do so in conversation with our church leaders and in conversation with our children. This conversation is a wonderful opportunity to help your child understand both about the priority of church but also the gift of sport. As one parent said: “I think the main thing is just to be really open and honest with your teenager about how you’re feeling, and I think that goes with virtually anything with a teenager. But especially about the sport and the Sunday sport issue. We said to our son: “This is our dilemma, you know, God’s given you this gift to use. But at the same time, it does mean that we miss church sometimes.”
Some families then choose to play for a different club which doesn’t compete on a Sunday, others keep playing but approach their sport differently because they are followers of Jesus. I’ve heard, for example, of one family which has told their child’s coach that they will only be able to make a certain number of tournaments in a year due to their desire to not miss too many Sundays in a row. Another coach actually moved their teams’ matches to the afternoon to allow one child to play.
In all, let your conscience, rather than your culture or a fear of judgement from other Christians, guide your decisions. We need wisdom and help here, and we get that in conversation with others as well as from our heavenly Father, who gives wisdom generously to all who seek him.
