A sports ministry is the name given to religious sponsored organisations that use sport to promote links between the religion and the broader population.
Two prominent sports ministries are Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in Action. Both organizations focus on using athletics to promote Christian beliefs and values. They recognize that coaches and sports have a large impact on people on a national and global level. Both organizations promote a style of participation in athletics that they claim values moral and spiritual direction. The sports ministry of the PCUSA based in Louisville, KY called Team Sweaty Sheep claims a more inclusive theology than FCA or Athletes in Action, focusing on adult and young adult athletes in addition to student athletes.
Famous quotes containing the words sports and/or ministry:
“...I didn’t come to this with any particular cachet. I was just a person who grew up in the United States. And when I looked around at the people who were sportscasters, I thought they were just people who grew up in the United States, too. So I thought, Why can’t a woman do it? I just assumed everyone else would think it was a swell idea.”
—Gayle Gardner, U.S. sports reporter. As quoted in Sports Illustrated, p. 85 (June 17, 1991)
“the eave-drops fall
Heard only in the trances of the blast,
Or if the secret ministry of frost
Shall hang them up in silent icicles,
Quietly shining to the quiet Moon.”
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834)