hey grant – here’s some random thoughts…

*first it needs to be acknowledged – you don’t have to like it or consider it your fav sport

*think about your programming. i’ve run a friday night youth group on the central coast for the past 10 years. I think that it’s appropriate considering our context. in the USA – there are places where it would be stupid to run a youth group on the friday night because everyone is part of the high school football (gridiron) – if not playing – watching. so i know of churches in that context that run their main program on a wednesday night and don’t bother trying to compete with the gridiron… on the friday night they have a drop in centre after the game to give Christians and their non-Christian friends an alternative places to hang out instead of a drunken party…

*play the sport. what you’re doing grant by playing for the local club is gold… i think more Christians ought to do that rather than play in “christian” teams!

*take an interest in the sport for the sake of people. in conversations etc.

*it might also include urging people to not treat soccer or any sport or anything as god, but rather to turn to Jesus

*run evangelistic or social events for the sport – more people came to informal world cup soccer watching during 2006 than would have come to “official” men’s bbqs to watch the rugby

I THINK THE KEY: you don’t want to have the church modelled on a particular culture, but rather churches need to understand the culture that they are trying to reach. I’ms speaking on a soccer camp in a month or two. I will obviously use soccer illustrations throughout – but ultimately i want these kids to worship Jesus and not soccer.

this is all pretty waffley…

have you got any ideas?

Hey grant i.ll give some ideas later… I’m typing this on my phone on the train and it’s a bit cumbersome…

Glyn did as well, I’m pretty sure.

Apparently the one that bores me!

But then I go to not-so-cool morning church, even though I’m a 20-something.

I don’t know Dave, yes it’s important to try and engage with culture, but I really couldn’t care less which sport results they giggle about at church. Perhaps it’s more the worldview that’s behind the culture you want to engage with. That phrase is clunky, I’m not sure if I can express what I mean coherently. Do you get where I’m going?