FREE football clubs for children will be launched at 30 churches as part of a new outreach programme with a grant of £320,000 from the Strategic Mission and Ministry Investment Board (SMMIB) and a focus on low-income areas and estates.
The programme, set to run over three years, will be facilitated by Ambassadors Football, a sports-ministry charity (Features, 13 March 2020) that will train volunteers from churches to coach accessible football activities. Locations will be identified through partnership with dioceses, but individual churches have not been identified yet.
Each session will include training drills and matches, as well as team talks in break times and a closing prayer. The funding announcement from Church House said that the team talks would “explore themes, such as teamwork or sacrifice and how they relate to football, life, and what Jesus said”.
The charity already works with 42 churches to run football-related community-outreach projects, attended on average by 22 children. Half of these projects are in low-income areas, and 70 per cent of the participants do not otherwise attend church.
Among the churches already taking part is Inspire St James, Clerkenwell, a church-plant from All Souls’, Langham Place, which started free football sessions for boys and girls aged six to 14 from schools in the area in 2013. One boy, who heard about the club through his C of E primary school, was baptised at the age of 14 and now attends the church with his family.
Ambassadors Football GB was established in 1997 and describes its mission as “using football to share the good news of Jesus and see lives changed”. Football, it says, “helps us build trust, friendships, and gospel-centred relationships that open doors to real conversations about life and faith”. The national director is Martin Bateman, who also serves as a chaplain for Morecambe FC.
“We are so excited to launch this programme with the Church of England, because we know that the local church is the heartbeat of Christian witness in a community,” he said this week.
“If we can equip and train more churches to reach out through easy-to-run football sessions, we will enable them to serve their communities in a uniquely powerful way.
We look forward to seeing individuals discipled, churches built up, and communities transformed through the power of football and the gospel.”
A new service, Towards the Goal, will also be piloted as part of the programme, encouraging churches to launch a “football-themed new worshipping community” to reach families.