Sports mission: How are sport and faith connected?

Sports Mission Specialist Rob Moye (THQ) talks about sports mission.

What do you do as a sports mission specialist?

I’m an enabler. When I came into this role, it was a blank canvas. We were being reactive to sport and not proactive. The dream was how to join in with God. We know he’s at work in the world and he’s already there. How do we use sport in our different contexts? Whenever we do sport, how do we help people not to leave their faith behind? How can we help people be salt and light in a sporting context in their communities? I had an image of me at the end of a diving board and seeing the words ‘this is where mission begins’. For me, the question was: how can I paint that picture for other people?

How are sport and faith connected?

God’s given us a body and it’s up to us how we use that body well to make a difference. As I go for a walk, for example, may God bring people in my path. May I be an encouragement to people as I run and not just run past them. It’s about active participation, journeying with people – it’s about being intentional in who we are and what we do. I played football for years, and people knew I was the chaplain and I went to church but I didn’t wait for them to talk to me about it.

What does sports mission look like?

Since the Covid-19 pandemic, I’ve had many people come to me and say, ‘God is calling me to the outdoors.’ We’re seeing God at work in lots of sporting contexts, for example through Surf Church in St Ives, in a Salvation Army boxing gym in York, through Parkrun, including at Together 2025. Lieutenant Lizzie Kitchenside (Harold Hill) has identified an opportunity to encourage spiritual leaders by gathering together, playing football and eating together afterwards.

We use an educational model at the moment called I Do, We Do, You Do. A corps contacts me with a vision involving sports. I help them, but I don’t just walk away: we do it together, so they can then do it. We have to do things as a team and be encouragers. That’s an opportunity we have through sport. It’s not about winning, but about joining in with communities and being church. It’s going out of our way to cheer people on.

What does that look like for us as individuals?

Commissioner Jenine Main has talked about it before and I’ve quoted it loads, but as Christians we should be trophies of grace. We’re called to live out Romans 12:1 in our everyday, to be athletes of faith, looking for the opportunities to be salt and light in our contexts.

How has Sport Faith Life played a part in the growth of sports mission?

The event is now in its fifth year. It brings together like-minded practitioners: people who love Jesus, love sport and want to make a difference in other people’s lives.

It’s such a varied mix of people: some work for the Church, but others work in banks or are teachers. We play sport, we talk life, but we’re intentional about how we express our faith.

It’s also ecumenically broad. When we started Sport Faith Life, it was just a Salvation Army event. I did the next one and started becoming friends with people outside our church. I’m friends with an Australian evangelist called Marty, who said to me, ‘Rob, think Kingdom. Don’t think denomination. God smiles when the churches work together.’

Where do you see sports mission going?

That’s the exciting question! Somebody asked me if I still enjoy what I do, and I do, because I believe God’s called me to do this – to be an expression of God’s love and compassion in the community called sport.

More and more people are catching that vision for themselves. God’s calling them to the gym, to the pool… My responsibility is to run alongside them, because God’s on the move!

We have a sports resource coming out this autumn called One Body, to help people explore what it means to live a church-without-walls life through sport. Jesus isn’t confined to four walls. His Kingdom is coming on beaches, in gyms and at parks across the UK and Ireland!