Building a Church Community Through Sports and Recreation

In order to grow a church community and multiply, it’s important to build fellowship and relationships with one another. Implementing recreational facilities in the church is a great way to gather the community on the home basketball court and build those relationships while being active, competitive and having some fun. 

Building a home basketball court in the church community is the first step towards accomplishing these goals and will benefit the church in many different ways. 

First, people understand the culture of sports. By providing recreational sporting events through the church, you will attract families, children and friends to come together in one central place. 

Youth — in particular — benefit from recreation and sports opportunities in the church as well. At a younger age, it’s hard to fully grasp religion and find the desire to go to church. Sports can be used as an incentive to bring the youth into the church community and help them grow in their faith.  

With that, sports require interaction. In order to build a church community you need that type of interaction with one another. When relationships are built inside the church community, often those relationships will be carried over outside the church as well. This type of fellowship leads to great conversations, accountability and encouragement in every day lives. 

A home basketball court can be that place outside of the traditional church setting where fellowship is built. 

Recreation and sports also provide the opportunity to bridge any cultural or racial gaps. As some would say, “sports are a universal language.” Meaning, sports can be used to share the gospel across an array of people with different backgrounds. 

Another benefit of providing recreation and sports opportunities in the church is to promote an abundant balanced life. Sports are a healthy, fun activity to get involved with that can help balance out life between work, school and other stresses.  

Sports also teach leadership skills — an important aspect of the church community. Strong communities come from strong leadership. The teamwork and problem-solving demonstrated on the home basketball court can reveal great leadership within participants and eventually in the community. 

Overall, the church relies on more than just preaching the gospel during service. It’s about building a community through fellowship and relationships. Sports and recreation are a healthy and entertaining way to bring the people of your church together so they can grow in their religious faith alongside others who are doing the same. 

Alyssa Koenig  is an athletics writer for Fusion 360, an SEO and content marketing agency. Information provided by Sport Court. Follow on Twitter.