Over the twenty years I have
been privileged to serve as a sports chaplain, I have gained greatly from my
colleagues in the USA and abroad. Among those who have contributed most greatly
to my service has been Stuart Weir, of Verite Sport (http://www.veritesport.org/) in the United Kingdom. Stuart is a dear friend
and a trusted colleague. His unique approach to chaplaincy in Athletics (Track
and Field for the Yankees), is effective and fruitful.
Stuart recently wrote an
evaluation of this ministry which is very insightful and inspirational. It is
included below. I hope his ministry inspires you as it does me.
Athletics ministry:
evaluation of a model Version2
Introduction
I
have been operating as an unofficial chaplain to track and field athletics for
the past five years. In this paper I attempt to analyse what I do, partly using
the SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats) tool. I am interested
in exploring whether this is solely an individual approach or if the
methodology would have wider application. I never planned to be in athletics
chaplain. It started almost by accident – when someone introduced me to an
athlete - and has developed gradually.
Purpose
My
purpose is to encourage Christians in elite athletics in their faith. I am
trying to add 5% to an athlete's Christian life by a little input when I meet
them at events.
What I do
In
2013 and again in 2014 I attended 14 athletics events - as well as meeting a
number of athletes at their training centre on occasions. This is supplemented
with emails, texts and phone calls.
Most
people who do sports chaplaincy in a single sport use a chapel or Bible Study
model. While I have led an athletes’
Bible Study and have read the Bible 1-2-1 with athletes, my model is more based
on prayer. I have prayed with far more
athletes than I have read the Bible with.
In addition I pray for athletes – daily – and they know that I do.
Chapel
I
have led a formal chapel type service for team GB three times – twice at the
World Indoor Athletics Championships which conveniently runs all day Friday,
all day Saturday and Sunday afternoon – leaving Sunday morning free and the
2014 European Championships. In 2014
the meeting was semi-official in the sense that the GB team management was
aware and allowed us to use the team room. (When GB’s top athlete clearly
identifies herself with the event, it certainly makes asking management a lot
easier!)
In
both cases I only invited GB athletes – first time the GB athletes wanted to do
it just themselves. In 2014 I would have
invited others but the logistics – athletes in 6 different hotels - ruled it
out. There is also the tricky issue of whether athletes want to meet their
opponents on the morning of their race.
In
addition in 2014 I led Bible Studies at three Diamond League events in 2014
with 4-12 athletes attending. This is logistically difficult but seems to work.
Prayer
There
is no set pattern. Sometimes athletes
ask me to pray for them before a race. One
athlete always wants to meet for prayer before each race when we are both at
the same event. At the World Indoors, one athlete asked me to pray with her
before and after each race. Often it just happens as I chat to an athlete. I make it known that I am there and available
to pray but also try to avoid two pitfalls.
Prayer becoming a superstition – I have a prayer I will win! And prayer
for my benefit, to boost my stats and justify my presence.
Target group
The
target group is elite athletes - those who are good enough to get into Diamond
Leagues, World Championships etc - who are Christians or who have expressed an
interest - from whatever country. I am currently in touch with athletes from
Britain, Croatia, Romania, USA, Jamaica, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Kenya and New
Zealand. Unlike a club chaplain I am not seeking to minister to (or evangelise)
everyone in the GB team or event. I am
focusing on supporting Christians. In
addition I am developing relationships with administrators.
Accreditation
My
accreditation is normally media. By writing for the Oxford Mail and other
publications I am now established as an athletics writer and am, more or less
automatically, accredited for any athletics event. The accreditation gives me
access to athletes in team hotels, possibly in championship villages and always
in a mixed zone at the end of competition. I have never sought a chaplaincy
accreditation as I feel that mixing media and chaplaincy accreditations risks
confusing athletes and administrators.
While
I have no official recognition of the ministry, British Athletics know what I
do and are comfortable with it - at times very encouraging. Officials have said
to me that they see that athletes appreciate me and therefore they feel what I
do is positive.
In
addition I meet UK athletes at training centres where no accreditation is
needed.
Case study 1 - world
Championships 2013
A
major championship lasts up to 8 days. A Diamond league is normally in one
evening event, although athletes may be in the hotel for three days. What I
actually do varies greatly according to the nature of the event - its length,
the ease of access to athletes etc
In
August 2013 I attended the World Athletics Championships in Moscow where I knew
34 athletes. This is what I did at that event;
I would say that I did six different things:
1 prayed for the 34 athletes and told them that I was praying for them;
2 I do a weekly devotion - a Bible verse applied to sport. In Moscow I did a
daily devotion which I emailed to the 34 athletes, or to all whose email
addresses I had.
3 when appropriate I prayed with athletes.
4 I kept in touch by text and personal email.
5 because of my journalistic accreditation I have access to the mixed zone
[where athletes meet press after a race] and spoke to more than 20 athletes
after they finished races.
6 I spent hours sitting around in hotel lobbies for the opportunity to snatch a
quick word or prayer or greeting with an athlete.
Case study 2 – Olympics
2012
In
2012 I served as the Togo Olympic Attaché – at their invitation. I did odd jobs for the Togo Olympic Committee
in exchange for which I got an accreditation with gave me access to the Olympic
Village, athlete dining and athlete transport plus the athletics warm-up area.
Because
there were official chaplains and chapel services, I did not offer any Bible
Studies during the Olympics but prayed with over 20 different athletes, on
several occasions with certain athletes.
Occasionally these were pre-arranged but mainly chance meetings because
I had access to where the athletes were.
This
was a really productive time for two reasons: I knew a significant number of
athletes in advance and I had easy access to where they were.
Model evaluation (SWOT)
Strengths
The
strength of what I do is that I attend enough events to be an accepted part of
the entourage. I know enough athletes
that I always have someone to talk to.
Sufficient athletes seem to appreciate my presence to make it work. The
advantage of a media accreditation is that it gives me a reason to be at an
event and access to athletes. There is always media accreditation at an event,
while there is not always chaplaincy – nor Olympic Attaches.
While
my priority is to minister to athletes, I do the journalism with integrity. In
2014 I wrote for Oxford Mail at seven events and interviewed athletes or worked
for 2K+ radio at most of the others.
Thus I could not really be accused of using a media accreditation as a
flag of convenience.
The
positive attitude of British Athletics to me is a great help.
Weaknesses
I
am not sure I see any weaknesses but there are certainly challenges. The challenges may relate more to the nature
of the ministry than the model.
The
nature of the ministry makes it hard to evaluate what one is achieving. If you go an event to do a chapel/Bible Study
then if it happens and athletes come, you have achieved your goal. So much of my work is a prayer here, a word
of encouragement there, that it is easy to feel that you have been there all
day and achieved nothing.
It
can be a very lonely existence as you are at the events but not part of
it. You are always at outsider,
occasionally allowed in briefly.
Much
of my time is spent sitting in hotel lobbies.
There is the challenge of knowing when to stay and when to go. Am I in
danger of outstaying my welcome? Even
appearing like a groupie?
Opportunities
It
is an immense privilege to be allowed into someone’s life and to be part of
their support team as they represent Jesus in elite sport. Being at a lot of events creates a
consistency of ministry. People expect
me to be there.
Threats
I
see three possible threats. There is
certainly a potential conflict of interest between being a journalist and being
in a pastoral/chaplaincy role. I feel that I manage that well. As long as
athletes understand who I am and what I do, there isn’t a problem. I say to athletes as I get to know them, if I
have my recorder in hand, anything they say may be used but otherwise anything
said to me is confidential. Athletes seem to understand and be comfortable with
that distinction. I could honestly say that in my five years of doing this I
have only once made a significant error in this area.
The
fact that the overwhelming majority of Christian athletes are female represents
a certain challenge but as I meet people in public places and am not seeking to
conduct a deep pastoral discipleship ministry, it seems to work OK. Because of my age, I am seen as an “uncle” or
perhaps grandfather! I am developing a partnership with Julia Wilkinson at
Christians in Sport which helps significantly in this area.
Because
the work is lonely and because one may be anxious to feel that one is doing
enough to justify being there, there is the danger of wanting to minister to
athletes for one’s own benefit, not theirs.
That is the need to do a Bible study or pray with athletes to boost my
statistics - so that the athletes are effectively ministering to me.
Legacy
It
is an obvious question – what happens when I become more senile. Some have
suggested that I look for a possible successor to mentor into the role. Just not sure that is feasible. The partnership with Julia Wilkinson
certainly helps. Because my primary accreditation is media, anyone working with
me would need to have to media accreditation too. That is they would need to need to have a
media outlet in order to get the accreditation as well as the desire to serve
the athletes. Just can’t see how I could
make that happen
Conclusion
I
recognize that this is very individualistic model which would only work for
someone with journalistic skills as well as a desire to serve pastorally. In my first draft I wrote “it is not a very
reproducible model. However, it is one
which works for me”. People who commented on the first draft suggested that it
might be more reproducible than I was recognizing. I know of one person who is
taking a coaching qualification, partly as a means of being with athletes. One of European golf tour “chaplains” has a
job on the tour which involves standing for hours in the area which players
practise.
JSW
26
November 2014
Version
2
