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Tracy Community Church offers a variety of high impact as
well as low impact activities for those who want to participate in "Christian
sports." Although our Sports Ministry is in it's infantile stages, we do our best to
keep you moving.
Our Sports Ministry is designed to provide competition for
those who are serious sports enthusiasts. We make available to the church body a variety
of sports and activities to fit the individual and their interests.
For the less serious athlete who wants to compete, but do
so in a fellowship oriented format, TCC offers activities year-round. There is a
spot on the team for everyone!
Whether people are
60 years of age and over, or 10 and under, they’re influenced by sports.
That’s why sports offer such a great opportunity for Christians to be salt
and light in the community. It gives them a context to develop
relationships, so they can share the truths of the gospel and invite
others to change the course of their life and spend eternity with God.
For many years,
sports ministries like Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Athletes in
Action have had a great influence on people. So a common myth of sports
outreach is that you must be a great athlete in order to have an effective
sports ministry. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Athletic ability
does open opportunities for athletes, coaches, and referees, but there are
also other ways to be involved in sports. In fact, because of the nature
of sports and competition there are multiple levels of involvement in
sport.
Grandparents visit
grandchildren’s performances on fields and gyms across the country.
Parents drive a car pool to weekly practices and even get out of the car
pool lane to coach or manage the teams as well. Young adults spend hours
in local gyms staying in shape. High school athletes compete and train
throughout the school year. Even children are signed up for one or more
seasons of sport throughout the year.
Sports permeate our
culture and give believers opportunities to share the message of Christ at
the intersection of the sports world and everyday life.
The key is not only
sharp athletic programs that target specific audiences, but also
individuals choosing to interact with unbelievers in their sports context.
The grandparent sitting on the sideline can strike up a conversation with
someone else watching the game and invite him or her to church. The child
on a secular team can invite his friends to a church function or an
athletic event sponsored by his church. The relationships formed in a car
pool association can be broadened to meet spiritual needs of the families
involved. The strong Christian coach can ask a father who is on the
fringe of faith and loves sports to help coach the team. And a
church-sponsored sports camp can win generations of people to the Lord.
The possibilities
are endless; the intersections are many. Sports are a great crossing point
for outreach.
If you want to get involved all you have to do is
contact our
Men's
Ministries via email and we will give you the needed information to start
you on the way to being a part of our team here at Tracy Community Church!
Is the Christian able to embrace either activity with enthusiasm? If so, can he
or she discern where and when the Christian way is rejected? Can the church offer a
meaningful ministry to sport, the sports industry and to individuals who participate in
it? Can the church equip her people to be faithful to the Christian way in the world of
top class sport? These questions themselves highlight the need to develop a ministry to
sport.
A basic issue is the personal human conflict that applies in many fields. This
has special aspects in the field of top sport. The issue is how do I define my own
humanity? What is it that makes me who I am; gives me dignity, identity, significance and
value in my own sight? And in the sight of my peers and others? Much of the answer is
culturally determined. Many recognize exceptional ability, skill or strength in a wide
variety of different fields. They gain positions of power or great wealth and become
ranked very high. However, recognition and a sense of personal significance can be gained
in many other fields like:
- Music
- Politics
- Professions
- Industry
- Religion
- Academics
- Military
In every such field, there is opportunity to be someone, and there is
competition for the top prizes. To change the Scripture text, Many aspire, but few are
selected for the top (I Corinthians 9:24a).
People from all occupations could tell their own story of success or failure,
achievement or disappointment, accompanied by the appropriate emotional consequences of
elation or depression, self-affirmation or self-rejection. Where the will and desire to
succeed are very strong the emotional responses will be greater, while many people are
able to accept their level of achievement without rejecting themselves because they did
not reach the top.
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