Whatever your thoughts about football, there’s no denying that with the sport’s qualities of teamwork, work ethic, and leadership, among others, football can teach its participants important life lessons that resonate both on and off the field. Heart of an Athlete Heart of a Competitor Heart of a Coach FCA Rise Devotional For Competitors FCA: The Undefeated Devotional For Competitors All-In Why Do You Race?

The church and football complement each other really well,” he told the briefing, saying that he regularly discussed the sport with parishioners of all ages. Famed New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick explains his leadership philosophy in three words, “Do your job! As part of the initiative, it held an online webinar with the Religion Media Centre to discuss the links between football and Christianity. If integrity is doing the right thing when no one is watching, then competitive greatness is working hard when no one is watching. Football is Mozart meets Metallica, no other game combines brute force and elegant choreography the way football does.James Kendall, the FA’s director of Football Development, discussed the overlap between his Christian faith and the beautiful game. Jesus is the standard of warrior instinct — of undivided, straightforward, sacrificial focus for good. But other next steps feel more like first downs—not sexy but still moving us closer to the goal of becoming more like Jesus. One clever smartphone commercial has already capitalized on the commonality of it, branding itself as the “phone to save us from our phones” — and it was three years ago. My hope is that these examples will help you to think more intentionally and profitably as a Christian about your interaction with sports and doing so will be a catalyst toward sanctification.

After all of the devotionals have been posted, we will be leaving them up on this web page so you may access them in the future to use or share at your own pace. Apple recently chimed into the sentiment with their latest video of a young boy buried in his phone during the holidays with his family. The crossover was larger than one might expect, he said, as football clubs were “very often the heartbeat of communities”.As a Psalm says, “With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies” (Psalms 108:13). Each week theme park designer Nate Naversen and dozens of other men and women come together to play flag football at a church near Orlando, Florida.

As N T Wright notes, “Every time we say the words ‘Our father…’ we are pleading for that day to be soon, and pledging ourselves to work to bring it closer.When you are focused, you are not sucked into the comparison game and comparing yourself to other teammates. These short and meaningful devotions were written by a former player and head coach Drew Neidhammer. Now an initiative organised by the Football Association hopes to show that a dedication to the sport can work hand in hand with faith groups to enhance the game’s reputation — on and off the pitch. For the Christian, humbly accepting one’s role, trusting your team, and doing your job with all your heart, should have a familiar ring. Anyone who listens knows that the language of athletic competition, especially football, and the language of military combat is a shared vocabulary (blitz, bomb, blown away, formation, trenches, neutral zone, red zone, battle-plan, field general, and so on).