Football and discipleship - there are connections.
There are so many connections between football and discipleship that it wouldn’t take much for me to make a gospel connection with any football lover. They don’t have to be contrived and cheesy connections, either. There's nothing wrong with cheesy connections if you come across someone who’s into the cheese.
Nevertheless, parallels between the beautiful game and following the beautiful Saviour abound. On this occasion, though, I will explore aspects of the team's importance in both the sport and the pursuit of the Eternal Kingdom (which is of far greater worth than the Premier League, Champions League, Euros, Copa America, and World Cup combined).
The manager is the most important person in the football club. Not only is he the most important, but he is also the most expendable. It costs more to get a new structure, new players, and a new owner than it does to replace the manager. The manager, however, is also the key to the team taking shape, expressing an identity, playing to a philosophy, and being cultivated to deliver the necessary results that ensure the team's victory. The manager oversees how the team trains, how the players respond to victory or defeat, and how the players interact off the pitch. The manager oversees this and uses these key details to know how to deploy the squad from game to game in pursuit of glory.
I’m supposed to state that Jesus is different from football’s manager because the church cannot operate without Him, and He’s not expendable at all. That’s what I’m supposed to state. Sad to say, though, that often churches can be so hung up with the identity, philosophy and shape that suits them that there’s little room for Jesus at all. He’s more of a mascot figure that people like referring to because it makes them feel good rather than the Head Coach and the Owner of the whole operation. As with some football clubs, it would help us as the church to realise just how fundamental the manager is to the way we are and the need to ensure we have the right one and follow His instructions. Jesus, as the Head, is in the best position to oversee how we train and develop and how we can be deployed from opportunity to opportunity in pursuit of the glory of God.
It's also worth adding that, indeed, the church is not the Church without Christ. He is not expendable. Everything rises and falls on Him. It is His Church. It’s His Bride. He is preparing Her for Himself. It’s for us to get with that program if we want to celebrate when the victory comes rather than suffer the ultimate in disappointment and dismay in discovering that we were too distracted to devote ourselves to Him alone.
Just as successful teams are known for the key role of the manager, so the glory of the Church is in our devotion to the One who makes us His.
And there’s more …
For His Name's Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
