“It is the greatest growth of people in professional sports wanting to talk about God”

As the world gets to grips with the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, sportspeople all over the world are also seeing their lives change - particularly those in top level sport as their careers are on indefinite hold with serious financial implications.

In response, the charity Christians in Sport is calling on Christian sportspeople all over the world to reach out and keep investing in the lives of their sports friends.

The charity’s General Director Graham Daniels says they’ve launched a campaign called “PraySTAYSay”.

“Will the Christian be the coach or player or official at a club who stays in the room, cares for the families of team-mates. Asks how the gran’s getting or what it’s like with the kids when you’ve been home for a month. So, we’re saying Pray, Stay. Stay in the lives of your club and you will find yourself saying something of the hope that you have in a time of adversity. So that’s the broad brushstrokes of what we’ve been doing with our competitive elite athletes all around the world.”

As part of this outreach, Christians in Sport are offering a series of Zoom Bible studies to sports people. And Daniels says the response has already been phenomenal.

“Whilst recognising the sadness of this as a Christian knowing that God has got things in hand, it’s been thrilling. Because we have seen a four-fold increase in elite sportspeople wanting to join zoom calls to look at the Bible and apply it to their lives as sportspeople. It’s the greatest growth of people wanting to talk about the things of God in professional sports that I’ve ever seen in 30 years. It’s remarkable.”