Warning: The article below is a bit of sarcastic humor. I am speaking in hyperbole to make a point. The football fan noted represents a very rabid football fan. The church member represents some, but certainly not all, church members.
Disclosure: I tend to be a rabid college football fan. I see my allegiance as an area of devotion that needs significant adjustments downwardly. So I don’t necessarily practice what I preach. For example, even as I type these words, I am reminded that the kickoff for my team’s first game of the season is exactly five weeks from today.
Caution: While I do write these comparisons with some humor and a lot of hyperbole, you might get just a bit uncomfortable reading them. That may indicate there is some truth in each of them.
- A college football fan loves to win. The typical church member never wins someone to Christ.
- A college football fan gets excited if a game goes into overtime. A church member gets mad if the pastor preaches one minute past the allocated time.
- A college football fan is loyal to his or her team no matter what. A church member stops attending if things are not going well.
- A college football fan is easily recognized by his or her sportswear, bumper stickers, and team flags. Many church members cannot even be recognized as Christians by people with whom they associate.
- A college football fan pays huge dollars for tickets, travel, and refreshments for games. A church member may or may not give to his or her church.
- A college football fan reads about his or her football team every day. A church member rarely reads the Bible once in the course of a week.
- A college football fan attends the game no matter how bad the weather is. A church member stays home if there is a 20 percent chance of rain.
- A college football fan invites others to watch the game every week. A church member rarely invites someone to church.
- A college football fan is known for his or her passion for the football team. A church member is rarely known for his or her passion for the gospel.
- A college football fan will adjust gladly to changes in kickoff time. A church member gets mad if his or her service time is changed by just a few minutes.
- A college football fan is loyal even if he or she never gets to meet the coach. A church member gets mad if the pastor does not visit for every possible occasion.
Yes, I admit I do enjoy college football. But I really love Christ’s churches even more. I need to demonstrate that reality more readily. Do you?
So . . . what would you add to my somewhat sarcastic list? Do you see the humor? Do you see some truth?
Posted on July 26, 2014
With nearly 40 years of ministry experience, Thom Rainer has spent a lifetime committed to the growth and health of local churches across North America.
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103 Comments
This is very true and goes along with what I wrote back when Ole Miss played in the CWS .
If you know me , you know I bleed Red and Blue. I can’t wait for Ole Miss Football, Basketball, and Baseball. I subscribe to the Rebel propaganda mag, have Ole Miss on my twitter feeds and several different Ole Miss sites on Facebook. For the last two weeks I have cheered and screamed at the TV during the Ole Miss baseball games. Last night Ole Miss lost a heartbreaker by what appears to be a bad decision by the coach. After the game was over I was not a happy camper. In fact I was probably pouting and really aggravated. Ginny told me “sorry we got beat.” The light bulb went off. I was being slightly ridiculous. In the grand scheme of things , it was a ballgame. It was an important game but still a game. And I wasn’t even playing.
It struck me how I cheered for Ole Miss when we were doing good and got down when we lost . That is when God dropped the rock on my head. Why didn’t I feel that way for what Jesus loves. Why don’t I have the same enthusiasm for His Kingdom as I do for Ole Miss Sports? What if everyone who calls himself a Christian treated God’s Kingdom work like we treat the teams we support ? Christian means “little Christ,” What if we treated being a Christian like a sports team . If we cheered when we see God’s handiwork, the same way we cheer when our team wins. What if we were full of grief and sorrow when we see a lost person, the way we are when our team loses?. What if we had the same grief and sorrow over our own actions?
I have Christian emails I get every day, Christian twitter feeds, but do I really digest them the way I do Ole Miss articles. If I am honest I can say that sometimes I do and sometimes I don’t. Matt 6:33 says Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness
God has to have first place in our lives. The Bible says to love the Lord with all your heart, mind , soul and strength . It doesn’t say to love Ole Miss or any other person or thing. Love God first!!!! If Christians supported what the Bible says , the same way we support our teams it could literally change thousands upon thousands of lives.
I am sure that I will still be upset when Ole Miss loses and happy when they win but I hope I have a different perspective about it and I hope you do also. Even for those that pull for other teams.
I still love my Rebels, but I know that I need to love Jesus more than anything else in life . Jesus doesn’t want fans He wants followers.
Back in 2007 the gospel coalition ran a story where they claimed that 26% of Americans attend church weekly. If you adjust that number down to say 20% and divide that by the number of Americans….310,000,000 you come up with the number of 62,000,000.
Are there 62,000,000 people attending football games on a weekly basis? I think not.
The “crisis” of football vs. religion has raged for years and as someone else wrote earlier, those running the church don’t want to upset their gravy trains for improvement of God’s church because it might impact their living and employment. That’s why normal church attendees have been frozen out of any decision making processes.
But hey, that’s just my .02 cents worth.
(a slight addition/variation of #9) a college football fan proudly supports their team in public, in the face of opposition or persecution; church members rarely speak of their passion or love for Christ for the fear of facing opposition or persecution.
A football fan knows the line up of his favorite team and stats of his favorite players better than the books of the Bible.
College football fans begin taking their kids to games and teaching them about traditions at an early age “raising them right”.
If only instilling the love of our Savior was so important…
Head coaches of major college football programs have a responsibility for taking raw high schoolers and making them top level college ball players and potential pro candidates. Sure, they have a staff to assist but this is a force multiplier, not a way to release the coach’s time so he can take a part time job to be a professor at the nearest coaching academy.
Also, a coach who spends the majority of his time preparing and delivering lectures to the players on the fundamentals of the game (and the life disciplines that are that background of great play) and doesn’t spend time, daily, walking/running alongside his players to make sure they are properly learning the basics of his lectures…is going to end up failing.
If only the apostles had learned how to be a success from a major college football coach. How things might be different and less Biblical in our Churches today…
Acts 6:1-7
College football fans know all the rules of the game and can keep up with the game play by play. Church members struggle with Biblical literacy and have a hard time keeping up with the sermon.
And is that indicative of a bad church member or bad sermon?
haha Maybe a little of both! My analogy may have been a little off. I was trying to show that we evangelicals seem to struggle with Biblical literacy. Pastors should for sure do their best to preach the sermon in a way that people can understand. But hes not the only one who should know his Bible.
It could be that the pastor is not feeding their congregation the Word of God. Perhaps, it’s a sign of a lazy Christian who does not want to grow as a Christian and wants to be bottle fed like a baby the rest of his life. Who knows? Eventually, a Christian should have to grow up a little and learn to feed himself a bit.
When a football coach or team falters, hits a dry spell or flat out fails…
They never blame the fans.
If you ever read the sports media in Arkansas, you would know this is not true. If I had a penny for every time I saw a media person or blogger in Arkansas blame the fans for running off some recruit, well, let’s just say my tithe would be a lot larger this week… 🙂
College football fans never complain about the music the band plays…. Or if it’s too loud… 🙂
Yep.
I beg to differ. At Ole Miss, they complained about every aspect of the band. The problem was that they could not be heard.
Let’s be honest, the church member you are referring to is mostly not a true believer. These characteristics don’t match with what Scripture describes as a true follower of Christ.
Charles,
Read the first paragraph – Warning!
This is just a good satirical lesson to those that like college football (like me)!
I think the Bible also says Judge not, lest ye be judged (of course He will judge us)!
Dr. Rainer is my mentor from afar. I will be using this real soon on Sunday morning. Thanks for the sharing. By the way, at college football games, we like loud music from the bands but in church we will barely tolerate the praise team
Love it! And love being your mentor from afar.