Messy Church sports session - Bible Reading Fellowship

away at full speed! What a turn of speed! Whatacceleration! Perhaps he thinks it’s against the rulesto stop and help in the middle of a race? He’s goingto manage that sprint in record time! Which meansmedals for him, but what about our poor injuredman? Is he out of the race for good?Ah, good, another of our team captains is comingdown the road. Our man will be fine now. He’scoming nearer… and nearer… oooh, watch thesemental gymnastics as he wrestles with his conscience!And my word, what a magnificent triple jump hedoes to get as far away as possible when he seeswhat a mess that man is!But who’s this coming now? Oh no, it’s oneof the [fill in whichever nationality is the majorcompetitor at the moment] team! What’s he doing?He’s stopping! He’s going over to our man… he’ssponging him down! He’s giving him oranges! Hemust be a weightlifter! Look at him lifting him up…and yes! They’re off down the road, and now they’rein the lead… they’re coming up to the finishing lineand… they’ve won this year’s steeplechase! This isamazing! Our enemy is our friend! This makes nosense at all! Let’s hear it for the man from [opposingteam name]!’helping that injured man—not race, religion, or rulesof any sort. So if we want to win the best medal ofall—the prize of pleasing God—it’s very easy! Wejust have to love God and love our neighbour, andlook after other people around us, no matter whateveryone else thinks we should do.PrayerSports spectators do a lot of cheering. Invite everyoneto join in the following prayer with a big ‘Yeeeeah!’ (or‘whoop’ or ‘hooray’ or whatever cheering noise youlike best).Jesus, you are the greatest champion of all (cheer!)You tell fantastic stories (cheer!)We want to be the best people we can be for you andfor each other (cheer!)Please help us to remember you every minute of everyday (cheer!)And to put other people first, especially those we don’tlike (cheer!)Jesus, you really are the best! (cheer!)And Jesus said, ‘Which of these men was a neighbourto the man who had been attacked?’ Of course it wasthe one who helped him. Nothing was going to getin the way of the man from [opposing team name]Reproduced with permission from Sports Fun for Messy Churches by BRF 2011 (978 1 84101 824 9)www.barnabasinschools.org.uk5Reproduced with permission from Sports Fun for Messy Churches by BRF 2011 (978 1 84101 824 9)www.barnabasinschools.org.uk6

For Hannah and William Fisher, Elizabeth Harleyand Murray Bean, who have exerted so much effortand skill to interest me in sport to so little effectThanks to Martyn Payne, Charis Lambert,Bob Morris and my imaginative familyfor all your help and inspirationContentsForeword ........................................................... 7Introduction ....................................................... 9One-off community family events ..................... 12Messy sports trail .................................................. 12Virtual torch relay .................................................. 15Messy water sports ................................................ 15Round the world safari meal .................................. 16Messy ‘get healthy’ programme ............................. 17Messy gym ........................................................... 19Messy family weekend .......................................... 19Messy family Grand Prix ........................................ 19Wii Fit family fun ................................................... 19Healthy eating cookathon ...................................... 20Messy Church sports session ............................. 21Sports-related crafts ......................................... 27Sports-related activities ..................................... 29Bible verse praise .................................................. 29Energetic Bible journeys ........................................ 31Redeeming football chants .................................... 33Mime, dance, movement ....................................... 3310 11