Few of today’s footballers or fans are aware of the incredible fact that many of England’s top teams – Aston Villa, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, QPR, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur – started as church outreaches to the young of their parishes. In fact, about one third of the clubs that have played in the English Premier League owe their existence to a church.¹ Much of the initial work of creating these teams was carried out by individuals motivated to show God’s love to those rejected by society.

Much has changed in the last century and more. Football used to be regarded as the beautiful game – it no longer is (if it ever truly was). Over recent decades, it has been overtaken by the spirit of Babylon. The rules have changed and become more complex. So have tactics and strategy. A few individual footballers are much richer, but it is a very open question as to how many of these are nicer as a result. Football has lost its roots.

So, indeed has the Church. However, there exists a number of pertinent analogies between football and the Church - some straightforward, others slightly more tenuous.

Both English football and the British Church are but a shadow of what they were a century-and-a-half ago.

Popularity and passion

Globally, about 250 million people play football, only a tiny fraction of whom are professional. It is the world’s most popular sport, and possibly half of the world’s population see themselves as fans. There are perhaps 7,000 men’s teams and about 2,700 or so women’s teams in England alone. Roughly 2.1 million people in England play at least twice per month. 45% of 11 to 15 year old and 31% of five to ten year old children play football on a monthly basis.²

Some fans are very committed - a famous Liverpool FC manager once said, “Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.”³ For some, maybe many, football is indeed a religion. This begs the question, why does the Church so lamentably fail to match the popularity and passion of football? Why does the Church soft-pedal the message that Christianity is literally a matter of life and death – and that obedience to God is more important than either? Surely, a key reason is that the Church has lost her way and her confidence – in her mission, in her calling and ultimately in her God. Both English football and the British Church are but a shadow of what they were a century-and-a-half ago.

Although there are about 50,000 churches across the UK⁴, overall church membership now constitutes less than 10% of the population. Attendance has fallen sharply over the last three decades: the proportion defining themselves as Christian has fallen from about 66% in 1983, to less than 40% in 2016, with a corresponding increase in no-religion from 33% to 52%. Significantly more people take football seriously than Christianity. As society has secularised, so too has the Church, seemingly often wanting to jettison with alacrity important truths, revelations and practices because they do not fit in with the current secular and pagan zeitgeist.

Non-British Backbone

Much of the English Premier League’s funding comes from TV rights, much of which in turn is foreign money. Additionally, many Premier League players are either disproportionately of Afro-Caribbean heritage or have been bought from (mostly) European clubs. English – indeed UK – football has not been good at developing local talent.

In a similar way, the UK church, and certainly that part of the UK Church that is alive, is disproportionately Afro-Caribbean. As a country, we are now the beneficiaries of many missionaries and pastors sent from Commonwealth countries – because God in his grace has laid it on the hearts of many to bring the gospel back to this country. The commitment to the Bible by Pentecostals, many of whom are Afro-Caribbean, is in marked contrast to the liberal religiosity of so many Anglicans and others in the mainstream denominations. Further, countries with weak historical Christian traditions – Iran, China and parts of Africa – put Europe to shame, spiritually, and are clearly in the ‘global Premier League’. We have very little to offer them, and very much to learn.

Rules and tactics

Over the last six months or so, Covid-19 has changed some of the rules of the (Christian version of the) game, and some tactics. And football, too, has changed, being played without fans, something that will have huge implications for those who are not the beneficiaries of income from TV rights. The Church will require coaches, also known as church leaders, to teach new people, young and old, how to play a slightly new game; a different game to what it was six months ago.

Both football and the Church can have a much brighter future than hitherto.

Others will continue with their current repertoire of tactics, and achieve as little, if not less, than at present. Is it too harsh to observe that very few English churches currently have genuinely top-level ‘players’, or that many are in fact amateur, and that some are actually pursuing a school-boy variety of football; chasing the ball and not really playing the game? Hence the pursuit of cultural Marxism, pagan spirituality, humanism and much more, rather than proclaiming the gospel.

Investment

For many, football in the future will be a commitment of love that will return very little – indeed the whole business model will at some stage go belly up, possibly with large contingent losses being crystallised. And if a similar thing happens in the church, the scale of contingent losses may be eye-watering.

Many in football are aware that the financial good times cannot continue for ever – but they’re not aware of just how thin the ice is. Few think it could melt as quickly as it will. When it happens, the demise of the structures of the leagues will be a local, regional and possibly global catastrophe. But it is bound to happen: revenue from TV rights accounts for two-thirds of the top five English teams. The Church of England, likewise – though not the independent churches – is heavily dependent on investment income. Indeed, a very choppy stock market and ensuing fall in investment income will make for a most uncomfortable time for those who are committed to the current Babylonian system. The financial future of both professional football and the denominations is much more precarious than many would admit. What makes it even more precarious is that few have taken on board how the rules, but particularly the tactics and strategy, of the game have changed.

Playing for love

Despite all this, the reality is that both football and the Church can have a much brighter future than hitherto. The resources, whether stadiums, pitches or churches, already exist. What is needed is many more players, playing for love, who are able to learn (with aid from their coaches) how to get their match tactics and strategy from the King of Kings, and play for him, as he directs.

What is needed is many more players, playing for love, who are able to learn (with aid from their coaches) how to get their match tactics and strategy from the King of Kings, and play for him, as he directs.

A final thought. In 1953, in the ‘Match of the Century’, England was humiliated in a 6-3 thrashing by Hungary, and then lost the follow-up match by an even greater margin. They were complacent off the pitch and outclassed on it. But the result led to a root-and-branch reform of the entire approach to training and tactics. It also led, 13 years later, to World Cup glory.

The church in Europe is in a dreadful mess. While it may be a little less severe in the UK than elsewhere in Europe, we have been much more blessed, and to whom much is given, much is expected. Is the Church in the UK prepared to acknowledge our parlous state, and put in place a similar change in approach to 1953 – and seek to achieve greatness for his glory? Or will we continue a route that will lead to abject failure and shame?

Endnotes

¹ See the DVD Thank God for Football, 2013, obtainable from CTA.uk.com.
² https://www.statista.com/statistics/934866/football-participation-uk
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Shankly
⁴ https://www.eauk.org/church/research-and-statistics/how-many-churches-have-opened-or-closed-in-recent-years.cfm

Image: Manchester City's Raheem Sterling shoots wide of the goal during the Premier League match at Elland Road, Leeds. Jason Cairnduff/PA Wire/PA Images, 3 October 2020