Does God care who wins?
A book review by Robin Barden
Robin Barden, Director of Innovation, has been instrumental in building up Ridley Hall’s contribution to the field of sports ministry in recent years, leading in the summer of 2022 to the college hosting the Third Global Congress on Sport and Christianity (3GCSC). Here he reviews a book authored by one of the Congress participants, Bob Schindler, Chief Operating Officer at CEDE Sports.
Bob Schindler addresses an important but, in my experience, little discussed topic for anyone who participates in sport: does God care who wins?
Whether you play a team sport, where not winning is letting down the team, or a solo sport, where not winning is letting yourself down, or even if you are striving for a "personal best" in your next Park Run, Schindler asks the pertinent question: is this something God cares about?
The dilemma the author poses for us is: if God does care about who wins, how do we square whose side God is on? But if God doesn’t care about who wins, are we effectively excluding God from this part of our life?
Schindler situates the dilemma within the secular/sacred dichotomy. In the first instance, he addresses those who, when asked, would say – who wins is not something that is of importance to God. God is interested in how we play. Interestingly Schindler asks – if God doesn’t care about this, what else may God not care about? Your children’s grades? Closing a deal for your business? The MRI scan? Of course, the last example points to a possible response. God cares about the impact of these things, rather than the thing itself. God cares about my children’s grades, because God wants my child to be all they can be. God cares about my business because it employs people and provides money for God’s work. And, of course, God cares about the MRI scan, because it may help me get better. But these responses also highlight the issue – we only think they are good because of what they might lead to. We do not see them as good in and of themselves.
The danger of thinking that God doesn’t care about winning, or grades, or business, of even an MRI scan, in and of itself, is that the accomplishment of these things is seen as secondary to what God is really interested in. From this perspective, all these accomplishments are simply means to an end and, as such, can easily slip into the “not godly” category. Which, Schindler points out, is nothing short of tragic, as we can end up thinking that our hearts don’t align with God’s – the accomplishments that are important to me in and of themselves (think the emotion!), are not important to God. For me, this also speaks of a body/mind or, emotion/mind divide. The joy I get from winning or accomplishing a run cannot be fully celebrated because it is not, in and of itself, aligned to God’s will/heart. It is not godly.
Addressing the “of course God cares who wins” camp, Bob tackles head-on the damage that is done by the attitudes: God blessed me today because I deserve to win; I trained harder; I was more godly; or I have done more than the others. He also highlights the damage these attitudes can have on those that lose and who may have already taken on board the lie that they are less-than, from within the culture of sport.
In navigating between the two “horns” of “God doesn’t”, and “God does” care, Schindler offers a qualified “yes: God does care who wins”
In navigating between the two “horns” of “God doesn’t”, and “God does” care, Schindler offers a qualified “yes: God does care who wins”. To do this, he highlights that God cares about everything we are and do, so of course God cares about our engagement in sport. For the author, the key issue is what we do with the joy of winning or the feelings we encounter in losing. Do we let it define us, or do we see it redeemed within the gospel narrative? To win is to share in what it means to have already won in Christ. To lose is to remind us how much we struggle with the thought that we may actually “deserve to lose” in life – that we still doubt the extent of God’s goodness.
While this goes some way to rescuing winning from being a means to an end, it is not as satisfying for me as the thread it pulls on, which runs throughout the book. This is the idea that God celebrates our achievements with us because “to accomplish something” is a function of God’s creativity in us. The joy in accomplishing something is an emotion full of mixed impulses but, within it, there is always a germ that is good, in and of itself: there is always something of the Creator God’s exuberant joy at our own creation within it. We may wish to rarefy the mix of emotions, but to win is to know something of the joy of the creative Good that is God – we are experiencing (the glory of being caught up in God) through a mirror darkly but, nonetheless, we experience it. To lose in sport, or to fail in our desired accomplishments, is to understand that we are yet to fully experience the fullness of all that God desires for us. In the end, the question “Does God care who wins?” becomes caught up in the present reality of, “God’s Kingdom has come, God’s Kingdom has yet to come”.
“Does God Care Who Wins?” is written by Bob Schindler and was published by Sports Outreach Group (Charlotte, NC: 2017)
Explore further
Sports ministry courses at Ridley
If you are interested in studying theology with a sports ministry focus, Ridley offers a range of courses including the Ridley Award in Sports Ministry and Mission, or the online certificate with Ridley Online or in-person diploma or degree with Ridley Lay Ministry, do contact Robin Barden to find out more:
Sport and Christianity keynote lectures - available online
Hosted at Ridley in August 2022, the Third Global Congress on Sport and Christianity drew delegates from across the UK, USA and beyond.
If you were unable to attend in person, we are now delighted to offer you, through our partnership with CEDE Sports, the chance to listen to the challenging and inspiring keynote speakers, Michael Volland (Ridley Hall Principal), Steven N. Waller (University of Tennessee), Elizabeth Bounds (Baylor University), Ashley Null (Visiting Scholar, University of Cambridge) and Andrew Parker (Ridley's Associate Tutor in Sports Ministry).
