children playing sport with sports team

Northern Lights

As featured in the March/April 2024 edn of Sorted Magazine, Mark Oliver and Sarah Bowey share on the topic of challenging behaviour from young people...

Mark Oliver, Sports Mission Team Leader at Scripture Union, is based in the northeast of England and has a heart to see churches using sport and physical activity to communicate the gospel in an authentic, engaging and relevant way with children and young people regardless of their backgrounds.

“It is such a privilege to be able to lead the SU Sports Team. We’re a team who love Jesus, love sport, and love it even more when the two combine!”

Sarah Bowey

In August 2022, Sarah Bowey, also based in the northeast, joined the SU Sports Team as a Sports Mission Pioneer. Alongside Mark and his team, Sarah supports local churches as they step out to reach the 95% of children and young people in England and Wales who don’t go to church.

Sarah remembers: “From my earliest memories, I always loved sport. Kicking a ball around the streets where I lived, and playing footie with my friends was part of my growing up. I had no idea who God was, and as a kid growing up in a non-Christian home, I certainly didn’t know that my love of sports was going to lead me on a journey of faith.”

It was at a camp, when Sarah was 10, that God spoke to her during the service. Sarah didn’t really understand what was going on, but felt that there was something or someone out there who cared for her. It was only when she went to Durham University to study Sports that she gave her life to Jesus, “Playing hockey was my life. My focus was to qualify as part of the England squad. But when I didn’t get picked, I realised it wasn’t the end of the world! Knowing God was more important, and that I had a bigger purpose in my life. I was full of peace, knowing that the future God had for me would have a far greater impact than that of playing for England.”

Sarah and children

Mark really appreciates Sarah’s contribution. “Sarah brings such passion and energy to all our sessions and I’m so glad she’s on our team! Recently, Sarah and I led some training sessions for a team of volunteers from Kings Church Durham, who base themselves out on the Sherburn Road Estate.

“One session was purely about sport and preparing them for their intense June Project mission week in the summer. The other two sessions were designed to equip their volunteers for the challenges they face in their weekly youth sessions. So, as well as demonstrating the games they can play with the gospel message integrated into the activities, we also covered some managing challenging behaviour content.

“Sarah and I chose to do this through a mock session, inviting the volunteers to take on the role, and behaviours, of young people. Taken straight from our Mission through Sport training, we handed out scenario cards identifying various behavioural challenges, ie spontaneous disruption, actively disengaging, becoming argumentative. Then, as we ran the session, the volunteers improvised based upon their action cards and we had the opportunity to model how different situations could be handled with compassion and patience, rather than frustration and anger. The team of volunteers were encouraged by the techniques that we modelled and have been able to apply these strategies into their sessions to help maintain a healthy Christ-centred culture.” 

The young people listened

Mark - Sports session 2022

Working in a deprived area, challenging behaviour is something that Sarah has had to deal with first-hand. Yet, by implementing the techniques that the team modelled in the training sessions, she has been able to see the difference it makes.

Sarah’s first connection with a group of young people was at an evening activity in the local sports field near the church. Sarah and the church team headed out and were instantly met with verbal abuse.

Instead of running away, Sarah persisted in making connections with the young people and praying for them, and soon their attitudes began to change. As time went on, rather than Sarah and the team being greeted with abuse, racist comments, and urinating on the pitch, the young people started to run towards them and engage.

Sport was the language that they understood, and so that was how the group would interact. And as they played, Sarah and the team shared about Jesus, and the young people listened.

children playing sports

The key thing is to always step back from our own emotions

A girl, Charlie (name changed), who had come from a particularly challenging background, chose to attend one of the summer holiday clubs that Sarah ran. During one of the worship sessions, Sarah noticed that Charlie was engaging in a way that she hadn’t seen before. And having heard the story of the Good Samaritan for the first time, and being so impacted by its teaching, Charlie gave up her win, during a sports event run by the team, to enable another player to thrive and take the victory.

Mark explains: “It’s so encouraging when we see a breakthrough in patterns of behaviour and watch as children and young people become open to who Jesus is. One of the trickiest parts of working with children and young people who display behavioural challenges, is that as adults, we allow their behaviours to trigger our own emotions. The key thing is to always step back from our own emotions, and in that moment, try and see the young person before us through the eyes of Jesus.”

“Sometimes nothing dramatic happens, but quietly lives are being transformed by the love of Jesus.”

Want to know more?

Sport speaks a language that children and young people understand, and through the bespoke support, training and resources offered by Mark and his team, SU can help others unpack fun sport, games and fitness ideas to use – whatever the context – with children and young people who don’t go to church.

Want to know more about the SU Sports Team, and how we can help you and your church? Or maybe you would just love to pray for and support the team in their work!

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