In 1939, as the world broke out in flames and the global crisis deepened, a Methodist leader named E. Stanley Jones made an observation.

“This generation of youth is living on leftovers from a previous generation and most of it is thin, precarious, and inadequate,” he wrote. “They need God for themselves—for personal living, social change, morality, and a meaning to their universe.”

I’ve been thinking of that quote over the past couple of years. Like the 1930s, people today are living through major social upheaval and uncertainty, a dizzying re-orientation of the world. One response seems to be a heightened yearning for spiritual meaning and purpose—and in the United States, a greater openness to the claims of Christianity.

We see it through anecdotes and examples across culture: the Asbury University revivals of 2023, the growing internet popularity of Christian musical artists like Forrest Frank, the conversions of intellectuals and skeptics.

But we especially see it in sports.

There was the 2024 Ohio State football team, where a group of players made waves early in the season for leading what NPR described as a “religious revival” on campus.

During the College Football Playoffs, a stream of players took turns publicly proclaiming their faith. Boise State’s Ahmed Hassanein was typical. "I want to start off and say all glory to Jesus Christ,” he said in a post-game interview. “He's a true champion."

There was also plenty of Jesus talk throughout the NFL season and during the Super Bowl. Afterwards too. “God is good,” Super Bowl MVP Jalen Hurts told a reporter. “He's greater than all the highs and the lows."

In college basketball, the Auburn men’s team, ranked first in the nation for much of the year, has a roster full of Christian players who have embraced a “call God” celebration after big plays.

On the women’s side, one of the game’s top stars, Connecticut guard Paige Bueckers, sings gospel music during warm-ups and reads a devotional book, God x Basketball, before every game.

There are also Olympic athletes like hurdler Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, who displayed her faith with depth and thoughtfulness during the Paris Olympics. Her identity in Christ, she said, sets her “free to run the race God has set out for me to run.”

The point is, if you’re looking for anecdotal evidence of religious renewal, there’s plenty of it in sports.

There’s also some data underscoring the anecdotes. Pew’s Religious Landscape Survey found that Christianity is no longer on the decline in the United States. And earlier this year, a survey by Sports Spectrum found that most American sports fans want to see athletes talk about their faith. As I wrote for Christianity Today, the survey suggests that sports are a cultural space that is especially open to Christianity.

So what do we make of all this?

I’d like to offer four observations/thoughts:

1. Yes, there is something new going on.

Because I study the history of sports and Christianity, I’m frequently asked if there is something different about our moment compared with what’s happened in the past.

The short answer: I do think something new is happening.

I don’t know if I would call it a “revival.” More than anything, it’s an intensification of trends that have been building over the years. But the scale and scope of the blending of sports and Christianity in public life is at a higher level than it’s ever been. It’s clear that athletes feel more emboldened to share their faith, and there’s a social media ecosystem that allows them to connect directly with fans and supporters who share their convictions—and also to Christian influencers who love to amplify faith-themed quotes and statements coming from the sports world.

Even the mainstream sports media, which downplayed religious themes in the past, has shown more openness. When ESPN analysts are pausing and praying live on television, it’s clear that something is shifting.

2. Whatever this moment is, it has a history.

While something new might be happening, the blending of sports and faith that we see now didn’t emerge out of nothing. As I try to show in my book, it took decades of behind-the-scenes work to build and grow the ecosystem of sports ministries (led by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, Athletes in Action, Pro Athletes Outreach, and others) that serve and shape Christian athletes and coaches today.

You might never see or hear about the sports ministers and chaplains involved in this work. But it’s because of their consistent and faithful presence within the sports industry that so many athletes and coaches feel comfortable and confident sharing their faith.

If we want to understand the depth of the Christian sports movement, we need to move beyond the post-game quotes and pay attention to the behind-the-scenes institutions and structures that provide the resources and support to make it possible.

3. Politics matter, but it’s not the main thing.

At this point, I probably have two types of readers. Some are thinking “Amen! Isn’t it great that sports have become so open to the claims of Christ?”

And there’s another set thinking “Hold up! What kind of Christianity are we talking about? Is this movement just propaganda for right-wing politics and Christian Nationalism?”

To the second group, I’d say this: There are definitely political implications to what is happening in sports. Personal expressions of faith must be situated within a larger cultural and political context, one that (for young men in particular) has moved in more politically conservative directions in recent years.

But I don’t think that labeling all of this activity as right-wing political activism is helpful or accurate to the reality of what is going on. Put simply, politics are not the main thing Christian athletes and coaches have in mind when they talk about the meaning of faith in their lives.

Instead, they are seeking guidance for everyday living. They want religious resources to meet the practical concerns of the sports world: how to build and sustain healthy marriages; how to navigate injuries and setbacks; how to achieve peak performance; how to steward finances; how to handle the pressures and anxiety of being an athlete.

Conservative-leaning evangelical sports ministries have been able to build a thriving network in sports because they have focused on meeting those needs.

In contrast, progressive and liberal religious groups have failed to gain a foothold in sports in part because they’re the ones who have emphasized political activism as the primary task of Christian athletes. They’ve tended to engage in sports (if they do at all) as critics or activists, not as a ministry of presence walking alongside people within sports.

The racial and ethnic demographics of sports are uniquely diverse and pluralistic, too, in ways that can lead to different combinations of faith and politics than might be seen in other cultural spaces. While politics matter to the Christian movement in sports, I would be careful about making politics the main driver of what is going on.

4. Soundbites and viral moments aren’t the goal.

Finally, a word to my other group of readers: those Christians cheering on what is happening in sports.

It’s a good thing that Jesus’s name is proclaimed in and through sports. If it’s just a soundbite or a video clip and stops there, however, it’s missing the point of what really matters. We need to be careful that we’re not more captivated by celebrity status and winning than by the fruits of the spirit that result from faithfully following Christ—from a “long obedience in the same direction.”

“By some strange alchemy,” theologian Miroslav Volf warns in A Public Faith, “‘Take up your cross and follow me’ morphs into ‘I’ll bring out the champion in you.’”

Sports are especially prone to this sort of distorted thinking. But the answer is not to discourage Christian athletes from speaking about the meaning and significance they find in Christ. Volf is once again helpful here. In A Public Faith, he writes about athletes who pray, affirming that “it is important to connect God with success in work.”

This is not because of a prosperity gospel logic—If I pray the right words and muster up enough faith, God will bless me with worldly success. Instead, Volf writes, it’s because God is the giver of any gifts and talents we have. “If God is the source of our being, then we do all our work in the power that comes from God.”

Former NFL player Benjamin Watson is one of the most thoughtful public voices speaking about faith and sports, and his words are worth quoting in full:

What happens a lot of times is that an athlete says, “I love Jesus.” And then the next thing you know, every single Christian organization on campus and around campus wants you to come speak. It doesn’t matter if you just became Christian yesterday or two days ago or if you just say it because that’s what people say culturally.

This is what people do in America sometimes. They think, Man, if that person says something about Jesus, then God will use that to save everybody. Maybe or maybe not, because a lot of people have been hurt by those who have professed Christ on a large scale. It’s been shallow and inconsistent, and there have been charlatans….We’re not all at the same maturity level. Part of becoming more mature as a believer is in your own personal practice but also the helpful and loving critique of others.

As the Christian movement in sports grows—and I think it will—there will be challenges that come from hype and flash over substance. There will also be opportunities to meet people where they are and to help one another grow in depth and maturity.

What about you and your circles? Have you noticed a growing interest in the connection between faith and sports? What do you think is going on, and where do you see things going in the future?

…

Book update: We’re now four months into the release of The Spirit of the Game. I’ve been incredibly encouraged by the response so far. The book has opened the door to some exciting opportunities that I’ll be able to share in more detail in the year ahead as well.

If you have read and enjoyed The Spirit of the Game, would you take a couple minutes to leave a review at the online marketplace of your choice?

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