When I was eighteen years old my host brother Dave signed me up for a high school mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico. Before this I had never been around people who thought about mission trips and who went on them. I joined the short-term mission team without any expectations. Luckily, the two teachers leading the trip provided us with excellent preparation.
When we finally got to Mexico I was shocked. We were living with a poor Christian family in the ghetto. The house we stayed in consisted of boards nailed together around four posts with a concrete slab on the floor. This was one of the nicer places in that part of town. There was no running water. Water had to be carried up the hill from down below. During our week there we did not shower and only washed ourselves sparsely.
We were building homes for families in need that the local church in that area had identified and put on carnivals for the kids. Our hosts extended hospitality that put me to shame. Here there were people who had nothing in comparison to me and they shared everything they had – their last chicken. I remember the poor Christian family being so joyful. How could they be happy and joyful with having so little? Later on I have concluded that they were so joyful because they knew God provides and is faithful from experience. In our rich Western Christian context we often rely on our own resources and we have a very limited understanding of God the provider (generalization of course).
Close to where we stayed there was a basketball court. On the first night quite a few local guys around our age had gathered to play some b-ball against the Gringos. One of our teachers walked by and advised us to mix teams and to play with each other instead of against each other. We did not take his advice and the game turned into Mexico vs. USA match which Mexico eventually won.
Shirl James Hoffman in his book, Christianity and the Culture of Sports ends with a chapter where he tries to do some constructive work of how sports could be played well from a Christian perspective. One of the points he makes reminded me of the above story. He states: “For a radically Christian model of sport to emerge from representational sport would be difficult, but not impossible.” (289) By representational sport he means dividing up the teams so that they represent different interest groups (i.e. Mexico vs. USA). He calls for a move towards nonrepresentational sport. He argues, “The best chance for moving to nonrepresentational sport will be sports played in informal settings. What would happen, one wonders, if First Baptist’s softball game wasn’t played against First Methodist but with them? [….] Games wouldn’t be played to “Defend the honor of the church” or with an eye to showing which congregation’s theology had been right all along.” (289). During our particular mission trip we opted for playing against Mexico instead of with them. We missed an opportunity for building closer relationship with them. Thus a basic principle for sports on short term mission trips is to mix the teams and just enjoy the game. This provides greater space for starting new friendships instead of getting into an “us versus them” type of situation.
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