One the face of it, the world of football may seem a pretty godless place.
The life of a footballer is often portrayed as one of money, money, money. Fast cars, big houses, model wives and girlfriends (wags).
But there’s always two sides to a story.
What you often see is players acknowledging God when they score a goal, or the substitute making the sign of the cross as he enters the pitch. Then there’s those who take it one step further by wearing clothing which shows their faith and those who show videos of their baptism on Instagram to their millions of followers.
“We are out there,” John Bostock tells me when we discuss the idea of Christians who play football. “There are many using their gifts to glorify God and want to just grow in their faith.”
Bostock currently plays for Nottingham Forest in the Championship, one step down from the Premier League.
He was described as a ‘wonderkid’ back in 2007 when he broke into the first team of Crystal Palace at the age of just 15. At the time some of the biggest teams in the world, including Barcelona, were fighting it out to sign him. He also represented England at age grade level.
His career has taken several twists which has seen him represent 14 different teams across five different countries.
It was his first move abroad which led him to create a network for Christian footballers.
“Finding a local church in Belgium was tough,” he says. “The language was tricky. With the football schedule – playing Sundays and Wednesdays – it was just tricky to get to church. I was praying and I felt the Lord say ‘John, I want you to start a movement for Christian footballers’.”
After speaking to a number of fellow believers in the sport, he took the plunge in 2015 with “no agenda and just let the Holy Spirit have his way”.
Meeting online, those invited were encouraged to come for fellowship, prayer, even just a place to moan about struggles.
“We cried, we laughed, we studied the word, we prayed together. It was just family,” Bostock tells me as he reflects back.
“There was a real sense of just understanding because we have the same background, we go through the same things.
“Pastors, ministers, evangelists – they’re key, but nobody quite understands what it’s like being in the bubble of football. So when you run alongside players who are running the same race, it really is phenomenal.”
Fast-forward five years, the group known as Ballers In God (BIG) has 100 footballers playing across 12 different countries. They include Premier League footballers and players who’ve represented countries such as Sweden, Netherlands, Ghana and Nigeria. Groups meet weekly with different groups in different languages with the aim to unite, equip and disciple players.
“There’s always been Christian players and players with faith or questions around the world but in terms of having a kind of a network where players can come together as a hub, it hasn’t really been done before especially from the inside out: players starting it for players. The organisation Christians in Sport do a phenomenal job, they’ve been a blessing to me over the years and still are, but I think having it from current players to current players, it just kind of brings a different kind of angle. We are out there. There are many using their gifts to glorify God and want to just grow in their faith.”
