Church of England's First Sport Ambassador Appointed

The Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham's new Sport Ambassador has recently been appointed.

25-year-old rugby player Tim Friend, with a passion for sharing his faith, is currently working in Gloucestershire in a youth sports ministry role for an ecumenical church project, which will take up the new post on 1 January 2008.

Friend will be the first Sport Ambassador for the Church of England, backed by a special Mission Fund set up by the diocese.

The Bishop of Sherwood, the Rt Revd Tony Porter, who will line manage the new ambassador said: "I'm absolutely delighted that Tim is going to take up the appointment of Sport Ambassador. The reason that his appointment will not start until January 1 2008 is that he has launched a new project and he wants to make certain that it's running well when he leaves and that he makes time to train a successor. To see such loyalty in a young man is enormously encouraging and I'm strongly in favour of the line he is taking.

"Tim will bring a track record in evangelism and sport and is also someone who has a proven ability to motivate other Christians in using sport for evangelism."

As a qualified rugby coach, Friend runs training sessions each week and also leads Christian groups for the same young players on Sunday evenings.

He said: "I want to do the job because I've got a passion for sport and a passion for Christ. My experience is that so few people have an understanding of Christ in sport and rugby clubs."

He said sport was a great leveller; with 42 per cent of the population involved in sport regularly, and 87 per cent of young people, he believes it is important to reach these people with the Christian message.

According the Friend, the new role was very important for three main reasons: "Sport is huge ... it's massive, there are 106,000 sports clubs in England with 8.1 million members. It's also strategic because it has the power to break down all barriers of age, sex, race and reach people across a range of backgrounds to form deep friendships as they win and lose together.

"Finally, there is also massive potential for growth as the government plans huge investments in sport with the aim to increase the number of people involved in sport from the current 40 per cent to 70 per cent."

Friend currently works in sports youth ministry for the joint church project called PSALMS in Gloucestershire, where he works with sport clubs, churches and schools.