Sports is where families spend their nights, weekends, and Sundays. Upward helps churches of every size meet them there — with a sports ministry built to lead kids and parents to the gospel.
70% of kids quit organized sports by 13. Most never hear the gospel from anyone outside their family.
of kids quit organized sports by age 13.
Aspen Institute · Project Play
annual U.S. youth-sports economy — larger than the NFL.
WinterGreen Research
churchgoing parents now say it's OK to skip Sunday worship for a game.
Lifeway Research, 2024
most-read article on The Gospel Coalition in 2024 was about pulling kids from club sports.
TGC Annual Readership, 2024
These aren't church problems. They're cultural problems showing up on every block — and most parents don't know who, if anyone, can help.
Six nights a week of practices and travel. Specialization at nine. Parents are spending more on club sports than their mortgage — and still feeling like they're failing their kids.
Tournament directors schedule 9 a.m. tip-offs on Sunday on purpose — because parents will show up. The cultural default has flipped, and most churches feel it in their attendance long before they name it from the pulpit.
When club sports industrialized, the neighborhood rec league quietly collapsed. The multi-age team, the volunteer coach, the kid trying a sport for the first time — those moments used to live in the church gym down the street.
Honest assessment first. Then a path forward.
Six honest questions. Two minutes. No email required.
We're losing families to weekend sports schedules.
We have facilities (gym, fields, multipurpose space) that sit unused.
We want to reach families in our community who don't already attend.
Our current outreach is mostly limited to people we already know.
We have volunteers who'd serve with kids if we gave them a clear role.
We believe sports can be a real on-ramp to the gospel — not just an activity.
A rough projection based on the typical impact our partner churches see in their first 12 months of sports ministry.
Estimates draw on typical first-year outcomes across our partner churches. Real numbers vary based on facility, season mix, and promotion.
Five questions to bring to your next staff meeting. Check the ones you can't answer with confidence yet.
You have the building. You have the heart. We bring the system that's been refined across 1,500+ churches for 30+ years.
Weekly devotionals, gospel presentations, and a whole-athlete framework grounded in Luke 2:52 — built into every practice, not bolted on after.
Registration, draft software, jersey packages, coach playbooks, communication tools, referee coordination. Your team runs the ministry. We handle the machinery.
Whether you're one campus with 100 kids or a network with thousands, the model adapts. Same gospel content, same quality, every location.
years refining the model
church partners
kids reached each year
from new plants to multi-site
Our coaches finally know why they show up every Saturday morning — and our families can feel the difference. We didn't just add a sports program. We rebuilt how our church meets the community.
Five fields. No pricing decks. A real person from the Upward team will reach out within two business days to learn about your church and your community.