Faith in Public Spaces: What Are Christians Known For?

Faith in Public Spaces is a reflection series written by Jason Best, Founder of Paladin Sports Outreach. Drawing from experiences in professional sports, youth athletics, coaching, and ministry, these articles explore what it means to faithfully engage sports, culture, and public life through the lens of Christian discipleship.

Why our greatest witness is a life marked by love

In Part 1 of this series, we explored why sports aren’t truly neutral.

Sports shape values. They influence identity. They help form our understanding of success, sacrifice, perseverance, and belonging.

In Part 2, we examined our motives.

If we’re going to publicly express our faith, we should first examine our own hearts. Christianity has always been public, but it was never intended to be performative.

In Part 3, we explored the difference between displaying Jesus and bringing Jesus.

Public expressions of faith have value. But they should never become substitutes for faithfully living out the character of Christ.

If sports aren’t neutral…
If our motives matter…
And if bringing Jesus is ultimately about how we live…

Then one final question remains: What should people experience because we’re there?

When people hear the word Christian, what immediately comes to mind? For many, the answer isn’t difficult.

People often know what Christians are against. Sometimes that’s because we’ve clearly communicated our convictions and sometimes it’s because culture has chosen to define us that way. Either way, I wonder if we’re missing something.

Not because convictions don’t matter, they do. Jesus never compromised truth and neither should we. But Jesus was never known only for what He opposed, He was also known for what He embodied.

He welcomed children.
He restored the broken.
He fed the hungry.
He healed the sick.
He spent time with people others ignored.
He confronted sin, but He never stopped seeing people.

Truth and love were never competing priorities for Jesus. They were inseparable.

When Jesus described how the world would recognize His followers, He didn’t point to their arguments, He pointed to their love.

“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” – John 13:35

That verse has challenged me more than almost any other throughout this series.

Jesus didn’t say people would recognize us because we always had the right opinion. He didn’t say they would recognize us because we posted the right message or won the latest cultural debate.

He said they would recognize us by the way we loved.

Not sentimental love, but sacrificial love. The kind of love that is patient, is practical, and most importantly, the kind of love that costs something.

Sports give us opportunities to demonstrate that kind of love every single week.

Every conversation on the sidelines.
Every interaction with an official.
Every difficult parent.
Every struggling teammate.
Every disappointed child.

We don’t have to manufacture opportunities to live out our faith on the field or the court because sports provide them over and over again. The question isn’t whether we’ll have the opportunities, the question is what people will experience when when we have the opportunities.

Will they experience encouragement? Grace? Humility? Patience? Integrity? Compassion?

Will they leave our encounter feeling seen? Heard? Valued? Respected?

Or will they simply know what we’re against?

At Paladin, we want to teach kids how to play soccer. How to shoot a basketball. How to serve a volleyball. How to compete with excellence.

But if families leave our programs remembering only the sports then we’ve missed the mark. We hope they remember and experience something deeper.

That they were welcomed.
That they were encouraged.
That someone believed in their child.
That they experienced kindness.
That they encountered people who genuinely cared.

Because that’s what Jesus consistently gave people and that’s the greatest opportunity we have as Christians in public spaces. Not simply to defend our beliefs. Not simply to communicate our convictions. But to faithfully represent Christ in such a way that people become curious about the One we follow.

The greatest opportunity we have as Christians in public spaces is to faithfully represent Christ in such a way that people become curious about the One we follow.

The world may not always agree with what Christians believe. But they should never have to wonder whether Christians care.

As I’ve reflected on these four articles, I’ve become increasingly convinced that faithful presence isn’t about winning culture wars.

It’s definitely not about withdrawing from public spaces.

And it isn’t about making ourselves the center of attention.

It’s about faithfully representing Jesus wherever He has placed us.

Long after the games are over and the uniforms are put away, people may not remember everything we said but they’ll remember how we made them feel. They’ll remember how we treated them.

And perhaps, by God’s grace, they’ll remember catching a glimpse of Jesus through us.