Founded a whopping 39 years ago circa 1982, the Bristol Churches Football Association (BCFA) was born with the aim of facilitating churches in and around the Bristol area to run adult football clubs in a competitive league. Over that time football has been used to disciple, evangelise, and support the guys involved. Although the majority of players may not know Jesus or be involved in a church, the league ethos is one that is very much Jesus centred, committed to competitive football being played in a gospel-centred way.
Football is such a powerful ministry tool used all around the world and the BCFA is still thriving today with over 20 active teams. League matches are played on Saturday mornings at 10am during the months of August – April. The Church teams also have the privilege of playing in the Gloucestershire Football Association Cup competitions, playing against teams from other footballing leagues around Bristol, such as the Downs League, Bristol Suburban etc. Last year, the league had multiple teams that reached different finals, with one Church team yet to play their Junior South Cup Final against Stapleton AFC Firsts – an incredible achievement!
At the moment Cairns Road Baptist Church are the only Bristol-based Baptist Church playing in the league and are currently on the lookout for some new players to join the team (Cairns Road Corinthians FC). CRCFC are a group of men aged from 17-late thirties, and would welcome some new faces to get involved. We play at Little Stoke Playing Fields for our home fixtures, and also train together once a week during an evening (on a Monday, but that may change). As it is a competitive mens adult football league associated with the FA, you need to be 16 or over to play.
Anyone is welcome to play, whether they know Jesus or not, whether they have previously played professional football (that would be amazing, please come and play with us!), or if you last played football back at school! Anyone would be welcome to come and train with us to get a feel of what it’s like and if it’s something you would like to commit to playing in matches. Do you have any men in your churches that would like to get involved playing in our football team here at Cairns Road? Or do you know anyone outside of your church that would be interested in joining a football loving community, centred around getting to know Jesus more. The majority of our team do not know Jesus yet, but we have a spine of about half a dozen guys involved either at Cairns Road or other churches around Bristol who set the tone and culture for the team, with our faith very open and being showed with the way we play and spend time altogether.
If you would like to know more information, ask any questions, or get involved, please feel free to contact Jonty Flynn. He’s the Cairns Road Corinthians Player Manager and Youth Worker at Cairns Road Baptist Church, and has been playing for CRCFC for around 10 years.
Written by Jonty Flynn
