The Ping-Pong Ministry

Deer Park Church's Bible workers, Nicole and Joel Haywood.

THE IDEA:

Host a weekly church social on Saturday nights that involves ping-pong tournaments, table games and food.

WHAT YOU NEED:

Ping-pong table, paddles and balls.

Table games and/or any other interactive activities that bring people together.

Food.

Fun-loving people.

THE STORY:

The Ping-Pong Ministry

We visited Deer Park Seventh-day Adventist Church in Deer Park, Washington, and met with the church’s Bible workers, Joel and Nicole Haywood. After sunset the church hosts a casual weekly Saturday night social that brings in a steadily growing group of members as well as new visitors. The Haywoods explained how the ministry came into existence and how they help make it happen.

It started with a lonely ping-pong guru looking for a challenger.

”Bill liked ping-pong and he had a table in his house, but didn’t have a place to use it or people to play with, so he decided to bring it here,” said Nicole Haywood.

“He’s kind of the one that started this whole thing,” added Joel Haywood.

Bill, a recently baptized member of the church, had been attending the fundamental beliefs class that the Joel and Nicole hosted each Sabbath afternoon. Seeing the potential for a few ping-pong games with his study group members, Bill started storing his table at the church and set it up out after sunset each Saturday night.

“And then it turned into three ping-pong tables,” said Nicole. “And then people started bringing food.”

And soon, what began as Bill’s mini post-Bible-study tournaments turned into full-fledged Saturday night get-togethers.

Not everyone who came was into ping-pong so some brought table games to play. A group of ladies played exercise videos and worked out in one of the Sabbath school classrooms. Still others came simply to socialize and cheer on their friends. Snacks like popcorn, bread and fruit were shared. Members began to stay longer on Saturday nights, until even 11:30 at night.

Often, friendship comes first and teaching comes later so that people feel comfortable listening to what you have to say, said Nicole. Nicole and Joel felt that the relaxed environment was essential to building a real relationship with members and non-Adventist guests.

“It started as a social time and ended up being a ministry where we were able to invite Bible study contacts and non-Adventists to come socialize with Adventists and see we’re not some weird cult,” said Nicole. “People were actually able to be more comfortable around us because they were able to socialize in a nonthreatening atmosphere.”

One of the Bible workers’ favorite parts about the Ping-pong Ministry was seeing the fun, social atmosphere loosen up anti-social, reserved church members. Nicole and Joel watched members at the Ping-Pong Ministry approach visitors more warmly and on a more personal level than they often did on stiff, more formal Sabbath mornings.

“It was really constructive in relationship building and that’s the whole point,” said Joel.

“We’ve had people come to church afterward because they felt more comfortable coming because they’ve met a good portion of the members at ping pong night,” said Nicole. “Just helping people to get more comfortable was great.”

“We have some people at this church that are like… ping-pong monsters,” said Joel Haywood.

Starting a Ping-Pong Ministry at another church is as simple as a ping-pong table, two paddles and a ball, Joel told us when asked for advice on how to get a social night like this going at another church. Ping-pong seemed to fit right here, said Joel, but you could do any sort of activity with your church on a weekly basis. Start with a small group of people and see where it leads you. The idea is simple. Involve people in something recreationally fun and invite other people to it.

“It’s not something we originally planned,” said Nicole. “It was neat seeing God work through the resources that we already had.”

“It’s been a great blessing,” said Joel. “I would encourage anybody to come up with some sort of activity that they can do with church members to get church members in a situation where they can freely speak to somebody of a different faith.”