Tim Friend

A 27-year-old rugby player and coach with a passion for sharing his faith started work in January as the Church of England’s first Sport Ambassador

Tim Friend, who is a History graduate from York University, played as a flanker in the Gloucestershire Premiere League, before moving to Nottingham to take up the new post of Sport Ambassador, with the Diocese of Southwell & Nottingham.

Tim said he was looking forward to the challenge of the new role. He explained: “As Sport Ambassador for the diocese, I’ll be looking for ways to bring the world of sport and the church community closer together. I am aiming to help Christians in sport live out faith in the context of their surroundings and challenging churches to make their welcome and message relevant to those who share a sport mindset.”

After graduating, Tim spent a year in Kenya teaching, coaching pupils in sport and leading Christian discipleship groups. As a qualified rugby coach, he ran training sessions each week in rugby and also led Christian groups for the same young players on Sunday evenings.

Tim said the new role was very important: “Sport is huge..it’s massive, there are 106,000 sports clubs in England with 10 million members. There is also massive potential for growth as the government plans huge investments in sport with the aim to increase the number of adults involved in sport from the current 40% to 70%."

Tim is married to Kerstin, who worked as a Scripture Union Associate Children’s Worker for an ecumenical charity in Gloucestershire.