Church Chess
Its called, we play a little chess for Jesus.
Nearly a decade ago, I had discovered a small chess club in my hometown. Apparently the club had been running for many years up to that point, though I still haven’t encountered anyone else who had heard of it. The club wasn’t promoted anywhere, and I think the members preferred it that way. One of them had been given the key to the back door of a local credit union, and that was where they met, once a week in an office board room, always well after dark.
Though it was my first time there, the setting was strangely familiar; a gathering of old guy’s you might have seen puffing cigars at the Legion or at the Bowling Alley lounge on a Friday night, or sipping hot coffee at a Tim Horton’s the following morning. Their company was seasoned with a dash of youngsters who had been brought there by their fathers to get their proverbial butts kicked. Those dad’s also stuck around to play a few rounds.
At the sight of this obscured gathering, I suspect I may have waxed romantic. My mind was immediately recalled to my own youth. I grew up playing chess with my dad and my brother with some regularity. And before I had graduated high school, way back around the turn of the millennium, I had started a school chess club.
When it comes to the game of chess, I’ve never been a grandmaster. Rather, I’m perpetually stuck somewhere between the stages of general competence and proficiency. But as a then young father, I knew I wanted my kids to have the chess club experience, like I did. And so, I resolved that once my own children were a little older (and could stay up late enough) I would surely take them. That was winter of 2019.
Unfortunately, chess clubs were often the first casualties of the government’s response to the pandemic. In retrospect, the writing was on the wall — I mentioned that my local club was maintained by old guys, and the very nature of a chess club involves many people taking turns sitting across from each other. Add to this the ubiquitous nature and user-friendly interface of modern internet chess, and its plain to see that physical chess clubs didn’t stand a chance in 2020. Unfortunately, my local chess club was not the only one to get checkmated by the Libs around that time.
But many times since, I’ve pondered what a useful tool the return of a physical chess club could be for both Christian fellowship and evangelism. And this is the thought which has given birth to my newest project, King of Kings’ Chess Club.
While online chess has enjoyed a meteoric rise since the events of 2020, people are lonelier than ever. Internet chess is a fine tool for what it is, but it has shown itself no substitute for real community. Chess is, and always has been, a social activity. King of Kings’ Chess Club exists to help churches step into this anti-human gap, and take it for Christ’s Kingdom.
King of Kings’ is designed to be a free, turn-key program that churches can easily add to their events calendar; fellowship for their flock and outreach to their community, all with the hopes of reestablishing the centrality of the local church in social life. Chess players of all skill levels and beliefs are permitted, though it should be encouraged that participants come with at least a basic knowledge of how to play the game. In that regard, regular pastor/elder presence is strongly encouraged to ground the club spiritually and build familiarity, especially with those who are outside the church.
Our mission is to be an ecumenical program to foster fellowship between faithful, God-fearing Christians, and to evangelize the lost in the process, in accordance with Christ’s prayer for His Church in John 17:20-23.
Host churches then are restricted to those who can say ‘Amen’ to the early creeds and the inerrancy of Scripture. In that, King of Kings’ practices protestant catholicity, recognizing that the universal church has various local expressions. Our host church policy can be summarized as follows:
In essentials, unity; in nonessentials, liberty; in all things, charity.
— Rupertus Meldenius
If you’d like to know more about the newly established King of Kings’ Chess Club, to enquire of our club distinctives and self-sustaining model, learn how to apply as a host church, or simply find an existing chapter, click the button below. Bookmark it even! You can also reach out to me directly through the website, and can support the club financially by buying one of our exclusive “chess club” hats, featuring tournament chess colours.
With much thanks, we’ve already added our first chapter — amazingly just one block away from where I first stumbled into that obscured club almost a decade ago. Lord willing, once enough chapters are brought into the fold, regional tournaments between host churches can be coordinated, whereas top representative players would be invited for more competitive play in a brotherly setting.
Check us out, and help spread the word.
And why not pick up a copy of my first novel Frog of Arcadia. You can find it wherever books are sold. But for ease, here’s a link.
Nice idea; good luck with it.