More and more U.S. churches offering pickleball as part of outreach

The Kitchen Team

Covering all things pickleball

Last Edited

May 19 2025

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Community

Players join together on one of the pickleball courts set up at Adventure Commons in south suburban Chicago. RNS photo/Bob Smietana

A recent story by the Religion News Service, a national faith news outlet, highlights how more and more churches in the U.S. are beginning to offer pickleball as part of their programming.

Multiple sources in the article pointed out how the game's health and social benefits are tailor-made for church communities, and the story outlines the steps many churches have taken to make pickleball available to their congregations.

Kathy Henricks, a retired real estate agent and member of Adventure Church in south suburban Chicago, said she’s been playing for about four years — and is largely responsible for the church having pickleball.

“I said, ‘How come we don’t have pickleball?’” she told RNS during a break between games. “And a little while later we had nets and were ready to roll.”

Organizers all over the U.S. at churches big and small are asking the same question, and hoping to use pickleball to build community and bring joy to their neighbors.

Nearly 20 million people played pickleball in 2024, according to the latest data from the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, and it's a safe bet that a good chunk of them played at their local churches.

Todd Katter, pastor of Willow Creek Community Church’s Huntley campus in the Chicago suburbs, said as many as 150 people have participated in pickleball events sponsored by the church campus in local venues and in the church parking lot.

Read next: Community and inclusivity aspects fuel pickleball's rise

He called pickleball a “playground” for adults and praised pickleball's accessibility for church members who are both old and young.

“There was an era where people went to Starbucks to hang out," he said. “Now, people drive through and grab a Starbucks and go play pickleball.”

Katter, who has played for a few years, said pickleball is a great outreach for churches. It’s easy to play and is widely popular. And it doesn’t take long for people to get hooked, because the skill level-to-enjoyment curve isn’t very steep.

“Even if you don’t have a lot of skill, you can still have a lot of fun,” said Katter.

Jason Young, the care and ministry pastor at Hope Community Church in Glenview, Illinois, said sports like pickleball can have social and spiritual benefits. He said he started going to church after he was invited to join a church volleyball team. At the time, he’d had no interest in religion, but he loved to play volleyball. Over time, he said, being around folks on the team rubbed off on him and he eventually started going to church.

Read next: Meet Bob Gress, the man who thanks pickleball for saving his life

“What I appreciated about it was nobody was kind of putting me in the hot seat,” he told RNS.

Hope Community Church started offering pickleball a few years ago, when the church was meeting in a park district building that had a gym. One day, Young said, a church member approached the pastors with the idea of offering a free pickleball clinic. About 40 folks showed up to that first clinic, so when the church moved to a new building, leaders decided to offer pickleball a few days a week.

Read the full story in the Religion News Service about how churches are using the power of pickleball.

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