“Looking at the value their culture had on sports, it was a great way to start ministering to the province.”

Samuel Ward
Special to Spur Ottawa

Karyn Jewell was taken aback when she was able to share her faith with her new swim coach the very day she met him. Like many people, she was introverted and not confident as a witness. Yet, here she was willingly opening up to her coach and sharing her faith in a place that has far too few Christians.

Jewell has always been an avid swimmer. She joined a swim club at age 9 and soon swimming was everything. It came as a huge shock, when she developed health issues that forced her to quit.

“Sport was my life. I had become so involved that almost nothing else was important,” she says. “When it came to losing the sport, I felt like I had lost myself.”

“It wasn’t until I was around 20 and had left swimming that I really developed a mature and intimate relationship with the Lord.”

But this huge change also brought about a turning point in her life. Although she grew up as a Christian, swimming had taken precedence. After leaving sports, she connected with a young adults’ Bible study group. That group and a mission trip to Saint Lucia, in the Caribbean, set her on a new course.

“It wasn’t until I was around 20 and had left swimming that I really developed a mature and intimate relationship with the Lord,” says Jewell. Through the mission trip, she adds, “I realized that God could use my gifts and talents as a swimmer for His good. That’s when I got connected with Athletes in Action.”

Athletes in Action (AIA) is a ministry that disciples athletes and works with them to use sports as a catalyst for the gospel. Jewell interned with AIA, in Ottawa, where she grew deeper in her relationship with God, learning to surrender all aspects of her life to Him. Then, last September, she moved to Quebec City and joined a small AIA group there.

“Early on we realized the importance of sports in the Quebec culture,” she says. “We knew that, looking at the value their culture had on sports, it was a great way to start ministering to the province.”

“I was able to share why I believed what I believed and how it positively influenced the way I coach.”

As well as working for AIA, she got a job coaching at Sherbrooke University. Her boldness stood out the first day she met her new coach. He noticed her AIA email and asked about her connection to the ministry.

“We spent the next five or 10 minutes talking about what it would look like for me to be ‘religious’ and working with their athletes,” she remembers. “I was able to share why I believed what I believed and how it positively influenced the way I coach.”

Jewell says their discussion piqued the coach’s interest and he invited her over for dinner with him and his girlfriend. Faith quickly became a topic of their dinner conversation and she was able to share her testimony with the couple that evening and when she was invited back.

“I believed the lie that I wouldn’t be good enough, or wasn’t equipped well enough.”

Jewell says she is amazed how God orchestrated these providences very early in her time in Quebec. Although sharing her faith is still not easy, Jewell embraced her work with AIA as a witness in Quebec.

“I am very introverted and so it’s taken time for me to become confident in sharing my faith. I struggled for the longest time because I believed the lie that I wouldn’t be good enough, or wasn’t equipped well enough.”

Most people struggle with having the confidence to share their faith. Jewell highlights that we all have God-given gifts. She felt like a failure when she had to quit competitive swimming. Yet, when God turned her life around, she discovered a divine purpose and that she could use her gifts, not for herself, but in service to Christ.