By Jim Coggins

AS THE OLYMPICS unfold in B.C., Christians are approaching the Games from an unusually diverse variety of perspectives.

While many have come to evangelize and extend fellowship, others are using the event as a platform to draw attention to issues ranging from the environment and homelessness to globalization and sex trafficking.

Still others have come to learn how best to approach such events in years to come.

Olympic veteran

Vancouver 2010 is David Willson's ninth Olympic games. A native of England with a master's degree in sports education, he was asked by The Salvation Army to head up its involvement in the 1996 Atlanta summer Olympics.

After involvement at other games, Willson realized that "there was not much transfer of knowledge" from one Olympic outreach to the next. In 2000, he was asked to help set up and become CEO of Global Events Group, an organization which could assist Christian outreaches at Olympic games and other major events. Since then, he has been able to offer advice and counsel to Christian organizing committees at about 40 events, from the Commonwealth Games to soccer's World Cup. He was instrumental in helping the Vancouver More Than Gold (MTG) effort come together.

With 250-300 churches from more than a dozen denominations and about 60 Christian agencies involved, Willson called Vancouver's effort "the biggest winter games outreach we've seen."

He sees the Olympic outreaches as "a good excuse to get the church working together," and that will be a key legacy of the games. He added, "Our continued focus is not evangelism, but to serve people." If Christians show love, "people will ask why". In fact "many are asking", and people are accepting Christ while at the Games.

Willson said he is always learning new things that will be helpful for future outreaches. For instance, the Vancouver MTG's success in working with Vanoc (the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee) and with TransLink (the local transit authority) has been encouraging.

On the other hand, "the Lord plans differently then we do," and Christian outreach looks different in each locality. In summer games, churches have more success with big screen outdoor TVs and sports clinics for local athletes. At other Olympics, churches have offered inexpensive home stay accommodations for international athletes' families. That didn't happen in Vancouver, partly because Vanoc needed homes to provide accommodations for Olympic volunteers at the North Vancouver and Whistler Olympic sites. That effort is being coordinated through North Shore Alliance Church.

MTG has been particularly successful at offering coffee and other drinks to people at transit stations and Olympic venues. The delivery of drinks using back packs rather than refreshment tables has been a very fruitful innovation. It has allowed volunteers to move outside the stations to where the people are.

A team of about 15 organizers for the Christian outreach planned for the London 2012 summer games have been in Vancouver for several days being briefed by MTG leaders on what they have learned.

The London effort will be larger than the Vancouver effort, partly because the summer Olympics are a much bigger event than the winter Olympics and the 2012 events will be scattered all across the United Kingdom. Therefore, while Vancouver had up to 300 churches involved, Willson hopes to have 3,000 of the 47,000 churches in the United Kingdom involved. There will be more use of outdoor big screen TVs, sports clinics, barbecues and even a sports version of the Alpha Course. As a practice run, some churches will be offering big-screen showings of the World Cup soccer games held in South Africa this summer.

From Russia with faith

A team of Christians from the Sochi area in Russia, where the 2014 winter Olympics will be held, also hoped to come, but did not get visas in time. A couple of representatives did make it. One is Carl Dambman, who has worked with Athletes in Action in Moscow since 1990.

While Dambman will not be leading the Sochi outreach, he is offering his experience as "a resource, connector and encourager." He moved to Moscow because "God gave me a heart for Russia and the whole Soviet bloc." As an Olympic chaplain, he said, "much of what we do is in response to expressed needs," and comes as result of long-term trust relationships built with athletes over time. He said, "We are always looking for divine appointments," and one of the key things is "knowing when not to speak." He said the purpose of Olympic outreaches is to "use sports cultural festivals to show people God loves them."

The three leading religions in Russia are Orthodox Christianity, Islam and Judaism, Dambman said. However, there are several fair-sized evangelical congregations in the Sochi area. Key to the Christian outreach there is whether evangelical, charismatic and Orthodox churches can find ways to work together.

Dambman's involvement in the Olympics goes back to Montreal in 1976, when he was an alternate on the US wrestling team. Since then, Willson has served as a chaplain at six Olympic games.

Wells of spirituality

Douglas Todd, spirituality and ethics columnist for The Vancouver Sun newspaper, presented a column February 18 entitled 'Canadian Pentecostal performs rare multi-faith role at Games.' The feature profiled the work of David Wells, head chaplain at the Olympic villages. The inter-faith chaplaincy is organized by Vanoc, and is not connected to MTG. Wells has served as a chaplain at three previous Olympics. He is general superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada.

Since up to 70 percent of the athletes list their religion as Christian, 28 of the Vancouver chaplains are Christians. There are four Muslim clergy, four Buddhist clergy, three Hindu priests and one Jewish rabbi.

Todd addressed the resulting spiritual mix, writing: "Even though Wells . . . is clear that he doesn't share the theological doctrines of many of the non-evangelical Christian clergy he oversees at the Vancouver Winter Games, he said: 'That's not what this is about . . .' Wells believes the five major world religions have a right 'to be at the table' at the Games, where their representatives can help all interested athletes obtain the spiritual support they need during the ups and downs of [competition]."

Close encounter

One of the chaplains under Wells' leadership is Dwayne Buhler - whose day job is directing Missions Fest Vancouver. He recently had a memorable encounter downtown, and described it in an email to other MTG people:

"I was walking by the CBC Building, when Premier Gordon Campbell and one other person came out and walked my way. There were very few people on Hamilton Street at the time, and we had a brief conversation -- where I thanked him for his leadership and work.

"He noticed my lanyard and name tag and asked if I was volunteering with the Salvation Army. I said that I was a part of the More Than Gold network and that we were working in partnership with the Salvation Army. His comment was: 'You guys are doing an excellent work at the Skytrain stations! We'll have to send out a big thank you.'"

Couch surfing

The drop-in centre at The Salvation Army's Harbour Light has a 65- inch big screen TV -- so residents of Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside can watch the Olympics in style. The "home-like" setting also offers snacks, refreshments and live entertainment. Salvation Army worker Kecia Fossen said the centre gives the homeless community "the opportunity to participate in enjoying the games and the Canadian pride taking place in our city."

The Army is also providing free big screen viewings in other Metro Vancouver communities, including in North Vancouver, south Vancouver and Burnaby. According to their latest news release, the Army - working with MTG -has served more than 300,000 beverages, thanks to help from some 2,000 volunteers.

WEBLINK: saolympics.com

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Bridgework

Fusion is a youth and community development organization that started in Australia in 1960 and is now based in 15 countries, including western Canada.

In cooperation with local community groups and churches, over 100 Fusion people (about half from B.C.) are working in four teams across the province to run what Fusion calls 'Open Crowd Festivals.' These low-budget events normally range in size from 100 to 1000 people and offer a range of activities targeted to a cross section of ages. The festivals build relationship bridges and help communities resist the trend to fragmentation.

Open Crowd Festivals have been held in the Vancouver neighbourhoods of Mount Pleasant and Commercial Drive, and the suburbs of Richmond and Burnaby. WEBLINK: fusion.org.au/Canada.php

West side story

Churches in the west end of Vancouver have worked together on a joint outreach effort, said Christina Lui, associate pastor at University Chapel. The main site for the joint effort was Regent College, a Christian graduate school on the campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC). That site was chosen because it is near Thunderbird Stadium, where 17 Olympic hockey games took place.

The outreach included:
• a welcome table offering transit information
• a free internet room
• a booth where visitors could have their photos taken while standing behind a plywood hockey cutout
• screenings of Rob Bell's Nooma videos, which explore different aspects Christian faith, geared to a youthful crowd
• a table with Christian literature
• free outdoor entertainment
• washrooms
• free water and coffee

The most popular component was the opportunity for visitors to have their pictures taken with an Olympic torch used by MTG's Bob Kraemer in the torch relay. Perhaps the most effective component was the more than 5,500 'welcome bags' containing items such as lip balms, pens, hand sanitizers, a pocket guide to the Olympics (including testimonies of Christian athletes) and New Testament scriptures.

Some Olympic events have also been shown on a big screen TV at University Chapel. The church sent out postcards to three postal codes in the vicinity, and about half of the 200 people coming to the screenings have been from the community.

Lui said organizers have had to learn to be "exceedingly flexible." With large numbers of people descending on the Regent site at peak times, there has been little time for long and deep conversations. Visitors were more likely to ask why the volunteers were doing what they were doing, and most responded very positively when told it was a Christian service. Only a few returned the Christian literature, and most visitors were very thankful for what they had received.

The whole point, Lui said, was to offer "random hospitality" with no expectations, and "let the Lord speak to people in his time."

WEBLINK: nooma.com
WEBLINK: universitychapel.org

While most Christian involvement in the Games has focused on hospitality and evangelism, some have chosen to stress social issues.

Ashes on the Games

On Ash Wednesday, February 17, close to 50 activists gathered at Saint Mark's College Chapel on the grounds of UBC. According to organizers, their purpose was to raise awareness of "the negative impacts of the Olympics on the poorest people in Vancouver."

The Student Christian Movement (SCM), a UBC club, was the sponsor of the protest. SCM members Emily Hopkins and Greg Williams sent CC.com a brief written account of the event:

"After joining the congregation at St. Mark's for a service and receiving ashes, we gathered, prayed and headed off to Thunderbird Arena, an Olympic venue -- carrying signs, reading scripture, singing hymns and chanting: 'Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, building homes now is a must!'

"One of the most surprising things was the police presence [outside] the mass itself, as well as the march. Many members of SCM have been involved in other actions critical of the Olympics during the past few days, and were shocked to find the police presence at Ash Wednesday to be higher and more threatening than any previous event.

"There were several police officers, cars, motorcycles, a truck and even a helicopter circling outside the mass, filming and observing even the parishioners who were not taking part in the march. At the final destination, police threatened to arrest several people, though none were.

"At Thunderbird, the participants in the march knelt and said the Lord's Prayer and sang songs praying to God to forgive us for our sins against the poor . . . The march brought together a diverse group of people, many who had never previously engaged in public protest, and empowered them to speak out against injustice."

Participants included members of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship, and the Regent College Students' Association. Other Christian groups endorsing the march included Servants Vancouver and Streams of Justice (SOJ).

WEBLINK: streamsofjustice.org

The homeless village

The latter group was instrumental in setting up a large makeshift cluster of homeless shelters in downtown Vancouver. SOJ spokesperson Dave Diewert gave an account of the event:

"The Olympic Tent Village was launched . . . following a rally for homes. We successfully occupied an empty lot (58 W. Hastings), and have grown since then. We probably have 100 or so tents on the site, with lots of folks coming and going.

"Initially, we set in place an infrastructure to last us for five days, but the community of people who are on the site have decided to stay until the end of the Olympics, and maybe beyond . . . The food tent area is always busy, and could use some help in serving, cleaning, organizing, etc. Also, there are 24-hour shifts to make sure the place is safe and secure."

The City of Vancouver has, so far, given no indication that it intends to remove the tent city.

Share the gold

A human chain organized by Share the Gold was scheduled to stretch down Hastings Street in east Vancouver on the afternoon of February 24. The organizers invited athletes, politicians and both supporters and opponents of the Olympic games to take part. The purpose was to encourage support for the idea that the same effort that went into organizing the Olympic games be put into fighting homelessness.

Organizers asked participants to wear gold toques or scarves, to deliberately engage in conversations with people across socio-economic and other barriers, and to consider contributing five percent of what they spend on Olympics-related activities to a fund for ending homelessness. The chain was to start from First United Church, where 300 homeless people are given shelter each night.

WEBLINK: firstunited.ca

February 25/2010