The world is coming to Atlanta this month for the centennial Olympic Games-and Christian groups that have sent missionaries to the far reaches of the earth are eager to minister to the masses who come calling at home.
Ministries planning outreach during the games represent the country’s theological and geographical spectrum. Religious volunteers are expected to outnumber by far the 10,500 athletes who will be competing. Thirty-seven volunteer chaplains alone have been recruited for the Olympic Village. Facilities have been set aside for worship, and Christian groups from across the country will be singing, counseling, and distributing tracts, New Testaments, and ice water to hundreds of thousands of visitors.
RECONCILIATION BEFORE OUTREACH: The Olympics also have forced Atlanta churches to examine their attitudes and relationships with God and with one another. When some of Atlanta’s Christian leaders first met four years ago to talk about an Olympic ministry, they faced a hard truth: sometimes they did not show Christian love to each other.
“Before we talked about welcoming the world, we had to talk about welcoming one another,” says Kirk Bridgers, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in America pastor who is heading an interdenominational committee to prepare for the games. Racial and denominational walls divided them, he says.
But Bridgers says that is changing with the Olympics on the horizon. Representatives from 1,800 churches in 29 denominations are carrying out a plan to reach the city’s 2 million visitors and each other. “We want to make a statement to the world and leave a legacy for the future,” Bridgers says.
Under the umbrella organization Quest Atlanta 96, the group divided its efforts into eight initiatives to make the city a more pleasant place for both visitors and residents. They are:
- Games outreach, including street ministry and literature distribution.
- Prayer for the city, athletes, visitors, and countries.
- Hospitality/Atlanta Host, a plan to provide beds and breakfasts for the families of Olympic athletes through the city’s religious congregations.
- Community development, formation of partnerships between city and suburban churches that share fellowship, worship, and projects.
- Faith in Arts, free Christian-based entertainment and refreshments in air-conditioned sanctuaries near Olympic venues.
- SportsNet, establishment of urban and suburban sports leagues, camps, and clinics that teach both Christian values and athletic discipline.
- Social action, ensuring that the needs of the less fortunate local citizens are not forgotten in the hoopla.
- International partnerships, tying local congregations with churches and religious leaders in other countries.
BAPTIST HOME BASE: Besides cooperating through Quest, some denominations also have their own Olympic programs. The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), for instance, has an elaborate plan known as Atlanta International Ministries (AIM), with a $2 million budget and 5,000 volunteers. The SBC’s Home Mission Board, which is coordinating its Olympic ministry, is headquartered in suburban Atlanta.
Baptists will not be waiting to reach people until after they have arrived at their destination. Woman’s Missionary Union teams from Georgia and South Carolina plan to distribute special booklets at interstate rest stops on the roads into town.
The booklets, produced by the Home Mission Board, are “interactive pocket guides” to the Games, listing world and Olympic records for sporting events from yachting to archery, with space to record the 1996 winners and records. A four-page explanation of the plan of salvation is included. Millions of the booklets have been ordered by various groups.
Parachurch organizations also are involved, most visibly Youth with a Mission (YWAM). YWAM has recruited 5,000 volunteers, who are paying their own travel expenses, to come to Atlanta and participate in activities from street evangelism to prayer intercession. About 1,000 of the YWAM volunteers will be official greeters at the Olympic Village.
TESTIMONY FROM ATHLETES: The International Bible Society has been busy preparing literature for distribution in Atlanta. More Than Gold, a guide to the venues of the games, is surrounded by photos of athletes in action with their testimonies. One is Madeline Manning Mims of the United States, who won a record-setting women’s 800-meter race in 1968 in Mexico City. She writes, “[F]ollowing Jesus is the highest calling in life and the most rewarding.”
The Salvation Army and SportsNet youth enrichment ministry have commissioned their own 32-page booklet, Time Out, designed for use in any sports-related setting, with the testimonies of more Olympic champions as well as a “game plan” for character development.
During the Olympics, Christian athletes will lead rallies in four Atlanta-area churches under the sponsorship of several evangelical organizations. Some athletes came to Atlanta earlier this year to announce this ministry under the “More Than Gold” banner that is incorporated in many evangelical efforts.
“I’m happy to be here in an athletic endeavor, and I’m happy to be here in a Christian endeavor,” says Leroy Burrell of Houston, who has set 10 world track records and won a gold medal in Barcelona in 1992. “We’re more than athletes; we’re Christians,” Burrell says. “We believe that Jesus Christ died for us, and he is our salvation.”
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