UK churches start planning Olympics outreach

|PIC1|The conference was opened by Lord Brian Mawhinney, Chairman of the Football League and More Than Gold, the organisation spearheading plans for outreach at the London Olympics.

Lord Mawhinney said More Than Gold was about “helping other organisations to do their thing”.

He stressed partnership over centralised power, and said he wanted More Than Gold to act as a “catalyst for new ideas, offering support where necessary”.

“We are restricted only by our imagination and willingness,” he told leaders.

Graham Daniels, General Director of Christians in Sport, said the sporting world remained a place of great mission, pointing to the 10 million adults across the UK who belong to a sports club.

He challenged Christians to “serve with a compassionate heart in the power of the Spirit” during the Olympics.

More Than Gold has been leading evangelistic efforts at the Olympics since the Games in Atlanta in 1996, when local churches distributed more than three million cups of water across the different Olympic venues. In Sydney in 2000, churches provided more than half of the accommodation needed to house the families of competing athletes, and in Athens, churches joined up with the city authorities to stage the first and largest outdoor Christian concert ever held in Greece.

“The role of More Than Gold is to cast a vision of authentic outreach and service that every church can engage with and see realised,” said the organisation’s CEO Dave Willson.

“2012 offers an opportunity never seen before in the history of the UK for the churches to connect and to coordinate in a united mission that brings Christ’s love not just to this land, but to those from every corner of the globe.”

The Archbishop of Canterbury and Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster have already giving their backing to the initiative, as has Olympics minister Tessa Jowell.