CEE Story From The Mission Field
Olympic Opportunities
June 11, 2004
Soon more than 10,500 athletes from more than 200 countries will be converging on the birthplace of the Olympic Games. In other words, the world is coming to Greece for the 2004 Athens Olympics. As the games draw closer, it is evident that God is offering the Christian church an unprecedented opportunity to present the gospel—not only to the 10 million strong population of Greece, but also to the world community in a way that has never been offered before. These events will allow volunteers to enter neighborhoods and municipalities offering help with cleanup, repair, sports clinics and water distribution while also providing opportunities to share their faith.
IMB missionaries are putting a major ministry focus on the Olympics with a faithful hope that God will pour out His Spirit and start a church-planting movement in Greece. Volunteers will act as one of the major driving forces in taking advantage of the opportunity that God has put before us. More than 30 teams made up of more than 500 volunteers will be ministering in 21 different ways. These teams will be involved in such activities as distributing bottles of water with invitations to the JESUS film, picking up trash in high profile areas, performing hand bell concerts, providing sports clinics, offering spectators a place to rest and cool off in hospitality booths, and remodeling buildings for housing teams. Everything will focus on evangelism with hopes of starting new Bible studies in strategic parts of the city.
The general evangelism teams will have major pedestrian walkways open to them for sharing their faith through activities such as drama, music, face-paining, ballooning, hospitality centers and one-on-one personal evangelism. Anticipating that each volunteer will have countless opportunities to engage the lost, the IMB Olympic ministry team has developed a response card centered around the Olympic Games. It is a good conversation starter and also introduces some “help” groups that missionaries are setting up to use as a platform for the gospel. These “help” groups will deal with issues that Greek society faces such as a need for English language and parenting and financial counsel. Through the practical help offered, the gospel will be presented, Christ shown as the one who meets all needs, and small group bible studies begun.
The goal of establishing numerous house churches from those engaged with the gospel requires a comprehensive strategy that involves extensive preparation and set-up. Though the Olympics will start and finish in August, the work of the Olympic ministry team is focused on a period of time which began in March and will continue until October.
The team has just welcomed a new member who arrived from California to help in this ministry. She will assist with communications, logistics, and locating strategic ministry spots for Olympic volunteer teams. Various churches and ministries are cooperating together all throughout Athens and are coordinating their efforts to ensure that this evangelistic effort will see lost people won to the Lord and new churches started.
God has given an unprecedented opportunity to evangelize. We will have access to people like no other time that Greece has ever seen. Please join us in prayer for these upcoming events. If you have not made plans for this summer come join us!