Olympics: A LASTING LEGACY

Robert Hill reports that ministries during this summer's Olympics have had long-range effects.

The Athens 2004 Olympic Games are now history, but much of the impact goes on. Greece did a marvellous job showing the world how a small country could do so well with this once-in-a-lifetime event. Many Christians in Greece latched on to this unrepeatable opportunity to make a statement for Christ, in a country where 97% of the people belong to the state Greek Orthodox Church, yet fewer than 3% of those go to church.

Several years ago, Panagiotis Kantartzis, pastor of Athens' First Greek Evangelical Church, realised the unique privilege God was giving the tiny community of believers in Greece. He designed a multi-faceted outreach ministry called 'The Crown of Life' and began promoting it among evangelical believers in Greece and abroad. He realised the difficulty Greece's believers would have: Protestants are fewer than one-fifth of 1% of Greece's population of 10.5 million. So a key element in the Crown of Life ministries was partnering with Christians from abroad. This partnership now extends far beyond the brief period of the Olympic Games.

Burdened for Greece

Since January teams of volunteers have been to Athens to get things ready - remodelling church facilities, helping prepare literature and programmes. The Crown of Life used about 35 teams with 400 volunteers from England, Scotland, USA, Canada, France, Hong Kong, Brazil and Hungary. Many of them became burdened for Greece and desire to come back to work with the Greek Evangelical Church again in the future.

Crown of Life had originally planned ten projects: 1) the church as a worship and activity centre; 2) the church as a welcome and information centre; 3) a special Bible exhibit, 'Proclaiming the unknown God'; 4) production of a special 'Tourist Guide'; 5) Project 'Living Water' - giving out bottles of water with a tract and a card offering a free New Testament or Jesus film; 6) Project 'Good Samaritan' (first aid station); 7) Project 'Clean-Up' (picking up rubbish in parks); 8) a massive literature distribution programme; 9) outreach in neighbourhoods and squares; and 10) evangelistic campaigns in various parts of Greece.

Not all these plans turned out as anticipated. All first aid stations during the Olympics had to be run by doctors with licences to practise in Greece, so the 'Good Samaritan' programme was not feasible. However, the church had an extensive and much-needed blood donor drive.

Front of the church

Permits promised by city officials were vague, removing many of the ministry possibilities. Thus the church's three water kiosks in the parks were allowed to have entertainment (face-painting, clowns, puppets) but no literature could be distributed, nor could the water bottles have any identifying labels. Many organisations were denied permits for music or other activities at the last minute, so many Christian street entertainers were looking for places to serve.

In the end, however, the most effective place for ministry turned out to be within the church and on the street in front of First Church. Hundreds of people came into First Church every day to see the exhibition, which was something like a mini-museum and was named 'The Other Race', presenting the athletic imagery in the writings of the New Testament. The CDs of the projection 'The Apostle Paul in Greece' kept selling out. And practically every evening during the Olympics street performers held crowds on the sidewalk, while church people and overseas volunteers gave out water, tracts, New Testaments, and Scripture portions.

'Jesus is my Saviour'

Hundreds went through the exhibition each day, and one day three Chinese picked up a New Testament. Later, one wrote in the guest book: 'Thank you for a most interesting and informative display. As of August 20 2004, Jesus is my Saviour'. These and many other testimonies made the whole effort worth while!

The goal of distributing 100,000 literature packets was ambitious; 60,000 were distributed before the Olympics finished, and the remaining 30,000 will have been distributed by the end of the Special Olympics. Over 3,000 English New Testaments were distributed in front of the church, as were 1,500 Modern Greek New Testaments, and 7,000 copies of a special 11-language edition of Acts 16-20, published by the Greek Bible Society with special Olympics celebration paintings. Daily the church office is receiving requests for New Testaments.

BBC live

One of the most memorable parts of the Olympics celebrations at First Church was the BBC live broadcast of the Sunday morning service on August 15, hosted by Jonathan Edwards and featuring the All Souls Church (London) band.

Some of the Crown of Life ministries were simply an attempt to display a Christian presence, like the Welcome Centre, Tourist Guides, and Project Clean-Up. These built bridges which will surely have positive effects in future outreach projects. The strategic partnership, dynamic proclamation and redemptive presence of the Crown of Life outreaches during the Olympic Games will have long-lasting results.

© Evangelicals Now - October 2004
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