Outreach

London Church Leaders Plan for 2012 Olympics

By Tim Finch
CWN News

CWNews.com –LONDON - Preparing a city to host the Olympics takes years of preparation. That's why in London this week, churches had their first meeting to plan their outreaches for the 2012 summer games.

The leaders of some major denominations – including Anglicans, Catholics and the Free Churches – gathered here at Westminster Central Hall just opposite Big Ben and the houses of parliament in Central London. They gathered to mark the launch of More Than Gold, the church's response and input into the forthcoming Olympic games in twenty twelve.

Guests and media arrived to listen to denominational leaders and parliamentarians talk of churches working together to not only support and serve the Olympics game, but also serve the neglected areas of East London around Stratford, where the Olympic village is being built.

“We want to see young and old black and white being a part of something that gives the Christian church tremendous opportunity to be a credible community engaging with where our society is,”
Rev. Joel Edwards, general director for Evangelical Alliance, said.

“It's a great opportunity for churches to get together with Christians of different traditions to get together and open their door and really do something not only for the visitors but for the city itself,” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said.

During his talk, Lord Mawhinney, chairman of More Than Gold, said that the group would not be evangelistic.

“We are not a proselytizing organization, but the engine of our activity is our Christian faith,” he said.

“Evangelical Churches who are very much key about evangelism, it’s primary to them” Pastor Ade Amooba of Black Majority Churches, said. “I was concerned that this would be lost in this More Than Gold effort, but I am happy that having spoken to the executive committee and expressed that we need the opportunity to engage that diversity and make it key the work of evangelism.”

Translate Page