By Jim Coggins

HOW SHOULD Christians respond to the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games?

There are essentially two views, according to the Christian social justice agency Streams of Justice (SOJ). One is to wholeheartedly embrace "the spirit of Olympism," with its emphasis on "peace, human harmony and fair play." The other is to denounce the games as a project of the rich and powerful, designed to enhance their power and wealth while it increases homelessness and degrades the environment.

Streams of Justice offered these two alternatives in a creative presentation called 'A Tale of Two Visions: The Olympic Games and the Kingdom of God: Are They Compatible?' at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church in Vancouver, on the evening of June 29.

The evening included a dramatic dialogue, video clips and music. One section of the presentation stated that the Olympics have displaced two million people over the last 20 years, as housing is demolished to make way for Olympic venues and Olympic pressures drive up land prices, making housing unaffordable. Another section talked of the impact on the environment of Olympic construction and the air travel required to bring athletes and spectators to the Games.

SOJ director Dave Diewert told CC.com any Christians who "co-operate with the Olympics" will be "standing with the powerful of our world," which is "antithetical to the posture of Jesus, who stood with the outcasts and was killed by the wealthy and powerful."

The options are not quite that simple, suggested David Wells, a Christian who has been actively involved in chaplaincy efforts at athletic games since the last Winter Olympics held in Canada, in Calgary in 1988.

Christians who get involved in the Games are not necessarily "deifying" them, endorsing them in every aspect, he said. Instead, they often take a more "pragmatic" approach: Since the Olympics are going to happen anyway, how can they make use of this opportunity for the good of the Kingdom?

Wells, who is general superintendent of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and chair of the Vancouver Olympics' inter-faith working group, agreed that there is a place for a prophetic voice, but he argued that another biblical model is also valid, namely the Jeremiah model of "seeking the good of the city" you happen to live in (Jeremiah 29:7).

Wells agreed that Olympic events have often displaced the poor and brought with them an increase in human trafficking, particularly for prostitution, though he was cautious about the validity of all of SOJ's statistics. However, he said he is convinced that Christians also need to be a "redemptive influence" and that they will be more effective in pushing for affordable housing and environmental sustainability and reducing human trafficking if they are "at the table."

Wells is also vice-chair of More Than Gold, a broad-based coalition of denominations, churches, ministries and Christian leaders designed to coordinate the Christian response to the Olympic Games.

While Wells denied the charge that supporters "idolize" the games, Karen Reed, chief executive officer of More Than Gold, suggested it would also be wrong to "demonize" the games. She said she has encountered people in VANOC who are genuinely concerned about sustainability, homelessness and human trafficking. For instance, she said she was able to bring two senior VANOC leaders together with a ministry leader in Vancouver's downtown east side. MTG's work includes initiatives on creation care, homelessness and sex trafficking.

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Reed also mentioned the Sydney Protocol, which was put into place by the faith community when the games were held in Australia. This protocol outlined guidelines for the treatment of the homeless in regard to the games, which were accepted by the police and the political community and have since formed a model for future games.

The goal of MTG, said Reed, is to be neither in alliance with the Olympics nor antagonistic to them but to try to bring the entire Christian community in British Columbia's lower mainland "to collaborate for the common good."

Diewert suggested that MTG should "simply fold its operation, and cut all association with the games."

However, Reed welcomed the SOJ presentation because it offered a Christian critique of culture that is often sorely lacking in the church, though she said she wished that the presentation, attended by about 300 people who mostly already agreed with SOJ's position, could have attracted Christian groups with other perspectives as well. Reed said she is convinced that only as the entire body of Christ comes together will it be able to achieve the full maturity that Christ desires.

Christians need to be "engaged in culture," said Reed, since this is the model used by the early church when it used public spaces to engage with its culture.

The biblical model MTG has chosen to follow is "radical hospitality."

Reed noted that More Than Gold efforts have been present at Olympic events for a couple of decades. At first, these efforts were led by evangelical groups who were anxious to offer Olympic athletes and spectators a Christian faith "more precious than gold." These efforts had some success in a time when many people at the games had a Christian grounding, but they don't work as well in a postmodern world. Evangelism now requires leading people to accept a whole new worldview, and this takes time.

One way to do this is by providing "radical hospitality." This is not the superficial kind of entertaining prescribed by people like Martha Stewart, said Reed, but a much deeper hospitality that includes the poor and marginalized. It is the kind of hospitality offered when residents of Gander, Newfoundland brought over 6600 stranded airline passengers into their homes for several days following 9/11.

Reed cited the MTG effort at the recent Canada Day parade, which included a Christian band on a truck, dancers and people giving out MTG T-shirts and cards explaining how to say hello in ten languages. The Christian dancers were unexpectedly joined by hundreds of people from the crowd, and thousands of people joined in the singing.

"What would happen if there were a flood of that," Reed asked, "a mobilization of the Christian community finding radical ways to offer hospitality to strangers?"

It will take the entire church united to solve the problems in the Vancouver area, Reed suggested, and that in turn could give the world a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. "If we see how the world is and how it should be, then we should take action to narrow the gap."

-- additional reporting by David F. Dawes

July 9/2009