By Jim Coggins

CHRISTIANS are finding many ways, in and around the Vancouver Olympic Games, to be the 'salt and light' Jesus spoke of in the Sermon on the Mount.

The initiatives range from offering 'radical hospitality' and quality arts presentations, to addressing social issues through both advocacy and protest.

Christian volunteers are pleased with "how responsive people are" said Karen Reed, executive director of the joint Christian outreach effort, More Than Gold (MTG).

While the main Olympic venues are in Vancouver and Whistler, some Games events are being held in nearby B.C. municipalities.

The City of Richmond has a newly constructed 'Oval' speed skating track. With the Skytrain transit system now connecting Richmond and Vancouver, the city anticipated an influx of crowds and converted its large central park and sports complex into the 'O Zone,' with a performance stage, food venues, a pub, a small outdoor ice rink and other attractions.

Opportunities for service

Right across the road from the O Zone is Trinity Lutheran Church. It was among the first churches to see the opportunities for Christian service and evangelism, and joined in with the MTG initiative.

Don Hindle, a leader in the church, has been a key motivator and organizer. "We formed a working group in the church, but needed help from other churches." Congregations which have partnered with them include World Harvest, Richmond Presbyterian and Richmond Baptist. Hindle described new friendships emerging, and said he sees that continuing.

Speaking to CC.com on the second day of the Games, Hindle outlined Trinity's plans for outreach. "We're going to be open as a church, with hospitality, internet and large screen games coverage every day." He added: "Yesterday was raining, so we didn't see much [response]. Today is much better."

That day, Trinity's initiative - facilitated by an organization called Fusion Canada -- operated from a large tent pitched on the church's front lawn. A barbeque continuously produced hot dogs; kids wore clown faces and played games such as tug-of-war; and laughter blended with upbeat music. Passers by were invited over, and responded enthusiastically.

An older Chinese couple wandered in with their adult daughter - who told CC.com her parents had arrived in Canada two months ago, and spoke no English. "Yes, there's lots of culture shock for them," she said. Initially shy, the mother eventually joined a hula hoop contest, laughing freely.

Another family, visiting from Chile for the two weeks of the Games, was invited in to watch the HD large screen Olympic sports feed from CTV. They were very impressed, and vigorously shook a volunteer's hand in gratitude.

Offering help as needed were three pastors from New Brunswick, who were in Richmond as part of the Billy Graham Rapid Response team. A young man named Chris contributed his cooking skills. He was part of a missions team of 10 from Las Vegas; he said he raised $800 to come to the Games, to volunteer.

Coffee and greetings

The Richmond experience is just one example of More Than Gold's efforts getting off to a flying start. At press time, MTG was just beginning to pull together reports of what is happening on the ground; already it has received reports of several people coming to faith in Christ.

Other highlights include:
• Over the first weekend, MTG volunteers served more than 200,000 cups of coffee and hot chocolate to people waiting in line at SkyTrain stations and Olympic venues. The higher than expected demand for its offer of "coffee and a friendly greeting" has MTG calling on its network of supporters for more percolators, more volunteers and more coffee and hot chocolate. Sign-up is done electronically on its website, at: WEBLINK: morethangold.ca
• Attendance at various Christian concerts and coffee houses started slowly in some cases, but had greatly expanded by the first Sunday. Events have been held in Vancouver's west end, at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and at Regent College.
• 1,000 Christian volunteers from outside the Vancouver area - most from North America, but also from more than two dozen countries worldwide -- have been given orientation, and are now at work. They have joined thousands of local MTG volunteers.
• MTG has recruited 13 women from the Downtown Eastside (DTES) and trained them to offer hospitality - serving at the Linwood House Great Room hospitality centre, and offering tours of the poverty-stricken neighborhood.
• Chaplains in the Olympic Village are helping athletes cope with the strains and stresses of the Olympics -- including dealing with the February 12 death of a Georgian athlete in a practice run just before the games.

In addition to the MTG initiatives, Christian faith figures prominently in other aspects of the gigantic event. Many involved in organizing and running the games are Christians.

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"Christians are involved at every level," one of them told CC.com -- from senior administrators to ticket collectors and parking attendants. Some participated in the opening ceremonies. Others are serving as translators or visit officers (people who take care of transportation, seating and security for visiting dignitaries).

In their privileged positions, these volunteers and paid staff are not openly identified as Christians, and do not use their positions to engage in MTG-style evangelism. However, like non-Christian organizers, they are "going overboard to help, going the second and third mile."

In some cases, they are developing genuine relationships. And they are finding many reasons to pray for (but not with) those they are serving. Amidst all the pressures of the Olympic event, the organizer enthused, "it is a wonderful thing to be a calming presence that radiates peace and joy."

Women's Memorial march

Christians have also been instrumental in helping facilitate an important event which was directly affected by the Olympics.

Squeezed in between the Games and celebrations for the Chinese New Year, the 19th annual Women's Memorial March took place Sunday, February 14 in the DTES. The event is held on Valentine's Day each year, to honour missing and murdered women -- particularly aboriginal women.

This year's march might not have happened. Due to Olympic congestion, the Vancouver Olympic Committee and the city of Vancouver considered asking the march organizers to reschedule the event or move it. However, More Than Gold, along with a number of other groups, advocated on behalf of allowing the march to go ahead. MTG's "positive neutrality" -- neither supporting nor opposing the games -- allows it to play a mediating role, suggested MTG's Karen Reed.

The organization had previously laid a foundation of support for the march. When the city decided in November to allow the march to go ahead, MTG hosted a tea in the DTES -- where city officials could announce the decision to women from the area. MTG also invited women from churches in other parts of the Greater Vancouver area to attend the tea.

On the day of the march, MTG hosted another tea, both before and after the event. Some 300 women, from the ranks of MTG and its Christian supporters, joined the march this year -- helping it grow to a record crowd of at least 1,200. "The Christian community should take the lead on issues of justice for the marginalized," Reed said.

Ashes and protest

Some Christians have taken a more assertive approach to social issues which have been linked to the Games. Members of one faith-based group, Streams of Justice (SOJ), recently participated in a 'Poverty Torch' relay, as a parody of the cross-country Olympic Torch relay.

A protest against homelessness was staged by several Christian groups at UBC February 17. The date was chosen because of its theological significance, as a key part of the lead-up to Easter.

"Ash Wednesday," said Emily Hopkins, "is the day set aside by the Christian calendar for us to recognize and repent of our sins -- and this year, it falls during the Olympic Games."

Hopkins is acting vice president of the Student Christian Movement (SCM) of UBC, the main sponsor of the event. Other sponsors included Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, the Regent College Students Association, Servants Vancouver and Streams of Justice.

Speaking to CC.com before the event, Hopkins said she also expected participation from members of InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, and the Salvation Army's 614 Vancouver.

Hopkins was asked to comment on the violence which marred a peaceful protest February 13, resulting in vandalism against The Bay and other businesses.

"We're really concerned about that," she responded, adding: "Nonviolence is an important part of how we approach this." SCM, she said, was prepared to deal with the issue in a practical way. Just before the protest began, she said, they would have a workshop on how to ensure the demonstration would be nonviolent.

The 'Mass and March' event began at noon, with the Ash Wednesday mass at Saint Mark's College Chapel, on the UBC grounds. After the worship service, participants marched to the Winter Sports Centre, where several Olympic competitions have been scheduled. According to a press release, the purpose of the event was "to nonviolently demonstrate against the negative impacts of the Olympics on homeless people in Vancouver."

The 2010 Olympic Games, said Hopkins, "are an exciting event for Vancouver -- yet [they] also further the tremendous socioeconomic inequalities in Vancouver, in many ways . . . We are complicit as individuals and as a society in the existence of poverty and homelessness." The Bible, she added, "compels us to care for the poor and to do justice. We need to view homelessness not only as a policy issue that needs to be remedied, but as a sin that needs to be repented of."

Event organizers contended that the Olympics "have negatively impacted the poor" in several ways: by contributing to a "twofold rise in the number of visibly homeless people" in Greater Vancouver; by precipitating "the loss of more than 850 units of low-income housing, and the rise of rents across the city"; and by being a catalyst to the enactment of "stringent bylaws . . . criminalizing the poor."

Uniting Christian voices

Karen Reed of MTG commented on the contrast of thousands of Christians joyfully celebrating the Olympic Games with the hundreds of Christian protestors expressing solidarity with the marginalized. She said she was concerned with the different approaches, and how Christians can find ways to talk to each other and work together.

Reed asked: "How do we reconcile all this and make space for all the [Christian] voices?"

Christians, she concluded, "should take the lead in messy complex situations. If the Christian community can't bend in love, how can the rest of the community?"

- Additional reporting by David F. Dawes and Peter Biggs

February 18/2010