Cheer the Olympic Torch, spread the Gospel

Ruth Sadler, an evangelical Christian and surfing grandmother, carries the Olympic Torch on Long Beach, B.C. Nov. 1, 2009. (Keven Drews/Westcoaster.ca Photo)

WINNIPEG – The Olympic Torch Relay is the perfect time to share the Gospel with communities nationwide, says the mission executive for the Alberta–British Columbia District.

“Imagine how this event can be used by Christian churches to point people to Christ as the Light of the World,” said Dr. Glenn E. Schaeffer in a recent email to the Canadian Lutheran.

“The torch may have already passed through your community, but the torch is yet to pass through many more communities.”

The 100-day, 45,000-kilometre Olympic Torch Relay is well underway and is currently headed to Newfoundland and Labrador and the Maritimes.

After visiting the East Coast, it will head to Vancouver for the February 12 opening of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Schaeffer is asking Lutheran Church–Canada congregations to think about ways they can use the relay to witness to Christ, and he is pointing to More Than Gold, a Christian Olympic organization.

According to More Than Gold, said Schaeffer, Christians can contact their city halls and offer their churches’ support and resources for relay events, organizing musicians to play for torch bearers, cleaning up streets and handing out refreshments.

Churches can plan their own full-blown festivals – including balloon sculpting and face painting – or schedule their own international culinary festivals and prayer events, he added.

The Olympic Torch is expected to visit 1,000 Canadian communities.

For more information on the Olympic Torch Relay, visit http://www.morethangold.ca/sites/default/files/Canada%20Ablaze%20info_1.pdf