Christian groups refused access to Canada Summer Games
LONDON, ON—When Joe Campbell learned that London had been awarded the Canada Summer Games August 11-25, he immediately thought of the opportunities for the local Christian community.
As one of the organizers for the Christian Support Alliance, a network of local churches, he expected Games organizers to welcome their offer to send dozens of volunteers from area churches to help out.
Instead, says Campbell, they got the cold shoulder.
"We tried to work with them initially, but they wanted nothing to do with us," says Campbell.
Jim Etherington, vice chair of communications for the Games, says it's true that a concerted effort from the churches was refused, saying he suspected an ulterior motive among their volunteers.
"It became rather transparent, when people began to arrive and we asked them what venue they were assigned to, they said, 'Our church said we had access to wherever we wanted to go.'"
After Games organizers learned that volunteers intended to do evangelism among the athletes and spectators, organizers also blocked access for Christian groups to set up booths in Victoria Park, a public area rented by the Games for entertainment venues for the athletes.
But Etherington says that athletes had constant access to several university chaplains at the University of Western Ontario where the Games participants were housed. He also says transportation was made available to any competitor who wished to attend a religious service.
"The key thing is that the Games are non-denominational. It is not appropriate to have Christian presentations when there are athletes there of all different faiths," says Etherington.
"We've had many conversations with [Christian Support Alliance] over the past seven months, and we've made it clear that there was to be no marketing or third-party presentations on our site," he says.
Even groups such as Athlete's in Action (AIA), an evangelistic group made up of athletes, were refused access.
Bill Underwood, campus director for AIA at the University of Western Ontario was rejected as one of the chaplains serving the athletes, even though he's worked in ministry at the campus for four years. He says the team of chaplains chosen include a Muslim cleric and volunteers from several mainline churches.
Underwood's main goal was to talk one-on-one with athletes. "We tried to get the gospel message to the athletes, but we were denied access at the last minute."
Underwood scrambled to get a tent set up in an adjacent park, but three days before the Games began, organizers backtracked on an earlier decision to allow AIA literature to be included in athletes' information packages. With no information available, Underwood says they waited at the tent for six hours "and no one showed up" because no one knew they were there.
"We weren't allowed in to talk to the athletes, we ended up without any formal involvement in the games at all. I was pretty disappointed."
But Campbell says local Christians did evangelism anyway, just not at the official site. They set up booths along the perimeter of Victoria Park, where many athletes spent time between events.
One of the unique venues was a prayer station, where volunteers simply prayed with those who requested it. They also distributed evangelistic literature. Campbell says that by the end of the Games, hundreds of people were prayed with individually and dozens made decisions for Christ.
Child Evangelism Fellowship also set up near the park, painting faces and giving away books about Jesus. The Gideons distributed New Testaments.
Youth from area churches sponsored a large Christian concert featuring The Insydrz, a band from Detroit.
Campbell also says area churches have maintained a 24-hour praise and worship session running throughout the Games.
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