• Children and Youth
• Church Buildings
• Church Tourism
• Communications
• Disability Access
• Environment
• Finding a church
• Fresh Expressions
• Fundraising
• Money and giving
• Olympics
• Safeguarding
• Social Responsibility
• The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee

Your Church and the Olympics

The world’s premier sporting event is coming to the UK - the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics, taking place from 27th July to 12th August, and 29th August to 9 September.

People of all ages across the country will be caught up in Olympics fever - 90% of the UK are expected to watch the Games on television. This is a wonderful opportunities for churches to get involved in their communities, and show what welcoming and friendly places churches are. It’s a chance to welcome more people to come to your church and grow your church’s influence in your community.

The Olympic Flame will be passing through the Diocese, stopping at Middlesbrough on 17th June, Hull on 18th June and York on 19th June. It will also be passing though many of our towns and villages - you can see the full list at www.london2012.com. This is a chance for churches on the Olympic Torch route to get involved with celebrations in their towns and villages, or if no celebrations are planned, to organise some!

On the Sunday before the Olympics begin, 22nd July, we’d like to encourage all churches to pray for the Games and all those taking part. The Church Of England has prepared prayers and readings for the Olympics and Paralympics for churches to use.

At 8am on Friday 27th July, the day the Games begin, all churches in the UK are being asked to ring their bells for 3 minutes as part of a unique performance by Turner Prize winning artist and composer Martin Creed. You can find more about this at www.allthebells.com - it’s a great opportunity to invite people up to your bell tower and perhaps recruit some more bellringers!

There are lots of ways to engage with your community during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. More than Gold are an ecumenical organisation providing ideas for events,resources and support, you can find out more at www.morethangold.com. More Than Gold are providing training days for churches to get ready for the Olympics - there's more details here.

Christians in Sport have also provided a Sports Quiz for churches, which can be used as an evangelistic guest event. More information about the 2012 Sports Quiz can be found at www.christiansinsport.org.uk/quiz.

As well as the sporting side of the Olympics, there’s also the Cultural Olympiad. Spread over four years, it is designed to give everyone in the UK a chance to be part of the Olympics and inspire creativity across all forms of culture, especially among young people. For more ways to get involved in the Cultural Olympiad, visit http://www.london2012.com/cultural-olympiad.

The Church of Englad has produced thoughts on the ‘Why?’ as well as the ‘How?’ of engaging with the Games - you can download the Games to Inspire Change article and leaflet below.

If you want to use the the Olympic and Paralympic Games as a chance to engage with your community, please contact the Revd Allen Bagshawe on bagshawe@bagshawe.karoo.co.uk or 01482 702220. He can offer help and support, and is co-ordinating our Diocesan activities on the Olympics.

And whatever you're doing, please tell everyone about it! If you are holding an event for the Jubilee or Olympics, it’s a chance to share this with wider communities via the media, and show people our churches are vibrant and exciting places. Contact Eleanor Course, the Diocesan Communications Officer on comms@yorkdiocese.org or 01904 699530 for help with the media or publicity.