OLYMPIC OUTREACH "SPRINGBOARD" FOR ASIA, PACIFIC MISSIONS

THE 2000 OLYMPICS in Sydney are being used as the springboard for a major missionary thrust into the Pacific and Asia area.

Youth With A Mission, organizers of large-scale international evangelistic outreaches at the Games for more than 25 years, want to see thousands of short-term volunteers combining their visit to the event with prayer and ministry trips to one of 50 other countries in the region.

YWAM planners hope to recruit up to 8,000 participants for their outreach among the crowds of visitors and athletes descending on Sydney next year. But they don't want that involvement to end with the Games. Australia 2000: Gateway to the Nations is YWAM-Australia's two-year effort to focus global Christian attention on a part of the world where millions have not heard about Christ.

"The world will be shining a spotlight here for the Olympics, and it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reflect that spotlight into the rest of the country, and further across Asia and the Pacific," said national director Steve Aherne. "This is a huge region with incredible needs, and amazing opportunities for changing lives."

YWAM leaders have fielded large teams - full-time staff joined by short-term volunteers sharing their faith with Olympic crowds through drama, performing arts and friendship-making - at each Games since Munich, 1972. In Sydney the mission's efforts will augment the outreach being planned by Quest Australia, an umbrella group linking scores of local churches.

Thirty YWAM staff are already working full-time on Australia 2000, coordinating 1,000 outreach locations across Australia and scores more further afield, from India to Singapore. Visiting teams will be able take part in overseas outreaches - prayer, evangelism, and practical care programs - on their way to or from the Games.

Organizers hope that in addition to those actually attending the Games, as many as 70,000 others will take part in outreaches in the region during the two-year focus.

"The Olympic outreach always has a long-term impact on the host city, as well as on the lives of those who take part," said Aherne. "We believe that the year 2000 is a 'God date', and that the Games also have the potential to be a major catalytic event for the region. This part of the world is primed and ready to go.

"Between now and 2001 we have an opportunity not only to take the city and change the nation, but to impact half the world's population."

Australia 2000: PO Box 6221, Townsville, MC QLD 4810, Australia. Web - http://www.ywam.org/.au/aust2000

Return to: April 1999 News Index Page