Aussie Salvos go for More Than Gold at Olympics
Winners of a More than Gold mini-olympics event at a Salvation Army disability camp in the United Kingdom. (Photo supplied by Major Trevor Nicol)
While the world was watching the 2012 Olympic Games on their television screens, Salvationists from the Army's Australia Eastern Territory were venturing onto the streets of London to serve local residents and the hundreds of thousands of visitors who were there to witness the world's biggest sporting event.
From 22 July to 5 August, Major Trevor Nicol, Corps Officer at Hurstville in Sydney, and his team joined with More Than Gold – an outreach organisation that aims to engage local churches in sports mission – and participated in programs run by The Salvation Army.
“Our mission was to work closely with the [local] corps and to build relationships with people who had some contact with these corps, so that the corps could continue to work with those people,” says Major Nicol.
Over the two weeks of the Games, the Australian team handed out copies of the UK with the Republic of Ireland (UKI) Territory's War Cry and Kid’s Alive magazines, as well as giving hundreds of bottles of water to spectators lining the streets of London.
The team also visited The Salvation Army's Edward Alsop Court Men’s Hostel and participated in sports programs, rock climbing, a trivia night, bible studies and built relationships with the men living at the hostel.
“It was great getting the men involved because most of them don’t usually like to get involved in anything there. We had a number of the guys come to the events we had. So we were able start something that the workers will be able to build on,” says Major Nicol.
They also assisted at SAFE, a Salvation Army disability camp for teenagers and adults, by hosting a mini-Olympics. On the last three days of the mission trip, the team visited The Salvation Army corps at Hastings, south of London, and helped run trivia nights, sports programs and worship meetings.
A total of 17 Salvation Army territories from around the world joined with the More Than Gold program at the London Olympics. They were led by an enthusiastic Australian Salvationist, Sarah-Jane Alley, who was specifically selected to coordinate the UKI Territory's involvement at the Olympics and Paralympics. Passionate about both sport and mission, Sarah-Jane firmly believes The Salvation Army made an impact on the community during the Games.
“Sport affects everyone whether they believe it or not and through sport we can link all the work of The Salvation Army for the glory of [God’s] kingdom,” she says.
“In every case, regardless of location, the community has responded very positively to The Salvation Army and a lot of people now know a lot more about the organisation and the services we provide.”
Sarah-Jane coordinated 22 Salvation Army teams at the Olympics. Between them they distributed more than 385,000 bottles of water to spectators and visitors, performed musical entertainment at The Salvation Army’s Hadleigh Farm, where the Olympic Mountain Bike race was held, hosted Kid’s Clubs with an Olympic theme at corps’, handed out maps to tourists and much more.
“Every program we [were] involved with has been a success. It has enthused our own people, engaged local people with our corps' and centres [and] helped us to increase out image in the community,” says Sarah-Jane.
Another Salvation Army mission team from the Australia Eastern Territory, led by Eastlakes Corps Officer Major Mark Brooks, is heading to the UK working with More Than Gold and Sarah-Jane, from 28 August to 11 September, at the London Paralympics.
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Good on you guys!