Churches urged to use the Olympic torch as a spur to prayer

This Saturday – 19 May – the Olympic torch relay starts its 70-day journey around the country from Lands End, in Cornwall to the Olympic stadium in east London – and churches are being encouraged to join in “a cascade of prayer and praise” during the 70 days of the relay.

More Than Gold, the agency helping churches respond to the 2012 Games has launched the 70-day prayer relay which tracks the same dates and venues as the official torch relay.
Jane Holloway, chair of More Than Gold’s prayer team says: “The Olympic torch journey will pass through more than a thousand communities. We would like it to inspire a cascade of prayer and praise – with individuals and churches taking time to pray, alone and together, as it travels through their area.”
 
To help churches and their members seize the opportunity, More Than Gold has produced a free guide entitled Praying during the 70-day prayer relay. It has ideas for activities to try before, during and after the torch arrives, together with suggestions for daily prayer topics.
 
The 70-day lead in to the Games will also include a physical prayer relay between the 70 locations hosting the torch’s overnight stays. At each location Christian leaders will receive prayers of blessing from the churches where the Torch has just visited, and pass them on to the next overnight venue.
 
Full details of how churches can engage with the torch relay are available at: www.morethangold.org.uk/torchrelay
 

Photo caption: Praying hands by wnd.andreas //www.flickr.com/photos/25171207@N02/3493592912/">http://www.flickr.com/photos/25171207@N02/3493592912/

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