In training for the Olympics

With the London 2012 Olympic Games now only five years away, there is a growing movement to make the Games about more than the 1,800 medals to be awarded to the winning athletes.

The main site for the Olympic Games in 2012 will be located at Stratford in the London Borough of Newham which is in Chelmsford diocese.

Chelmsford diocese welcomes the Games and is working in partnership with others to serve the needs of all those who will be involved in the project and the event - the community, the planners, the construction teams, the athletes, the visitors and the service providers. Many church people are likely to assist at the Games as volunteers.

The Olympics will make a major impact on a large area of Newham. A 500-acre Olympic park will include the athletes' village, the main stadium and swimming pools.

In February the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA) submitted the planning application for the Olympic Park: 2.5 sq km, of buildings and sports facilities. This will be the largest regeneration project in inner London. London Development Agency is acquiring the land required to build the Olympic Park. It is managing the sensitive and sometimes controversial issues surrounding the clearance of the site and the relocation of hundreds of people and businesses currently based there. The diocese is monitoring the situation carefully.

The Bishop of Chelmsford has already appointed Revd Kelvin Woolmer to provide 'hard hat' chaplaincy to the Stratford City construction site. In his first three months in post he has made many useful contacts and will be building a chaplaincy team. With Lambeth Palace and London and Southwark dioceses, Chelmsford diocese is making a senior strategic appointment to co-ordinate the Church of England's response to the 2012 Olympics.

As well as being active participants in planning for the Games, Chelmsford diocese has started to explore with Westfield, the developers of Stratford City and the Olympic Village, among others how the Games can benefit the whole community. The diocese is focusing on some of the wider issues at stake.

The diocese sees its developing role as caring for construction workers and displaced communities, encouraging volunteers to support the event, offering hospitality to competitors and visitors, looking after spiritual needs at the Games and helping to create and safeguard a legacy for the people who will continue to live in the area. The cost of 2012 was originally set at £2.4bn, but the other figures have recently been quoted six, seven or even eight billion pounds. The ODA says that regenerating the area will account for most of the money; the Olympic element is relatively modest. The legacy of the Games must be the top priortiy.

More Than Gold is a big step in the right direction

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has called for churches to welcome and celebrate the forthcoming London 2012 Olympics.

Dr Williams was speaking last month at the launch of 'More Than Gold', an interdenominational initiative for Christians seeking to provide a positive and affirming Christian contribution to the 2012 Olympics.

The launch at Westminster Central Hall was also attended by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Westminster, Tessa Jowell, Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, and former Cabinet Minister, Lord Brian Mawhinney, chair of 'More than Gold'.

“We are a very, very diverse group of people prepared to be open towards one another in this process of prayer and planning,” said Dr Williams, “so that we can help the whole community open up. So that's one thing to bear in mind, growing by welcoming – for the church and for the community.

“The second thing is really just to underline the title of this programme itself, 'More Than Gold'. What we're doing as Christians engaging with this process is to say that we aim to meet human beings, not just in their need, in their poverty (though we do), but also in their hopes and in their excellence.

“When human beings are literally flexing their muscles (physically, spiritually, imaginatively) to the fullest extent – then too they are open to what God has to give them. 'More Than Gold', more than just achievement, but that celebration of endless love and endless joy which is what the gospel promises. And that is more precious than anything we can imagine, and that is something which grows out of the encouragement and the celebration of human excellence in all its forms.

“So as well as remembering our call to welcome let's remember that call to affirm and celebrate human excellence, and lead people from that pinnacle of human achievement to a sense of joyful celebration of what the Maker and Saviour gives. I'm supporting this because I am confident that through this collaboration of Christian communities, with the local community, all will benefit, all will grow. I wish it every blessing and promise to keep it in my prayers."

Top 10 questions for churches...

The launch of ‘More Than Gold’ came just a week after a very positive gathering that brought together Christian churches, the Olympic Delivery Authority, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and eight east London boroughs.

The Bishop of Barking, the Rt Revd David Hawkins, said: “As the months tick by and 2012 draws closer, the temptation will grow to focus on making the Games happen at the expense of creating a lasting legacy for youth, skills training, employment, community cohesion, housing and facilities. We have got to be determined to ensure a lasting legacy for residents.”

Bishop David is encouraging every church to answer these ten questions:

1. How can we devise a way in which local groups of Christians can be enabled to learn about, discuss, and participate in the planning and development of the Games to achieve maximum ownership?
2. How can we sustain the enthusiasm throughout this period so that the event is still fresh when it comes?
3. How can we devise a means by which we actively encourage locally-based Christians to volunteer to serve in the Olympics organising structure?
4. How do we work together to create a hospitable environment around the games and contribute to the athletes' family hospitality programme?
5. What facilities and initiatives do we want to create for the Olympics and how will they be built into the legacy process? What other partnerships and projects would work in your community?
6. How do we plan for and monitor the process of church growth and deployment of clergy and lay ministers in relation to the Games and our surrounding parishes?
7. How are the pledges of regeneration within the bid document and Olympic legacy to be fulfilled and how do we monitor the success of their fulfilment?
8. How do we hold the Olympic authorities to the promises that they have made about the Games?
9. How do we help church communities to understand the meaning of ‘legacy’ and the potential opportunities that arise from it in terms of the inheritance of the Olympic Games?
10. Do we believe that regeneration in its fullest sense is possible? That the legacy can be won and that the Games are something worth spending significant energies on?

The Bishop of Chelmsford, Rt Revd John Gladwin asked in a House of Lords debate on March 1: “Will the Games have a ring of steel around them, in which case the community in which they are set will not be engaged, or will there be real opportunities, by us all working together through volunteering and employment, to draw a whole generation into the excitement of this experience?”

“We must think about the social issues,” he said, “and make sure that the benefits of the legacy go to the people who host the Games. These are complex social, spiritual and cultural issues, but they are terribly important because if we get the legacy right we shall have done something for the well-being of the whole of our country.”

Opportunities and challenges lie ahead

The Games and Paralympic Games will present opportunities to promote London on a worldwide stage. London will be the centre of attention for the world's media and it will become the world's number one tourist destination. The City will want to be seen as the world's top location for business competitiveness.

There will be opportunities for banks to finance buildings and enterprises, for construction companies to develop infrastructure and for suppliers to grow their businesses. Firms can get people who are outside the labour market into training and into work. The Games will be a chance to make lasting improvements to London’s transport system.

Hosting the world will be a privilege. The Olympics celebrate excellence in sport, the arts and education, and foster cultural understanding on an international scale.

The Games were founded because of worries about the malaise of youth and they demonstrate a desire to invest in young people and their future. The young people of London will have a chance to share in the idealism of the Olympic dream.

But the opportunities will have to be created, and the goal of making the Olympic engine work for east London will be very challenging indeed. The Olympic Games will be the world’s biggest event. Will London's public transport system be able to get everyone where they want to go, on time every day for 60 days? How many Londoners will really feel included, let alone people living in Essex and other parts of the country? How inclusive will the Games be for older people and other community groups? How much care will be taken over helping local firms bid for contracts and helping local peopleimprove their skills? What are the prospects for affordable housing with rocketing property prices? How much support will communities get as growth moves eastwards? What will the relationship be between costs and long-term value for money?

One thing is clear: the Olympic Games will mean more than a sporting spectacle and the regeneration of the built environment. The social regeneration of whole communities is at stake.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown MP,has pointed to the value of ‘corporate social responsibility’ in going beyond philanthropy to achieve measurable outcomes, not just inputs. Avital opportunity for the local community is poverty reduction. But for that goal to be realised, the corporations, planners and organisers behind the Olympics will need to engage with local people and build positive relationships so that they do not feel imposed upon but are listened to and respected.

The Games provide an opportunity, above all, for London to hand on the Olympic torch to the next city wherever it might be in the world, with greater understanding of how the needs of local communities can be met.

The Olympic Games must not only be about sport, medals, sponsorship and television, but a bigger opportunity for the world.

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