During the Olympics, Trans World Radio (TWR) and PHARE FM, a network of 20 Christian radio stations across France, have been sharing the Gospel through Christian athlete interviews. But the evangelistic efforts won’t end here.

Paris 2024 Olympic Games (Photo courtesy of Alexandre Aymard/Unsplash)

Cecil with TWR Europe says, “We believe that the impact of the Olympic Games is to be considered, of course, at the national level, but also for its global impact.”

There’s more Olympics fun to come! “We should also think about the Paralympic Games, which are going to take place by the end of August and also the beginning of September,” says Cecil. “So we believe that the content that is being produced by the TWR in partnership with PHARE FM will continue to be impactful during the month of August, and also until the end of the Olympic Games and beyond.”

Looking ahead, TWR is thinking of ways to continue leveraging Olympic Gospel content to reach more audiences.

Cecil explains, “Our partners in the countries where TWR is present — which is more than 80 countries — have teams on the ground who are in charge of doing the follow-ups with the listeners and then propose additional content.”

Pray for those watching or participating in the Olympics to gain the true prize of knowing Christ.

“The main prayer item is to pray for this content to reach people where they are,” says Cecil. “It’s the strength and the power of media that it can go where human beings cannot go sometimes to reach people where they are, that they can hear the stories and give their hearts to Jesus.”

Header photo of Paris 2024 Olympic Games logo. (Photo courtesy of Xavier Praillet/Unsplash)

Speaking through an interpreter, Mark Sorenson with DOOR International tells MNN, “In the Olympics, there [were] some laws regarding how athletes could share their religion, but because it wasn’t done vocally [and] she signed it, that was sort of ‘under the radar.’”

The video capturing the moment quickly went viral. “Right after that (Leal’s signing), I saw so many shared social media posts [on] Instagram [and] Facebook,” Sorenson says.

“It was blasted all over in the Deaf community.”

Leal is a Hearing person, but recognizing sign language on a stage like the Olympics does much to encourage the global Deaf community.

“Typically, if a famous person, say a movie star or an athlete, [signs] anything, that is taken and posted throughout the Deaf community because it’s recognized [that] this person values sign language,” Sorenson explains.

(Photo courtesy of DOOR International)

Deaf believers gladly seized an opportunity to build on Leal’s boldness. “Some Deaf people [who] posted this video shared a link to where you could find a Bible translation in their signed language,” Sorenson says.

Beyond the Olympics

Leal used sign language to bypass media restrictions and share her faith at the Olympics. In a similar way, communicating via sign language gives Deaf Gospel workers an advantage in countries that are hostile to Christianity.

“I’ve heard many stories where in sensitive, hostile countries, Deaf people can fly ‘under the radar’ and share the Gospel in sign language. Government agencies don’t recognize it, and the Gospel is spread in the Deaf community,” Sorenson says.

“Often, government officials look at Deaf people with pity, or they think, ‘Oh, those poor Deaf people. They can follow any religion because they’re disabled.’”

For example, “I lived in Thailand for three years, and that was a very strong Buddhist nation,” he continues. “I met a lot of Deaf people who said, ‘Hearing people look down on us because we’re Deaf.’ They (Deaf people) are left out and forced to learn life on their own.”

While cruel, this isolation also creates Gospel opportunities. When Sorenson and his team asked Deaf people if they were Buddhist, “They say, ‘Oh, I don’t know. I follow my family’s religion, but I don’t know what that means,’” Sorenson says.

“They were primed to [receive] the Gospel because any information a Deaf person [receives], they drink that up and share it amongst the community.”

DOOR International sends Deaf church planters into unreached Deaf communities through its 2-by-2 program. More about that here. Ask the Lord to give these believers boldness and courage, and pray for open hearts among unreached Deaf communities.

Header image is a screenshot captured by Lyndsey Koh/MNN.

France (MNN) — France is in the global spotlight today as host of the 33rd Summer Olympic Games. While praises for Paris abound, one look at French history tells a darker story.

“One of the key turning points in French history happened in the 18th century when we saw the birth of Enlightenment ideologies, which basically aimed at eliminating religion from the public sphere,” Cecile* with Trans World Radio Europe says.

“That’s why we used to say France is the birthplace of secularism because what happened [during] the 18th century has had a huge impact beyond the French border.”

The Catholic Church played a significant and contentious role during the French Revolution, reflecting broader conflicts between revolutionary ideals and traditional institutions. The Reign of Terror saw increased persecution of those who opposed the government’s policies, including anti-revolutionary clergy.

By 1793, France’s revolutionary government had instituted a de-Christianization campaign, removing religious symbols, closing churches, and persecuting both Catholic and Protestant believers. Bibles were banned, and the “Goddess of Reason” was brought to the Notre Dame cathedral as a replacement for God.

Today, France is reaping a harvest sown by the seeds of secularism centuries ago. France has the fourth-highest percentage of atheists in the world, and Gospel resistance is the status quo. Only one percent of the French population knows Christ.

A quote from the French presidency’s official website reads: “Secularism is one of our most precious values, the keystone of a harmonious society, and the cement of a united France.”

Believers are teaming up to make Christ known in the birthplace of secularism. TWR and PHARE FM, a network of 20 Christian radio stations across France, are sharing the Gospel through Christian athlete interviews during the Olympics.

“We’ve heard stories of athletes who won several medals; these athletes are all sharing [how] yes, this is an amazing achievement. It’s a day they will never forget. But it’s nothing compared to the day they gave their life to Jesus,” Cecile says.

Pray these testimonies will open people to the Gospel in France and beyond.

“Let’s pray for a higher mission effort in France so that we can increase this one percent evangelical Christian [population.]”

Header image depicts the Olympic rings on the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France. (Wikimedia Commons)

“[Games Talk] is framed around three main actions,” says Cécile Chan-Janiaud with TWR Europe. “The first is about touring the city of Paris. [Its] goal is to connect with people in Paris and, through the activities that are going to take place around the bus, to connect them with churches in Paris.”

Photo courtesy of Trans World Radio Europe via Facebook. (The image of the Games Talk mobile studio bus is AI generated.)

The two other actions behind Games Talk are media focused. Team members will be interviewing Christian Olympians who have strong testimonies to share. The interviews will then be translated with the help of AI tech to reach international audiences.

“The goal is to see their faith and how God has been working through their life to use sport for God’s glory,” Chan-Janiaud says. 

“We are not going to distribute this (AI-translated) content without thorough human review. However, the fact that we’re able to leverage artificial intelligence is really a game changer here to make this content available almost in real time.”

TWR Europe is partnering with PHARE FM, which is a network of 20 Christian stations across France. Whether broadcasted on radio waves or shared through social media, these athletes’ stories will reach not only the international community but also the people of France, who have been entrenched in secularism since the Enlightenment in the 1700s.

Chan-Janiaud says people in France are searching for meaning in life. (Photo of the Louvre is a representative stock image courtesy of Chris Anderson via Unsplash)

“It’s interesting to say that we use this word ‘enlightenment,’ which was meant to be thoughts and value which were meant to free people. But actually, what it has done is put really dark, dark aspects in the French society,” Chan-Janiaud says.

“It’s pretty hard to talk about religion and about God in the public arena. However, what I can see, what we can experience as a French Christian person, is that people are so hungry and eager to find [the] answer to the meaning of life.” 

Pray for believers to have victory in spiritual warfare at the Olympics. Then, connect with TWR Europe through Facebook, Instagram or email to catch their gospel-centered, behind-the-scenes content.

“Share this content with your friends, with your family on social media, because we are really aiming to create pre-evangelistic [content] — meaning that [it] can speak to a person [who] has never been exposed to the gospel,” Chan-Janiaud says. “That’s going to be an amazing way to to help us — and also a tool to share the gospel with [people in] your own life.”

Header image is a representative stock photo courtesy of Edin via Unsplash. 

World Missionary Press, an interdenominational faith ministry, produces 48-page Scripture booklets, Bible study booklets, and New Testaments in 350 languages to send to people in countries all over the world. 

Typically, they share these free Scripture booklets through the mail. Each of the 48-page Scripture booklets costs about five cents to produce and mail out. 

Global events like this summer’s Paris Olympic Games, however, draw spectators and athletes from all over the world to one place, making it an opportunity to hand out these booklets and pamphlets in person to hundreds of people at once. 

“We have groups that focus on reaching the athletes particularly, as well as the attendees, because we have material in so many different languages, and there’s so many different nations involved, gathered, this is the opportunity to share that might not be available within their country, or in wherever they live,” Williams said. 

Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Tour De France draw similarly large crowds.

WMP’s in-person outreach plans don’t stop at the Summer Olympics or sporting events. The biggest rock music festival in Northern Europe, Roskilde, is estimated to gather 165,000 people in Denmark.  

A WMP January blog wrote that young people, especially young men are open to things of God and they are praying for 1,000 souls to be won in Denmark during the days of the festival. 

“It’s just being willing to go out and get into the crowds and do that,” Williams said. “So that’s a lot of what it is for the large events.”

Williams says that in events like these, where they don’t often get feedback through one-on-one conversations, it is hard to say for sure what the results of the outreach are specifically.  

“The results are that the Word went out and was well received,” Williams said. “And then you leave it to the Spirit.” 

Beyond these specific outreach events, WMP has contacts around the globe who use their booklets in their own outreach locally. Some of this type of outreach work happens behind the scenes and is unknown to WMP.

“It’s the free material, and it’s the word of God, and it’s in the heart language,” Williams says. “And that’s what keeps this generated and keeps this moving. And when people recognize that that is available, they’re willing to go use the literature.”

Williams encourages prayers for wisdom, strength, and divine appointment for those who are distributing these booklets, and that those receiving the Word would be directed by the Holy Spirit to follow up. 

“It’s intense for several days or weeks, sometimes, particularly the Olympics and they need to be just encouraged that they’re doing the father’s work,” Williams said.

Todd Nettleton with The Voice of the Martyrs USA talks about areas to watch in the new year. “You talk about the rise of radical Islam in Africa. You talk about Nigeria and also about northern Mozambique or the Sahel. We see the rise of radical Islam in all of these places. And where you see that, you see persecution. You see attacks on churches and pastors being killed.”

China

Nettleton also expects a lot of news out of China this year, starting with the Winter Olympics in February. The Chinese Communist Party faces genocide accusations over the treatment of the Uighur people. As a result, the U.S. and a few other countries have announced diplomatic boycotts of the winter games.

Nettleton says, “The world is going to turn its eyes to China. The world in many ways is going to celebrate what’s happening in China. Hopefully, that will be a call to prayer for Christians everywhere as we think about the restrictions that our brothers and sisters in China face, as we think about the pastors and the church leaders who are in prison right now in China.”

Follow the Global church in 2022

Follow these stories all year long with Mission Network News.

You can also get information from the Voice of the Martyrs. Nettleton says, “We have the testimonies of persecuted Christians. We have conversations with people who are working on the ground in hostile and restricted nations. Both of those are great ways to continue to be updated and aware.”

Check out the Voice of the Martyrs podcast here, or subscribe to the monthly magazine for free.

Header photo courtesy of The Voice of the Martyrs USA on Facebook.

Local officials later apologized. But the bizarre stories illustrate how much pressure Chinese districts face to keep COVID-19 cases at zero, especially as the Chinese government prepares for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing.

Zero COVID-19 policy

Eric Burklin with China Partner says small COVID-19 outbreaks shut down entire cities. He spoke to one pastor in Nanjing, a city of over 8 million. “I think they had maybe 10 or 15 cases in that town. And everyone had to stop going to work. They had to show up in their districts for testing sites. And were literally testing everybody, the whole population.”

People who test positive get quarantined in hospitals. Most areas also retain mask mandates, even outdoors. China remains one of the few countries left to hold a zero COVID-19 case policy, and it has kept cases very low ever since the initial outbreak in early 2020.

Burklin says the Chinese government wants stability. “I talked with a pastor in Hong Kong last night. And that’s the keyword that they are saying in China right now: stability. They want everything to be stable. They want everything to go smoothly for the preparations of the Olympics.”

Chinese Christians

Meanwhile, many Christians still can’t gather in large numbers to worship. But that doesn’t mean ministry has stopped. Burklin says, “We are in regular contact with pastors over WeChat who are just rejoicing and saying, ‘We know Jesus Christ is the Head of our Church. We are going to keep serving Jesus in our community. Even though the local churches are shut down, they meet in small groups, but a lot of the house churches were already doing that anyway.”

Chinese Christians see themselves as the Church. Burklin says Western Christians can learn from their example.

The header photo shows Beijing National Stadium. (Header photo courtesy of Peter23, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons) 

No matter the sport, an athlete’s journey to the Olympics is arduous and expensive. Greg Yoder, Executive Director of Keys for Kids Ministries, says the Olympic Games hold a lesson for Christian parents.

“I saw a story about a young man who was a gymnast; he got the passion and ‘the bug’ to be an Olympian, and his parents sacrificed so much to get him to where he is today,” Yoder says.

“I couldn’t help but think, ‘Wow, as Christian parents, we should be as passionate about seeing our kids not only know Jesus but following Jesus.’”

Just as every Olympic athlete needs a good coach, every child needs someone to teach them the ways of Christ. Discipleship begins at home, but “so many families don’t know how to begin that process, and that’s where Keys for Kids Ministries comes in,” Yoder says.

Kid-centered Gospel tools

Keys for Kids produces free daily devotionals for children and teens, and you can get them in audio or print. More about that here.

(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

“It really does help you, as a parent, to begin having spiritual discussions … I wish I would have remembered [about] Keys for Kids when I was a father of four before, and helping them with their walk with the Lord … that would have been so helpful,” Yoder says.

“[It runs] the ‘full gamut’ of talking to kids on the level they’re at [and] helping them understand the Bible.”

Keys for Kids and Unlocked also help young people learn how to share their faith. A young teenager named Sophia told Yoder she uses Keys for Kids in the Bible study class she leads for fourth-grade students.

“She said, ‘The thing I love about Keys for Kids is it made it so simple. I could read the stories to my friends… and it helped us understand the Bible. We wouldn’t have been able to understand it if we had just read the passages.’”

Three ways to help kids grow in Christ

Now that you know, how will you respond? Yoder describes three takeaways for any adult looking to “cash in” on the promise of Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.”

First, “if you’re not doing devotions with your family, do them,” Yoder says.

“Sometimes, [kids will ask] these very tough questions that you might not know the answer to, and that’s OK. That’s when you start digging in the Word yourself.”

Second, “if you’re doing devotions with your family right now and you’re struggling, and you’re not sure where to turn, Keys for Kids can help. We can help provide the tools you need, both for kids and preteens,” Yoder says.

(Photo courtesy of Keys for Kids Ministries)

“Thirdly, be ambassadors. If you’re having a great time doing them, become advocates in your church because a lot of families struggle with this.”

Above all else, be sure to pray. “First of all, we can pray domestically for Christian [parents] that, through the Holy Spirit, they’ll become passionate about leading their families in Christ,” Yoder says.

“Secondly, we can pray internationally. We have so many needs that Keys for Kids Ministries cannot fulfill, simply because we don’t have the funding.”

Help Keys for Kids Ministries reach young people around the world.

The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service assists Olympic host nations to protect U.S. athletes and sponsors at the summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. July 2021.
(U.S. Department of State Photo)

Athletes and fans aren’t the only ones affected by Japan’s attendance regulations.

“We were planning to send tons of teams to the Olympic Games, and we had the vision to impact a lot of people. Because of the coronavirus and the ongoing changes with the restrictions, we’ve had to modify those approaches. Many groups, like ourselves, decided to pivot to a digital approach to ministry,” Joe Handley with Asian Access says.

“We have a number of people interested in Japan, simply by doing mission via digital experiences.”

Believers may have changed their methods for Olympics outreach, but their vision remains the same. By 2024, they hope to see 10 million Christians in Japan and 10,000 churches.

(Photo courtesy of Alex Smith/Unsplash)

“For the Olympics, the vision was to reach a million people as the initial catalyst. If you can get a million followers of Christ, then you have momentum that can grow exponentially,” Handley says.

The “10-10-10 vision” traces back to 2014 and a young Japanese leader. “He had this sense (in 2014) that, in the next ten years, Japan would reach 10 million followers of Christ,” Handley says.

“We serve a God who loves the word ‘impossible’”

It’s an audacious goal if you know anything about Japan. Learn why here.

“[Japanese are] the second largest unreached people; less than one percent of the population attends church,” Handley says.

“This could be the moment where things begin to shift in Japan.”

Committed prayer holds the key to change. Join the million-hour “prayer force” here.

“This would take an enormous growth initiative, but we serve a God who loves the word ‘impossible.’ We’re praying that a million hours of prayer will be the catalyst to see a mighty move of God,” Handley says.

Asian Access’s aspirations are part of a broader movement sweeping Japan’s tiny church community. “With conditions being such they cannot get ‘boots on the ground,’ so to speak, churches have completely changed their approaches to the Olympic Games,” Handley says.

“They pointed to the fact that real revival often births through prayer movements. So, their latest vision is to mobilize a million hours of prayer during the Olympic Games. It’s an initiative that is not just Asian Access; it’s all-encompassing of the mission and Church family in Japan.”

Header image courtesy of Dick Thomas Johnson/Wikimedia Commons.

Asian Access had planned to send ministry teams into this massive crowd. Joe Handley says, “We’ve completely shifted the approach to virtual, short-term mission trips. The ongoing preparation since September has been focused on these kinds of virtual experiences. You get to know the country, and you get to see what’s happening on the ground. We connect you with people that can advise culturally. And then you get to engage.” You can learn more about these trips and register here.

A new season for the Church

These trips reflect a pivot in Japan towards virtual churches during the pandemic. Believers have made good use of digital technology to stay connected.

Handley says Japanese Christians see the Olympics as a springboard for what God will do next through the Church there. “I think that this whole pandemic has given new realities to the life of the global Church, and how we’re going to do ministry in the future. Fascinatingly enough, it comes in this cherry blossom season, when new life can be birthed.”

Pray the Japanese church can fulfill its incredible vision of planting 50 thousand churches in the country. Handley says, “I think it’s gonna take an entrepreneurial spirit, that new wineskin approach to life and ministry.”

The header photo shows cherry blossoms in Japan. (Photo courtesy of Kanenori on Pixabay)