Olympians and Olympic visitors do not put their faith on hold during the three weeks of the Games.
Instead, for many athletes, the Olympics is a time that tests and grows their faith — a time when they hit their knees and offer up prayers in preparation for competing on the world stage.
To answer the unique spiritual needs that come along with the Games, more than 100 faith leaders from Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam offer services inside the Olympic Village, according to Religion News Service.
Outside the Olympic Village, mission groups and evangelists are in the streets of Paris, searching for ways to spread their faith with the crowds that have come to watch the 2024 Olympics.
Evangelists at the Olympics
A Christian group called the International Mission Board, or IMB, is in the middle of a six-week missionary program taking advantage of the enormous crowds currently in Paris, per The Christian Index.
From May to September, hundreds of short-term volunteers have rotated or will rotate through Paris, engaging in street evangelism, surveying and Christian-themed pin-trading.
Some have even signed up as Olympics volunteers, giving them front-row access to viewers and athletes, The Christian Index reported.
IMB’s short-term volunteers partner with the organization’s longer-term missionaries, who are already stationed in and around Paris.
“We are seeing God break spiritually rocky European soil and open hearts to the gospel.” said Jackson Harris, who leads the IMB team in Paris, per The Christian Index. He cited examples of non-Christians visiting church for the first time, listening to lessons about Jesus Christ and accepting copies of the Bible.
Youth With A Mission, or YWAM, has also used the Olympic Games as an opportunity for a mission trip. On the title page of its website, YWAM writes that they wish to “impact the nations.”
This callout is reminiscent of the Great Commission, delivered by Jesus Christ to his disciples in Matthew 28:16-20 in the New Testament, according to Sojourners. Christians frequently interpret the Great Commission as their commandment to convert non-Christians to Christianity.
The application of the Great Commission at the Olympics has received criticism.
“These attempts at evangelism on the Olympic stage are misguided and inappropriate,” writes Sara Augustin at Sojourners. “An international sporting event, full of athletes from numerous countries and faith traditions, is no place to try to spread the gospel. Athletes and fans alike are simply there to compete and enjoy the events. The religious petitions of evangelists are merely a distraction.”
As the Deseret News previously reported, France promotes a “secularism principle,” where religion is mostly banished from the public sphere. France’s Olympians are not allowed to wear articles of clothing with religious meaning while competing — like the hijab.
According to Christianity Today, Christian evangelists see the Olympics as an opportunity to show Parisians that evangelism is friendly, not harmful.
Interfaith collaboration at the Olympics
While Christians and others proselytize outside the Olympic Village, chaplains from multiple faiths offer services that aren’t aimed at conversion to visitors and athletes alike, per Religion News Service.
“We have a synagogue, a church, a Buddhist temple, a Hindu temple and more together,” said Rabbi Moshe Lewin, a Jewish chaplain, to Religion News Service.
“The athletes, volunteers, members of official delegations or journalists passing by cast puzzled glances at us: a female Muslim chaplain, a rabbi, a Protestant pastor, an imam, a Buddhist lama, a Hindu, an Orthodox and a Catholic priest are walking together, talking, telling jokes and laughing,” said the Rev. Anton Gelyasov, a Greek Orthodox priest, to Religion News Service. “I think this is very important, because we show that we are not competitors, we are not at odds, I would even say that we do not just peacefully coexist — we are brothers and sisters, we are friends!”
Unity is a chief goal for the religious leaders at the Olympics, the article said, noting that the Jewish and Muslim groups have even purposefully placed their services right beside each other in counterpoint to the still-raging Israel-Hamas war.