Churches encouraged to pray with Olympic Torch

May 15, 2012: Churches in the United Kingdom are being encouraged to join in prayer and praise during the 70 days of the Olympic Torch Relay that is scheduled to start from Lands End, England, on Saturday, 19 May, leading up to the London Olympic Games scheduled from 27 July to 12 August, 2012.

‘More Than Gold’, the agency that is helping churches respond to the 2012 London Olympic 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 said: "The Olympic Torch journey will pass through over 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."

More Than Gold has produced a free guide: ‘Praying During the 70-day Prayer Relay’. It has ideas for before, during and after the Torch arrives as well as links to suggested day-by-day prayer topics. There is also to be a physical Prayer Relay between the seventy locations where the Olympic Torch stops overnight. Christian leaders will receive prayers of blessing from the churches where the Torch has just been and then pass them on to those in the next location. The countdown to the London Olympics began with the kindling of the Games torch by the sun's rays in ancient Olympia, Greece, last Thursday, sparking an 8-day relay across Greece and will arrive in the UK on 18 May.