Skip to main content

Beijing Olympic Games Chaplaincy

Below is an email I received from Stuart Weir of Verité Sport in Great Britain re: chaplaincy at the Beijing Olympic Games.

I am sorry that it has taken us so long to report back to you on your application to be considered as a chaplain at the Beijing Olympics. As you will see there are good reasons for the delay. Normally at the Olympics, the local organizing committee accredits a team of local and international Christian chaplains to cover a range of languages and the spectrum of Christian belief.

At this stage the Beijing Organising Committee is saying that it will only accredit Chinese chaplains. No non-Chinese chaplains. This will apply both to the Olympics and the Paralympics.

On behalf of the international sports ministry network, we are continuing to press the committee to change its mind and accredit international chaplains. We are arguing from the needs of the Olympians and the experience and expertise that international chaplains can bring. We hope and pray that we can convince them to change their mind.

If the Chinese authorities do not change their position, no foreign chaplains will be accredited. At this stage we feel we have to assume that will be the position and plan for it. In the first instance we would advise you to approach your national Olympic Committee and explain that you had expected to be accredited as an official chaplain but that the Chinese are not intending to accredit any such chaplains. You should then ask your national Olympic Committee if they would be willing to accredit you as part of your national delegation in order to serve the needs of your Olympic team.

We are also planning to have a small team of international on-call chaplains in Beijing. They would be on standby and would be available to be called in if a say, Portuguese or Russian speaking Olympian wanted to meet a chaplain. There might also be the possibility of access to the village through day passes. Of course, there would also be the possibility of such a chaplain being in Beijing for 3 weeks without ever gaining access to the village.

Please keep in touch and let us know if you approach your national Olympic Committee and their reaction. Also let us know if you would be interested in being in Beijing as an on-call chaplain.

Stuart Weir - On behalf of the International Sport Coalition, Serving the People of Sport Chaplaincy Group

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sport Chaplains at the Olympic Games

Today marks the official beginning of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London with the Opening Ceremony this evening. Among the thousands of people in the Olympic Village throughout the event is a collection of our colleagues from around the globe. There are sports chaplains, carefully selected from a wide variety of ethnic, national and sport backgrounds, speaking many different languages and from both genders, who are officially recognized by the London Organizing Committee and provided uniforms and credentials. They work through the Olympic Village’s Religious Services Center and have already been in London for over a week. They will also stay beyond the Olympic Games to serve in the Paralympic Games.   Please pray for these, our colleagues and fellow-servants, as they serve our Lord and the people in sport in these days of exhilarating triumph, painful defeat and even crippling despair. Some of these people were themselves Olympic competitors in past years and are thereby...
1 comment
Read more

Retirement announcement

On 30 May, I will officially retire from my service as Character Coach Director for Nations of Coaches ( https://nationsofcoaches.com/ ), a ministry to college basketball in the USA. The health challenges my wife, Sharon, is experiencing have led to this somewhat abrupt change. At this point in our soon to be 50-years of marriage, she needs me more than I need to work. The spring and summer months will reveal how strongly she will recover and that will determine if and when I can resume some level of ministry. She is my highest priority. I am contemplating making myself available to sports ministry leaders for mentorship, coaching, and consulting. I will provide more details as they become available. In the short term, I am available for chats via telephone or Zoom, if I can be of service to you. Sharon and I are moving from our home in Carbondale, Illinois to an apartment near our son’s family in Southeast Missouri. I plan to continue to produce content via blog posts, Bible studies, ...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Reflections from the Front Lines of a Cancer Battle - Week Four as a Widower.

Week Four as a Widower. Formerly, I had to work hard, schedule well, and plan wisely to achieve some solitude. Now, retired and widowed, solitude surrounds me, all day and all night. I, the incurable and unapologetic extrovert, find myself alone…. a lot. In crowds, alone. At church, alone. Waking up in my bed, absolutely alone. I am not as emotional about my loss as I was a few weeks ago. I am more emotionally numb than anything at this point. I have enough tasks to keep me busy presently, but I know after the sale of the house is closed, the banking is completed, and I return from the Congress in Texas, a lot of open space and unoccupied time awaits me. That is worrisome. I have a number of people with whom I correspond daily. I send one set of folks battling disease scripture and prayer. Another few receive a daily prompt for devotional reading. Dozens of sports chaplains across Latin America receive a link to each day’s post of my devotional book in Spanish, which they in turn share...
1 comment
Read more