Olympic Outreach Brings Gospel Home to Athens
by Allie Martin
August 25, 2004
(AgapePress) - A massive evangelistic outreach by a Christian ministry is taking place at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel (AMG) International is partnering with believers from around the world to spread the gospel to tens of thousands of visitors to the Olympics. The ministry is organizing hospitality events, concerts, screenings of The Jesus Film, and scripture distribution in this all-out effort to share the love of Christ with the multi-national crowd.
A highlight of the outreach was an evangelistic event called "A Tribute to the Unknown God." AMG's Fotis Romeos says it was based on the account in the Book of Acts, of the Apostle Paul's travels to Greece nearly 2,000 years ago.
The unique rally was attended by more than 5,000 people, Romeos says, and was an effort to "lift up the name of Jesus in the center of Athens." Through that event, he notes, "The Olympic Games have come back to their home. So as Christians we like to take the opportunity and share Christ with the people visiting our city here in Athens from all over the world."
The ministry spokesman, who made his comments on Mission Network News, says the Olympics provide a unique opportunity to preach Christ to a worldwide audience as they converge in one location. "This crowd was pretty diverse," he observes, "with a great number of Athenians and Greeks coming from all over Greece. But also, we had a lot of people coming from around the world."
Romeos notes that the Christian outreach attracted people from many nations, including Korea, the United States, Afghanistan, and Iraq. He says he identified visitors from Africa, Asia, South America, and Eastern Europe, and so "practically we had the world in our yard."
AMG's ministry efforts will continue through the Olympic Games closing ceremonies this weekend.
