Watching the Olympics as a French Christian
Evangelical leader Erwan Cloarec shares his reactions to the opening ceremony, why he is enjoying the games, and how he hopes the church is seizing the moment to live out its faith.
On Sunday, at the start of the second week of the Olympics, France won its 44th medal, surpassing its previous record total for a modern Olympics. Few might have predicted either the country’s extraordinary athletic success or the this national joy, which seemed in short supply after contentious snap national elections in June and July.
But for some French Christians, negative feelings emerged again following the controversial opening ceremony. Erwan Cloarec, president of the Conseil National des Évangéliques de France (CNEF), noted this “distress” last week in a statement, adding that he and the director general of CNEF would be meeting with the Central Office of Religious Affairs at the Ministry of the Interior that day to advocate for a “secularism which makes room for everyone” and for “state guarantees that all, believers or not, will be respected in their essential convictions.”
Cloarec pointed out that many Christian ministries had spent months anticipating that the Olympics would offer them an opportunity to live out their faith to the thousands descending upon the city. Through Ensemble2024, evangelical congregations and ministries have organized community tournaments, a K-Pop worship service, an exhibition examining the intersections of body, sport, and spirituality, a day of surfing, and a praise festival, as well as handing out water bottles and hygienic products. They have also provided chaplains to athletes and offered opportunities for Christian athletes to share their testimonies.
“Let us see in the situation that has arisen a real opportunity to bear witness to our faith while the person of Christ has just been placed at the center of these games,” ...