Displaying items by tag: Olympic games

Thursday, 19 August 2021 22:00

Honouring Christ at the Olympics

For Christians there were many precious moments at the Olympics that were little reported by mainstream media. Olympians from across the nations were committed Christians and quick to publicly give glory to the King of Kings. When the Fiji rugby team won a gold medal, they formed a circle in the centre of the field and burst forth in a rendition of a gospel hymn; ‘We have overcome by the blood of the lamb in the Word of the Lord, we have overcome’. Also, British swimmer Daniel Jervis, who came fifth in the men’s 1500m freestyle, was quick to praise God: ‘The thing I’m most proud of in my life is that I’m a Christian, and obviously God was with me tonight, and I’m just really grateful to be representing Him’.

Published in Praise Reports
Friday, 09 July 2021 09:50

China: 'hunt down' all religious books

China Aid, which provides legal aid to Christians in China, recently tweeted, ‘New Cultural Revolution starts. Government tells students’ parents and teachers to hunt all religious books, antagonistic books and overseas books. Everyone is mandated!’ CBN News said the communist government does not want any disruptions for the Winter Olympics in Beijing in February. ‘They really fear there could be protests, a pro-democracy movement going, leading up to and during the Olympics. So this sends a message to the parents: “Look, no outside influence. We don't want any collusion with foreigners here”, because they know that foreigners are pro-democracy. They are indoctrinating students, and also sending a message to the adults.’ Pray for the world to recognise false religion when they see communist party flags in pulpits.

Published in Worldwide

Christians in Japan are asking the world for one million hours of prayer for their nation throughout the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.  International Prayer Connect are partnering with them to get this message out and are inviting you to please pray about how you might be able to take part – by pledging at least one hour.

The Japan international Sports Partnership (JiSP) is calling on churches, individuals and families across the world to unite in prayer for Japan as their country takes centre stage from Friday 23rd of July.

Pastor Keishi Ikeda who leads JiSP in this movement is driven by a vision to see the Japanese Church grow to 10 million people by 2024.  “Imagine ten million Christians in Japan...This would change Japan. And not just Japan, we could send teams from Japan into other countries that many can’t get into as our passport is powerful. This is a wave; we need to ride it,” said Ikeda.

The current reality is that the Japanese people are the world’s second largest un-reached people group. Church attendance hovers around 4 in 1000 - with only one being male. Nothing short of a miracle will awaken Japan. We serve the God who has promised miracles. We believe an awakening is coming.

Edwin Orr the great scholar on revivals said, “Whenever there is an awakening there is evidence of three things. People coming together “in one accord,” people hearing the Good News in their own “heart language” and a deep, ongoing passion and commitment to prayer. 

As Japan steps into the spotlight these Olympic Games, Christians in Japan are calling on their global brothers and sisters to sign up for at least one hour of prayer.

The Olympics and Paralympics will run for 30 days. If 3,000 Churches globally committed 10 people from their church to pray one hour over these 30 days, we would achieve 900,000 hours – very close to our goal!

Japanese Christians like Pastor Keishi are willing to do anything to see their land coming alive spiritually with 10 million believers by 2024. It is not just about hosting an Olympic Games.

Pastor Keishi said, “We had hoped to reach a million people during our Olympic outreach. With Covid that has not been possible. Can we turn that dream into a million hours of prayers from both the Japanese Church and from across the world?   What a gift to Japan from the global Church - a million hours of prayer for God’s Glory to fall upon our land..”

More info and Sign Up to pray on the website at: https://www.japan1million.com/  

Each of the 30 days of the Games you will receive email prayer points focusing on Japan, the Olympics and Paralympics.

Thursday, 29 April 2021 20:23

Japan: Tokyo Olympics and the pandemic

Japan’s government declared a third state of emergency due to rising Covid infections just three months before hosting the 32nd Olympic Games. Documents released on 28 April introduce new Covid restrictions and requirements ahead of the Olympics, with guidelines that limit participants’ movement and require more testing. Takeshi Takazawa of Asian Access said, ‘The government wants to quickly eliminate the rapid increase of new cases with new strands of viruses. We are quite behind with vaccinating the people. We didn’t come up with vaccines of our own, so we depend on US production. Different simulations have been done, and we probably will not be able to finish vaccinating people over 65 before the Olympics are supposed to start.’ One third of Japanese people want to postpone the Olympics for another year; another one third want to cancel it, and the rest want to go ahead after already postponing for a year.

Published in Worldwide