Church meets Thousands of Swedes during Olympics

Among the thousands of Swedes who will be in London during the Olympics in August, there will be volunteers from the Church of Sweden moving around in mobile teams. 

“We will also have an on-call service should any incidents occur, and meeting places in the form of Café Svensson in both our churches where there will be the opportunity to talk,” says Anders Rune, Swedish priest in London.

Preparations are well underway for the Summer Olympics in London – in the Church's London parish too. One important – and completely new – feature is the mobile teams which will be out and about in the city and in the vicinity of the arenas where Swedish sportsmen and women will be competing. However, just like during the last three Summer Olympics, the Church of Sweden will also be offering meeting places, this time under the name of Café Svensson, in both the Swedish Seamen's Church and the Swedish Church in London (Ulrika Eleonora).

Anders Rune estimates that the Church will meet at least 5,000 Swedes during the Olympics and Paralympics. At Café Svensson, people will be able to talk, have a coffee, rest up a bit, and hopefully see television coverage of the Games on big screens.

“However, we'll be taking the Church outside its four walls in the form of the mobile teams. We will meet people where they happen to be and assist them in simple ways, but it's also a matter of talking about all kinds of issues. With the more difficult cases we'll provide further assistance,” Anders Rune says.

During the Olympics there will be six mobile teams working in shifts from morning to night. The teams each consist of three volunteers aged 19 to 60, including at least one priest or deacon and one team member with good local knowledge. Some are London-based; others have been recruited through the dioceses in the Church of Sweden.

One of the volunteers is Kristina Lindström, 55, from Lund. She has lived and worked in England and is used to getting about in London. As a priest, she hopes to be able to provide assistance mostly as a person to talk to. 

“Many people come to this type of event in order to have a good time, and in my experience it's easy for problems in relationships to arise, or else things don't turn out as planned. That's when it can be good to have a sounding board, someone who will listen.”

Information on the Church of Sweden's presence in London during the Olympics is regularly updated on our website: www.svenskakyrkan.se/london2012 (in Swedish).