New York, USA - They worked the crowds at the Olympic Games in Athens, Sydney and Atlanta. And even though China outlaws what they do, they will be on the ground next summer in Beijing as well.
Christian mission groups from around the world plan to quietly defy the Chinese ban on foreign missionaries and send thousands of volunteer evangelists to the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
Many mission workers are traveling through China now as tourists to learn their way around and conduct prayer walks meant to spiritually prepare the region for the Gospel. Next summer, just before the Games begin, several Christian groups plan to rally in an Asian country that they will not identify, then head out in small teams to Olympic sites and beyond.
"They are going to have many thousands of people planning to travel around in different parts of China," said the Reverend Johnny Li, minister at large for Open Doors, an advocacy group for Christians worldwide who are persecuted because of their faith.
Christians regularly evangelize at major sporting events, but the Beijing Olympics offer an opening like no other, in a Communist country that conservative Christians have long reviled.
Citing safety concerns, religious organizers are revealing few specifics of their plans. But many are expected to put on cultural and sports events - which China allows - with the goal of talking about faith with the people they meet.
"This is going to be a time when visas are pretty easy to get," said Todd Nettleton of the Voice of the Martyrs, another group that helps persecuted Christians. "So if you want to go, this is the time to do it."
Southern Baptists are mobilizing thousands of volunteers for what it terms "a spiritual harvest unlike any other," through humanitarian work, sports clinics, first aid sites and other projects. The denomination is bringing volunteers to China for orientation.
Youth With a Mission, an international Christian ministry prominent in Olympic outreach, is planning a "2008 Olympics Discipleship Training School" in Brazil next year, according to its Web site, then will send volunteers to the Games.
"With a draw like the Olympics, we just pray our 'forces' will be so large that we will be able to form many relationships," said Mark Taylor of Awaken Generation, a ministry for college-age Christians based in northwest Florida.
The group plans to send evangelism teams of 8 to 12 people around China during the competition.
Advocates for Chinese Christians say the danger for these foreign volunteers is minimal. Christians who live in China are often able to evangelize privately while working as English teachers or in the business world. At worst, Olympic missionaries could be expelled from the country.
But the peril for Chinese Christians who work with the foreign groups or evangelize on their own is considerable, analysts say. The only Chinese Christian groups allowed to operate legally in the country are the Catholic Patriotic Association, the China Christian Council and the Three-Self Patriotic Movement. Many more Chinese Christians have risked imprisonment and worse by joining the underground "house church" network.
Asked for comment, the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee said it planned to follow Olympic tradition and build a religious service center in the Olympic village. It also will advise athletes in other Olympic cities about the available worship services, it said.
Attempts to politicize the 2008 Summer Olympics by linking them to the Darfur crisis in Sudan or other issues will fail, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China warned Friday, The Associated Press reported.
"There are a handful of people who are trying to politicize the Olympic Games," Yang said in Beijing. He said their objectives "will never be attained."
A campaign to use the Olympics to put pressure on Beijing to intervene in Sudan has been gathering steam in recent weeks.