With six months to the opening of the Olympics, a joint statement has come from key church leaders in support of the way churches are engaging with their communities through the 2012 Games and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.

The statement comes from the Presidents of Churches Together in England, on behalf of its members. It welcomes the way so many churches are ‘committed to being at the heart of these (events) and already preparing to build and support communities in their localities’.

It also rejoices that, ‘in the build up to the 2012 Games, the work we are doing through our own denominational staff and through the work of More Than Gold is unprecedented’.

Speaking on behalf of More Than Gold, its CEO David Willson says, ‘It is good to know of the support local churches have from senior church leaders and to see the way their commitment to their communities through the 2012 Games is being recognised’.

The joint statement comes from Rt Hon Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury, Revd Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster, Revd Michael Heaney, Moderator, the Free Churches Group and Revd Jana Jeruma-Grindberga, Bishop, Lutheran Church in Great Britain.

It expressed the belief that there will be ‘many and diverse benefits’ as the result of ‘more Christian communities from different traditions than ever before coming together to plan practical ways of serving the project of the Olympic and Paralympic Games’.

The church leaders also use the statement to reaffirm their commitment to ‘work towards the visible unity of all Christians in the one faith, expressed in common discipleship, worship, witness and service’.