A conservative estimate of 500,000 people attended church-organised events throughout London 2012.

This has led to increased contacts and helped to move churches back to the centre of their communities, said Peter Meadows the More Than Gold communications director.
 

'Just as the nation feels better, so do the churches,' he said. 'They have surprised themselves. The range of contacts has grown; anecdotally more people are coming by, to activities like mothers' and toddlers, Messy Church and so on.

'By serving, they have put themselves back closer to the centre of their community. It's something to build on. Churches have seen that if they work with the local community, things happen, and they are more likely to do it again.'

Mr Meadows' words were echoed by David Pile, the London Baptist Association's Olmypic and Paralympic Church Co-ordinator.

'In terms of mission engagement in the Games, there was lots going on during the Olympics, less in the Paralympics. By and large I thought it went very well, though you always want more.

'Those churches who were involved, it seemed to go well, irrespective of their size.

'There was a good spread of the types of engagement the church was involved in. Some put on coffee mornings, opened café for the Olympics. Others had big plans involving mission teams.

'Those with the mission teams expanded what they could normally do. For example their holiday clubs they could have more children.

'I think on the whole they were pleasantly surprised, and have been encouraged to see how effective they can be in their community.'

Mr Meadows also praised the level of ecumenical co-operation, which saw many churches linking together to host events.
'This has to have been the broadest engagement of Christians - the level of Christian unity was extraordinary. It's gone beyond the usual suspects.'
 

He added that while some churches didn't catch the vision, those which had had been richly rewarded.

'Churches who really got it, and worked together, others didn't really get onboard. But some of the things that happened went beyond our wildest dreams.

'What happened at Gold Hill (where the Baptist church teamed up with other churches host a two week festival) was extraordinary.

'What happened at Aylesbury (where the town's 14 churches organized a Paralympic opening night festival in Stoke Mandeville Stadium) was extraordinary. We've seen things that have gone way beyond the church engagement at other Games.'

David will now contact churches in the LBA. 'If there are areas that can be developed to help churches in their mission, we will look at them. We're looking at what worked well, what can be transferred to the future.'