Fishbowl Evangelisation

When I worked as a missionary in a university residential college, I spent an hour every day praying in a chapel with glass walls.

And because the chapel was next to the front door of the college, that daily prayer was on display for every single resident heading towards campus to gawk at.

Yes, I felt like a goldfish.

Those of you with whom I’ve talked about it will know, more or less, the challenges of that missionary year. There’s a reason why it was the hardest of my life so far. Suffice to say that college culture is the tiniest bit antagonistic towards Catholic missionaries.

And yet I don’t think I’ve ever grown as much as I did in that fishbowl.

See, when you’re running a retreat day or a youth group, it’s easy enough to hide behind ‘ministry face’. You can keep to the script, prepare a whitewashed version of your story to share publicly, and construct some semblance of a boundary between work and home life.

When you’re eating three meals a day in a college dining hall, hosting lengthy impromptu debates about Calvinism on your team’s living room floor, and serving cookies to drunk residents at two in the morning… there are no boundaries.

You cannot have a ministry face and a home face. There is no script you can turn to when people ask the tricky questions. You cannot summarise your spiritual journey into a three-minute testimony – because they are watching your spiritual journey unfold in a fishbowl chapel. You are ‘on ministry’ 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.

And for most of the people who see you, nothing you say about Jesus is going to change their minds. The only thing that might is how you live Jesus.

That year I began to understand that my life is the only version of the Gospel some people are ever going to read.

If that’s not a bone-chilling call to integrity, I don’t know what is.

When you’re in a fishbowl, you’d better be allowing Jesus to transform you from the inside out, top to bottom, and all the way around. Because if you’re not, they will notice. People have great BS detectors, and they aren’t going to buy into something they detect is hypocritical.

That year, I could either complacently remain as I was – and necessarily do damage to the Kingdom of God by my inauthentic witness – or I could allow Jesus to begin the process of transforming me from the inside out, top to bottom, and all the way around, in the hope that I might actually be able to reach someone at that college with His Good News.

Your life is the only version of the Gospel some people are ever going to read.

Friends, we live in a fishbowl. The world may not always be listening to Christianity, but they are watching Christians to see if the Good News is actually imbued with integrity.

Our world is hungry for authenticity.

It doesn’t need divided hearts who wipe off their ‘ministry face’ as soon as the door is closed. It doesn’t need Christians who pretend to have a prayer life but would rather be watching Netflix.  

It needs fishbowl evangelists.

As students and young professionals, our lives are on display for others to analyse. The minute that someone finds out we’re Christian, they will be forming an opinion of Jesus and the Church based on what they experience in us.

For me, that is so scary. I don’t want them to read the wrong Gospel. I don’t want my life to tell them a story of stinginess, laziness, or dissatisfaction.

I want the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ to be so written on my heart and on my face that if the people who met me were never to open up a Bible they would still have read the Good News.

It’s a work in progress. But there’s six basic principles for an effective “ministry of existence” that I’ve found useful so far.

When you, dear fishbowl evangelist, find yourself in a culture that doesn’t want to listen to the message, but is intrigued by watching the messenger, don’t forget to:

1.   1. Pray

Remember how when Moses came out of the tent of the Lord’s presence (Exodus 34:29-35), people couldn’t look at him because his face was so shiny?

Yeah – that’s because when you are in personal communication with God, it’s obvious.

Even if no-one is walking past you praying inside a glass chapel, your daily commitment to quality time with Jesus will be noticed.

When people ask “What’s your day been like so far?” it’s okay to say “Well, I got up and prayed, then…”

You don’t even need to tell them. Pray for them. Pray that the Lord will give you the words in every conversation you’re part of today. Pray that His desires would become your desires, and that you would keep choosing to partner with Him throughout the day.

2.   2. Radiate joy

I’ll never forget the friend who said to me, when I was just starting out on my Christian journey, “I don’t need a sad face. I have Jesus.”

Genuine cheerfulness is the fruit of hope. As sons and daughters of the Most High, we have ample reason to hope, but sometimes our faces don’t show it. And that’s a shame, because people are attracted to what they think will make them happy. They will magnetise to the Gospel if it is visibly the source of your joy.

This is not an exhortation to shallow smiles and false cheer. It’s a reminder that there is no good reason to lose the Joy He has given you. Jesus has overcome every situation that’s making you anxious and every trigger for despair. He is eternal peace, and our certain victory over every enemy – even death. Claim Resurrection joy, and live it.

3.   3. Be generous

When people look at your life, they should be deeply disturbed by the extravagance of your generosity. If you don’t go overboard, you’ll never learn to walk on water.

In this, I’m not just meaning corporal works of mercy – though of course we need to have a greater priority for these as a Christian community. Get out onto the streets, serve the neediest of our society, and remind the world of the dignity of every human life.

But also do the dishes. Help someone with their project rather than working on your own. Listen to their relationship woes without bringing up any of yours.

Generosity means sacrificing your time, resources, talents, and preferences for love of the others. Let your existence centre around empowering others, and lay down your life that they might live theirs fully. Christ did the same, and by your love, you will point them to His.

4.   4. Work hard

Don’t offer a shoddy job to the Lord or to people who are depending on you. It’s easy to be lazy and scrape the bare minimum in your studies or work. But discipline and integrity in your daily tasks witness to others that we have a dependable God. Pursue excellence not for the sake of your own pride, but in order that you might be a good steward and a trustworthy disciple.

Learn as well to sanctify your work. Everything you do is an opportunity to grow in virtue. Keep a crucifix on your desk while you study. Begin the day with a prayer of self-offering. Unite yourself to those in suffering when you’re carrying out that thing on your to-do list you least feel like doing. Choose it for Him.

5.    5. Listen

Sometimes people will want to talk to you about Christianity. Sometimes they will want to talk AT you about Christianity (namely, everything that’s wrong with it). That’s okay. It takes a good deal of prayer for humility and patience (see Step 1) to withstand criticism, but it’s so important that you do.

Not too long ago, I wrote about the fundamental link between listening and loving. If someone has a bone to pick with Jesus or the Church, it’s not coming out of nowhere. It’s the fruit of a negative personal experience – a valid experience, and a story worth understanding. If someone has misconceptions about faith, if they have emotional obstacles to Christianity, if they just really, really like debating the minutiae of rational belief – listen to them. Love them.

It may be your silence rather than your speeches that tells them most about the God of Love.

6.    6. Invite

How I hope and pray you get to this step! In many cases of fishbowl evangelisation, you’ll never know a person well enough to extend Christ’s personal invitation to them. By God’s grace, that won’t be the end of their journey – but you may not get to see the rest of it.

However, sometimes He lets us accompany people on the next step. If someone who’s been watching your faith starts asking those big questions (Why do they pray? Why are they cheerful, generous, and hard working? Why do they listen to me? What has Jesus done to them!?) ask Jesus for the opportunity to journey with them.

Invite them to coffee (or better yet, go on a hike, just sayin’) and ask them what their experience of religion or spirituality has been. Meet them on their way. Seek out resources together for the specific questions they have. Walk them through the fundamentals of Christian belief (the creed is a great place to start) without rushing anything. Who knows? Maybe soon you’ll be their confirmation sponsor.

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I think considering these steps has to go hand in hand with one little, big reminder: you are not God. I am not God. God is God.

Ultimately all our efforts to become the perfect evangelists (fishbowl or otherwise) are futile. It’s not about us. It’s about Him – the one we’re trying to point them to in the first place.

He came to save your soul as well. Whatever integrity you lack is found in His eternal trustworthiness. The best thing you can say to someone investigating Christianity is this:

“We’re all sinners here. We’re hypocrites, and works-in-progress, and desperately, desperately in need of His grace. But that is the point. Welcome home.”

Let Him be your home, and all these things shall be added to you.

AMDG