For the better part of two years, Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron has called upon the local Church to go out into the world and evangelize.
Everyone is in agreement: Evangelization is not only what Jesus calls us to do, it’s vital for the continuation of His Church in southeast Michigan.
News of various programs and initiatives related to evangelization from parish councils are all encouraging, but there’s still that lingering question: What does evangelization look like?
Success stories like Alpha, the St. Paul Street Evangelization team or Theology on Tap (a personal favorite) are astounding. But it should be noted that spreading Jesus’ mission doesn’t always require a formal program. Most evangelization is done “off the cuff.” Jesus himself walked up to two fishermen and told them to drop their nets and follow him. No real game plan, just a simple moment.
I had a recent evangelization moment (if it could be called that) that took place in a “not so churchy” place: a pool table in a run-of-the-mill Detroit bar.
It started on a typical Saturday night when I visited a personal favorite spot in Detroit because it has good drinks and a pool table that rolls true.
After playing a couple games with strangers, the inevitable question comes: “What do I do for a living?”
Upon telling someone I meet for the first time that I write for The Michigan Catholic, three things usually happen: They talk about their faith and share stories, they just shrug it off and take the conversation somewhere else, or they use the opportunity to go into a well-meaning explanation of why everything I believe is wrong.
This is the story of the latter.
The person to whom I was talking was my doubles partner for the night, and after two games he went into a long story about growing up in Massachusetts and how he fell away from the Church. Turns out earlier in the day he was at a counter-demonstration to a Planned Parenthood protest I had covered.
And now we were in the same bar. Playing pool. And for the most part, we had no preconceived notions about the other.
While listening to his objections to Church teachings and what he labeled as “hypocrisies” by Catholics he knew, I sat calmly, trying to offer explanations to the best of my ability and admitting when I didn’t have all the answers.
We played a few more games, and kept winning, until he turned to me and asked, “So what’s the point? Why do you do what you do?”
Whether it was from being put on the spot, or just tired from a long day and realizing it was half-past midnight, I ripped a line from a sermon now-Archbishop Michael Byrnes gave at a Come, Encounter Christ event: “Knowing Jesus Christ is the greatest thing to happen to me, and telling others about Him is the best thing I can do.”
It might have been a little rehearsed, and to be honest I don’t know if I’d say the same thing again if asked again. But what I said seemed to have an effect on him. Just a simple, “Oh,” followed by a moment of silence.
He said he’s never heard the Christian message in that way before, admiring its simplicity.
After playing a few more games, I gave him my business card, which had The Michigan Catholic’s website on it.
He said he’d give it a read, and I told him he shoots a good game of pool.
I have no idea if he has even thought about our conversation; he could have thrown away my business card, for all I know. But it got me thinking about Archbishop Vigneron’s call to evangelize, to tell others about Jesus. About how Jesus’ ministry started by asking two fishermen to drop their nets.
I’m not sure if our conversation in between pool shots counts as evangelization. But I do know that because of our conversation, one more person in the world was thinking about Jesus. One more person heard what it means to be a follower of Christ.
And sometimes, that’s all that’s needed.
Dan Meloy is a staff reporter for The Michigan Catholic newspaper.
