When university chaplain, Father Rich Miserendo, swapped his office for a coffee shop on campus - and a sign inviting conversation - it opened doors to evangelism that he never expected. If we want to reach young people, we need to follow where God leads and look outside of our usual church settings
Perhaps you’ve heard this joke: Late one evening, a police officer happens upon a tipsy gentleman, down on his hands and knees under a streetlight. He asks what’s going on. The drunk responds: “I’ve lost my keys.” Both he and the policeman recommence the search. After another ten minutes, the cop asks: “Are you sure you dropped your keys here?” The drunk responds: “No! I dropped them over there”, gesturing into the darkness. The cop, stunned, asks: “Then why are you looking here?”
The (inebriated) response: “This is where the light is!”
Into the light
Recently, I’ve thought about that joke a good deal. That might seem strange, seeing as I serve as a college chaplain at the University of Mary Washington, a mid sized secular university in the US, and not as a police officer. But I’ve found it more applicable to my ministry than one might think (and not because of the beverages).
Why? Because my ministry was transformed by the Holy Spirit challenging me to look outside of well-lit bounds to find the keys to my flock’s heart. By making one simple change - abandoning my office for a coffee shop on campus and a sign inviting conversation - God was able to use me to bring others closer to salvation in a way I never expected.
It all started a year or so ago, when I couldn’t help but notice a problem: My mission is to be present to my students. Yet most mornings, there were zero students in my office, and more than 4,000 on campus. Something needed to change.
I have no special gift for this. I’m not a master conversationalist or theology whizz
To be fair, a healthy number of students would come to our centre for Mass, personal prayer, bible studies, or events. Yet they were the only ones who attended things. And between functions, I found myself sitting in my office or praying in the chapel - but never meeting any new students or ones who hadn’t already come to know Jesus. In the reverse of the famous parable in Luke 15, I had found one sheep and lost 99.
Then the joke clicked. I was looking where the light was, rather than where the keys were. True, I had found Jesus - the light of the world - and seen him in the tabernacle, the scriptures, and in my students. But to find those who God wanted, I needed to step out into a world that was a bit dimmer.
Christ in the coffee shop
So, off I went to the university coffee shop to hold daily office hours, armed with my laptop, a bible, a coffee, and a small sign that invited people to say hello and chat if they wanted to. I was told the campus police would run me out of town, or that the students would shout and harass me. I was told to expect to be crucified. I braced for the blows.
What happened was completely different and wonderfully surprising.
Day after day, student after student stops by to ask questions, request prayers or just say hello. Many are religious, but not most. Otherwise, they’re as diverse as the student body itself. Their questions range from topical things like sexuality and gender to theological, like the existence of God and the soul. Yet behind them all is a hunger for God and a thirst for truth and communion.
I’ve been doing this for over a year and a half now, to a substantial positive response from the university and students. I can scarcely get through an email before someone drops in. Never has anyone been unkind. Rarely do people ask about politics or the dreaded ‘current events’. They want what we all want: To know we’re seen, known, and loved by God and others, and that there is victory over sin and death in Christ.
In the reverse of the famous parable, I had found one sheep and lost 99
Not everyone who talks with me immediately converts. Most don’t, at least not for a while. But the conversation is a start to a friendship, and that friendship is a start to trust and faith. People have come to Christ through the coffee shop, people who have never even been to Church before.
For my part, I want to stress that I have no special charism or gift for this. I’m not a master conversationalist or theology whizz. Anyone can do it. Jesus challenges us to be fishers of men, to put out into the deep. If we were ordinary fishermen and the fish were biting elsewhere, we’d probably move our boat. My story is simply of allowing the Holy Spirit to move my boat.
Right now, the Church is having loads of conversations about sharing the gospel. We recognise we have the light in Christ. We can bask in it. But if we want to find the keys to hearts still shadowed in darkness, we also must be willing to step out to where they are.
Come Holy Spirit, enkindled in our hearts, and guide us to bring that same illumination to others just down the street through conversation and friendship.
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