Let’s start with a personal anecdote. It’s a normal Thursday evening, I’m on the subway, on my way home after a day of work at the university. As I’m about to leave the metro station, two women stop me, saying with a big smile: “Are you a Christian? Are you saved?” After a very quick chat, they invite me to read a short prayer where I recognize I am a sinner and that if I want to get eternal life, I must give my life to Jesus. Then, the two women explained to me that that they are from Nigeria and that their Church (the Christ Embassy, one of the most powerful and successful transnational African Churches) is about to launch a congregation in my neighbourhood.
Encounters of this kind happen daily on Montreal’s public transit systems, which is why a colleague and I decided to do some fieldwork about Christians who evangelize in such public spaces. The questions guiding our research are simple: can we identify different strategies in the task of evangelizing urban populations? What do the people who evangelize in the streets and public transit systems expect to achieve? Do they care about finding strategies for most efficiently proclaiming the gospel in a post-Christian Quebec, or do other concerns animate their activities? How do the province’s lively debates about the visibility of religion in public spaces impact their evangelizing activities?
Violence and abuse happen across all types of relationships and backgrounds—economic, ethnic, and social. It involves physical, sexual, emotional, spiritual, and financial abuse to control and maintain power. This reality can be discouraging for Christians. Many wonder, “How can domestic violence happen in our church family, where we profess to live God’s love through Christ?”