Fishes in the Open Ocean

Praise God, Campus Alive has grown by leaps and bounds not only in terms of its graduating alumni, but also in maturity and in service for the Kingdom of God. The testimonies of each generation of students coming in and going away every year speak volumes of the faithfulness of God in raising up a people of His own, a community of which Christ is proclaimed and lived out.

A browse through the Campus Alive blog brought to sight a golden logo with a symbol of the fish in its middle. This brings back memories years ago when I was asking God’s direction for CA. In preparing some of the vision and ideas, I put in the symbol of the fish out of convenience because it’s a “christian” icon. However, it was not until a few years later that I begin to realize the spiritual meaning and significance of it today for CA and for the church today.

I was preparing for a talk on church history last year that I began to understand the significance of the fish. Symbols and icons that pointed us to the past have its rich meaning that we often take for granted. Worse still, the rich history of the church from the days of Paul from Tarsus until today is often neglected due to the lack of exposure and interests, further discouraged by our continuous obsession for spiritual novelty.

John Wesley, the great revivalist in England and the founder of the Methodist movement in the 18^th Century, once said that Christians know God through the scriptures, reason, experience and tradition (history). While we often excel in the first three, we should excel in our understanding of the latter as well, as it brings many insights for our Christian living and ministry today.

In this modest article, I will try to unpack some of the lessons that I've learnt from the “fish”, which has been source of inspiration of our forefathers for centuries and relate it to our experience in student ministry in a Malaysian college context.

1) The Christian community was a marginalized and persecuted minority, consisting of men and women who dared to stand up for what they believed in, despite threats of death and persecution. They were often misunderstood by their contemporaries and were often accused falsely.

2) However, the Christian community are active participants of their wider society. They are active members of the society, involving themselves with civil and community service and affairs, loyal tax-paying citizens of the Roman Empire, engaging with their pluralistic, ungodly and multicultural society.

3) The Christian community is the arbiter of Truth and Morality in their society, denouncing idolatry of Caesar and the falsehood of the Roman gods. They live counter-culturally, informed by their biblical understanding.

4) The Christian community is marked by their practices; the Eucharist, Baptism, worship, prayer, and the study of scripture. They are strengthened through wise, strategic and Godly leadership of elders, while allowing freedom of conscience and expression.

5) The Christian community is strengthened by celebrating diversity and inclusive multiculturalism. North African and Egyptian believers were in communion with Assyrians, Jewish and Roman believers under the banner of Christ. Tertullian and St Augustine are African figures rather than Latin.

6) The Christian community can fall due to greed for power, political patronage, fame and wealth besides doctrinal tussle fueled by selfish motives and hunger for dominance.