Recently I came across a Christian church network (in America) who described the everyday activity of their members, talking about their identity in Christ, living on mission, rhythms of blessing others, engaging in spiritual conversations, and joining in the work of the Spirit.
What caught my attention was the phrase that they used to sum up this activity: "Living out loud - spiritually". It was clear that this meant people wearing their faith openly on their sleeve so to speak, and included being intentional, being prepared to share the hope they have in Christ (as per 1 Peter 3 verse 15), learning to spot and take opportunities to point to Jesus and highlight gospel themes in everyday life.
It struck me how this 'Living out loud - spiritually' phrase could be useful language in our UK church contexts, where believers still (sadly) appear to have an aversion to the word 'evangelism' and/or lack confidence to share their faith. The wording recognises that as followers we have a spirituality, and that as we go about our ordinary day that spirituality is in operation, albeit perhaps in the background. So the encouragement is to let the spirituality that is there anyway come more to the foreground, to be vocalised, and shared in our everyday life situations. After all, Jesus said 'let your light shine'!
Of course some will hear the words 'out loud' and immediately write themselves out of the equation, claiming 'but I am a quiet person!". Of course some are naturally quiet, some very loud. Some introvert, some extravert - but it is not about changing your personality type (nor is 'evangelism', in fact). But it is raising above the parapet so to speak something of faith - some pointer towards Jesus - in potential ordinary situations in the everyday.
It is living your spirituality - your practical faith in Jesus - that bit more openly in the everyday encounter. That could mean being prepared to take a risk in some way, e.g. by offering to pray for the person you are chatting to concerning their hurt or ache. It could mean quickly sharing a faith principle that is relevant to the conversation you are having. It also could mean listening that bit more carefully, and empathising with the person ... admitting 'there are no simple words' in response to the difficulty they are going through.
All of these are possible, but requires us to not 'hide our light', or bury our saltiness. Instead it means learning to live (even if we are quiet or introvert) that little bit louder with the spirituality and faith that we have.
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