Darren at Living Room blog has some interesting thoughts on what he is calling "spam evangelism." I'm sure some of you, like myself, have engaged in "evangelism" by handing out literature or knocking on doors in order to share the message of Christ. My own denomination has spent countless dollars over the years creating "confrontational" (my term) methods of evangelism. They create a new package, call it by a new name, but the modus op is still the same: share your personal story, a few Scriptures and an anectdote or something in less than 10 minutes. (The most recent version of this "spam" evangelism was beta tested @ my seminary while I was a first year student. We were required to "use" the material to share the Gospel with at least 2 people over the course of the semester. I almost lost a friendship as a result. "What are you doing? Is this a joke? Why aren't you just talking with me like you usually do?".... I later apologized for the structured, static conversation.)
Now, don't get me wrong. There was a time for this sort of evangelism--when most of our country agreed that "God" meant the "Judeo-Christian God" and pretty much everyone had some sort of Church experience. It actually did a lot of good to [re]introduce people to Jesus Christ in a personal way. That's just not the case any more--especially with the rise of spam e-mail, junk postal mail, pop-up ads, etc.. In my experience, such "confrontational" (or "spam") evangelism is just not well received any more. In fact, shortly after 9/11 I and 2 of my seminary classmates were approached by a man at a rest-stop on our journey back from a week-long seminary course in Louisianna. He didn't say a word. Just made eye contact with me, walked up to me, handed me a slick pamphlet and walked away. My friends looked at me and the pamplet in my hand. It had a sketched picture of an airplane crashing into a building, and it said something like: "Need hope?" Of course, it was a religious tract sharing the message of Christ... I thought it was very tasteless (though, I imagine it was created in all innocence) and the method of sharing this message with me was, well, very "spam-esque."
Come to think of it... of the times that I have helped lead someone to Christ... none of the experiences have been in a 10 minute conversation.
Anyway, check out Darren's "Spam Evangelism" post.
UPDATE (2:01PM): I realize I just threw this out there without offering any sort of constructive solution. In my head and in my experience, I think the solution is pretty clear: simply, relationship begets relationship. When you and I get to know each other (apart from me handing you a slick tract of dogma), we will naturally talk about our lives. In my experience, I have talked about God in the context of poetry, painting, coffee, beer and the natural world. Natural dialogue... no spam-from-a-can.
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