J
jmj33777
Guest
Side walk evangelists are everywhere in New York City. They are weaved in and out of the streets of Manhattan like Hot dog and News paper stands. Only hot dogs can create quite a pleasurable experience and news papers can at times be very amusing, but side walk evangelists are neither.
You see, there is a particular type of evangelist that I am referring to. They are the ones that either begin their dialogue with “Have you ever heard of God Mother?” Or “Do you celebrate the Christian Passover” and you say “Well, yes of course. The Passover meal. The Last Supper. The Institution of the Eucharist.” and they shout, “It is not a Supper!” And you then say to yourself, “Oh, $@#%…”
The point I want to make here with out rambling on and on is that side walk evangelizing is in itself a good. We should all have the courage to do the same. However, the way in which it is done, matters in very Big WAY!!
I realize it is difficult to evangelize to people who are walking at approximately 7.5 miles an hour but spewing out memorized chapter and verse in the hope of convincing someone that they need Jesus in their life is not going to work.
I think the person being approached needs to experience a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, not be accosted by a well dressed, well versed, bible student. And then invited to a bible study/discussion event… This is just bad marketing.
However, talk is cheap…
What would be a better way?
How do you think a sidewalk evangelist should reach out to people?
Should they stay still at a table and try to get people to come over and browse at religious paraphernalia and then subtlety try and develop a conversation that leads to the light of Christ?
Or, should Christian evangelizing particularly “Catholic” be done in a more controlled environment, such as the classroom?
You see, there is a particular type of evangelist that I am referring to. They are the ones that either begin their dialogue with “Have you ever heard of God Mother?” Or “Do you celebrate the Christian Passover” and you say “Well, yes of course. The Passover meal. The Last Supper. The Institution of the Eucharist.” and they shout, “It is not a Supper!” And you then say to yourself, “Oh, $@#%…”
The point I want to make here with out rambling on and on is that side walk evangelizing is in itself a good. We should all have the courage to do the same. However, the way in which it is done, matters in very Big WAY!!
I realize it is difficult to evangelize to people who are walking at approximately 7.5 miles an hour but spewing out memorized chapter and verse in the hope of convincing someone that they need Jesus in their life is not going to work.
I think the person being approached needs to experience a genuine encounter with Jesus Christ, not be accosted by a well dressed, well versed, bible student. And then invited to a bible study/discussion event… This is just bad marketing.
However, talk is cheap…
What would be a better way?
How do you think a sidewalk evangelist should reach out to people?
Should they stay still at a table and try to get people to come over and browse at religious paraphernalia and then subtlety try and develop a conversation that leads to the light of Christ?
Or, should Christian evangelizing particularly “Catholic” be done in a more controlled environment, such as the classroom?