Doing evangelism
Christmas is coming. That means evangelistic events are coming. You know, like drama productions and stuff. And "home e" (evangelistic programmes carried out within individual cell groups).
Well... I've never felt comfortable inviting people for drama productions or "home e" events coz I feel like I've got ulterior motives for wanting them to come along.
"And don't you?" a friend asked.
Well, not necessarily. I never, so help me God, ever want to "convert" anyone.
For me, it's a delicate balance coz yes, of course I want my friends to share in my faith, but I don't want our different faiths to become an issue in our friendship. You know what I mean?
And I just don't think inviting them to evangelistic events will help preserve this delicate balance. Hello? When the drama/play is over and the pastor comes on stage to give his 'short message' and asks, "Give your heart to Jesus tonight!", I am sitting next to my friend, squirming in my seat with embarrassment, and my friend is sitting next to me feeling pressured and probably wanting to kill me. "Oh, now my religion not good enough for you, huh?" Aiyoyo.
Plus, disguising an evangelistic event as a "Christmas play" or "Christmas party" is akin to how the MLM (multi-level marketing) people invite you to find out more about a "business opportunity". Then you get there and they give you the spiel, just like after all the festivities and the performance is over, you get the pastor's "short message" or somebody giving a testimony or something, obviously geared towards trying to influence your guest(s) in a certain direction. To me, that's kinda dishonest.
So I, err, have issues with the whole evangelism thing. I also happen to be the kind of person who dislikes being pressured, and, as a consequence, refuses to pressure others. Even if I do ask someone if they want to become a Christian, I immediately follow up my question by hurriedly saying, "If you don't want to, it's fine, it's entirely up to you," hence kinda shooting myself in the foot. (I've only led someone to say the "Sinner's Prayer" ONCE. And that was at some evangelistic rally where I'd volunteered to be one of the "counsellors". How do I get into these things?!)
I don't mind talking about my faith with others. I'll happily tell you what I believe and why I believe it. I just won't try to persuade you to see the same. I don't know whether this is a good or bad thing. I gave up feeling guilty about this a long time ago coz I figured Jesus said, "Preach the Good News," not "Make people believe" or "Convert people". (See Mark 16:15.)
In any case, the way we "do evangelism" sometimes feels more like doing for doing's sake than doing out of love for others. I think far too many Christians are trying to convert people while ignoring one of the two greatest commandments: "Love your neighbour as yourself." Personally, I admit that whenever I invite non-Christian friends to such events, I'm not doing so out of love. I'm doing it out of obligation. I'm doing it because my pastor or my cell group leader says I HAVE to invite someone.
I accept the fact that others are different from me and some like this method of evangelism. I'm sure there are people who invite friends out of love, and I don't dispute that God can work through events like this (He has, many times). But I really hate the pressure that pushes everyone into the mould of doing evangelism the same way.