My mom is the children and preschool minister at our church. Because of this, I have spent massive amounts of time volunteering, or being volunteered, to work with kids. One of the many lessons that I have learned is that when a kid gets something on their mind, they rarely let it go until a resolution is met. If the child wants, say, a piece of gum, they will ask for it. If they do not succeed, they will ask again and again and again and again, until they either get a piece of gum or are told (in an extremely blunt fashion) by the person they were pestering to "get lost!" This little child, irritating to try to achieve a goal until the goal is met or the child is hurt, is how the world views Christians.
Christians give off this vibe that they are on a "mission for God" to convert every human being. That is the perceived Christian goal in every friendship they have with a non-Christian, and that it's all just a game to get more followers for Jesus. As Shawn said in unChristian, "Christians are too concerned with converting people. They are insincere. All I ever hear is 'Get saved!' I tried that whole 'Jesus thing' already. It didn't work for me before, and I am not interested now." It's almost like we are seen as Veruca Salt-like: we want you saved, and we want it now!
Yes, Christians are called to spread the Word to all people, in hopes that some will accept the words of Scripture and receive Jesus as their Savior and Lord. While I am not here to dispute that, I am here to dispute how people tend to go about this. Some of the most common ideas churches have for evangelism are:
-Reaching the masses, all at once
-Having the best responses for spiritual debates
-We cannot worry about offending someone when spreading the Word
While these have some truth value, they are far from complete. In fact, they can sometimes run against the example Jesus set forth for us. Jesus didn't shoot for a mass media method of teaching; he invested in twelve guys, and then taught them how to invest and nurture their own disciples. Jesus didn't get into debates about the truth He was spreading; Jesus merely ended debates with one truth, story or teaching that showed the message He was trying to convey. And while Jesus did step on a few toes, it wasn't because He was unkind or lacking compassion; He was kind and loving to all, even those He was correcting their wrongs.
People don't want to be the pieces of our game, being tools of conversion to score us points. That isn't our goal, and that isn't attractive to people. Jesus told us to love our neighbor. He didn't say, "love your neighbor as yourself, at least until they are saved." No, Jesus instead told us just to love them. Friendships with non-Christians do not need to exist solely for their conversion; that isn't a genuine friendship. A real friend just accepts their friend, encourages them, and, in time, is able to show the truth of Jesus Christ. After sharing, it is our job as "real friends" to stay friends with the person, whether they become Christians or not. We must never become so impersonal as to see people as targets, but instead as people needing the love of a God and of a friend.
I challenge you to invest in people's lives. Really caring for someone, being involved in their life, and simply loving them unconditionally is our job; let's leave the "saving" to God. We weren't even capable of saving ourselves, much less someone else. Sharing the Gospel is one thing; harping on it is quite another.
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