How to Share Your Faith Without Being Pushy

Most of us cringe at the word evangelism. Christians I talk to are creeped out by it, uncomfortable, and want to run as far away from “witnessing” as possible.

Evangelism, witnessing and sharing the gospel has a horrible image.

As my mom said to me the other day, “It seems that evangelists always need to go find people. Why?”

Evangelists and evangelism strike fear in people’s hearts. It has the connotation of being pushy, agenda-driven, careless with humanity, and furthermore, slick and salesman-like—inauthentic.

Yeah, that is the word we were looking for. Maybe forced, showy, and aggressive.

Evangelism has become a curse word, and we want nothing to do with it.

So my question to you as a Christian is this: Are you going to perpetuate, ignore or change that image?

As a Christian, you have to pick one.

Perpetuate

Keep not paying attention to people’s feelings, keep not listening and doing whatever it takes to get someone “saved.” Listen, I have been this guy (ask my sister, my mom, some ex-friends) and it’s not cool. But you will keep being this person if you don’t wake up and ask someone sensitive around you, “How do I come across?” If you’re the kind of person who has the attitude that people have to get “saved” at all costs and every moment is the “God Moment,” then you are going to keep perpetuating the negative stereotype of evangelism that Jesus never intended us to have.

Guess what, the Holy Spirit isn’t pushy, you are. Calm down. Listen to someone around you who can see your blind spots. If you want to change, stop seeing every person who may say, “Hey, calm down a bit, be more patient, and listen more” as from the Devil. You probably need to calm down a bit and trust in the sovereign work of God in others.

Ignore

So evangelism creeps you out. You can’t stand the person who is perpetuating everything you hate about evangelism and evangelists. The pushy, noisy, can’t-take-no-for-an-answer person. So you are just going to ignore it altogether.