Where Raucous Is the Norm, Bible Study

[sherrybaby]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Additionally starting a conversation ONCE and being told to let it go is still a bit different than being a 'missionary.' But yes I agree with what you said here. Even though the overall reality isn't reflected by this article, the article showed a (I suspect small-ish) minority who have this attitude. Maybe just this one campus, or local area is particularly evangelical, but the striking thing to me was exactly how evangelical it was. Those terms and phrases "conversation about Christ" for example, are not ones I saw in Catholic youth groups or universities.

ETA: rereading it, it appears that IV is intentionally evangelical in nature, where I thought it was more ecumenical.

But even evangelical doesn't have to mean ramming something down someone's throat. For me, I know the value of a Christian youth group that encourages inviting friends. If I hadn't received such an invite, quite frankly, I would never have bothered to seek out my faith on my own and quite probably would be dead right now. But the most important part of that invitation was the way in which it was done: by someone who was interested in me personally, who cared about me, and who I knew would drop the issue and continue loving me if I said no. Evangelical can be such a dirty word, but for me I share my faith with sisters because I love them and want them to experience the life-changing effects my faith has had on my life. That doesn't mean I have a checklist of non-Christian Thetas and feel the need to convert my whole chapter by the time I graduate or I'm a failure. Evangelical can be positive IF it's done right (which I'll admit is difficult).

[Drolefille]

Originally Posted by sherrybaby

But even evangelical doesn't have to mean ramming something down someone's throat. For me, I know the value of a Christian youth group that encourages inviting friends. If I hadn't received such an invite, quite frankly, I would never have bothered to seek out my faith on my own and quite probably would be dead right now. But the most important part of that invitation was the way in which it was done: by someone who was interested in me personally, who cared about me, and who I knew would drop the issue and continue loving me if I said no. Evangelical can be such a dirty word, but for me I share my faith with sisters because I love them and want them to experience the life-changing effects my faith has had on my life. That doesn't mean I have a checklist of non-Christian Thetas and feel the need to convert my whole chapter by the time I graduate or I'm a failure. Evangelical can be positive IF it's done right (which I'll admit is difficult).

While part of me agrees, as a no-longer-Christian, I really can't see any way in which someone 'sharing how Christ/faith/etc has affected their lives' is really going to matter to me. Hey it's nice it works for you, but really I mostly want to be left alone about my religion unless I ASK for advice, input or discussion.

From one perspective evangelism is necessary, needed, a moral requirement, but from the other's perspective even the 'best' kind can be a huge annoyance when it is added up with the other cultural pressures involved. I don't know that it's reconcilable, really. But if people do take hints - from those uninterested, or from those who do want to hear more- then yes it's negative effects are minimized and positive effects are maximized.