'Confrontational proselytizing' has its followers - and its critics

Two Christians carrying pamphlets and the Bible knock at a homeowner's door. In their view, they are carrying out the great commission of their faith to witness about Christ.

But to the residents, the visit can be annoying and intrusive.

The merits of confrontational proselytizing, as this type of face-to-face witnessing is called, were raised in April when members of Cornerstone Baptist Church in Colorado Springs were criticized for witnessing to children outside two District 11 schools.

Some religious scholars and church leaders say the fallout over Cornerstone's witnessing is a sign of the times.

Confrontational proselytizing, critics say, is no longer appropriate or effective in this age of heightened suspicion toward strangers and greater acceptance in America of other faiths besides Christianity as viable religious paths.

Indeed, the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the two Christian denominations most committed to formal witnessing, recently modified their soul-winning approach.

Even so, face-to-face proselytizing remains an integral part of many conservative Christian denominations.

"Sharing with someone the good news of Christ's kingdom and having a personal relationship with God is one of the most important things a person can do," said Michael Ahlers, a spokesman for the 24 Jehovah's Witnesses churches in the Colorado Springs area.

Matt Miller, senior pastor of the evangelical Cornerstone Baptist, said soul winning in the community will remain an integral part of the ministry despite last month's controversy, set off by accusations that a woman from the church tried to entice into a van a 13-year-old girl walking home from Russell Middle School.

"The Lord said, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel,'" Miller said. "We take that literally."

Appropriate witnessing

Of the major religions, Christianity is the only one whose faithful in America significantly practice confrontational witnessing.

Although Muslims are known to proselytize in the Middle East and other parts of the world, and Buddhists seek converts in Asia, members of both faiths rarely engage in door-to-door proselytizing in the United States. Hindus and Jews in the States also largely refrain from the practice.

Christians legitimize witnessing by pointing to Bible passages that mandate spreading the gospel and the belief that Christianity is the only way to God.

"This is all about letting people know how to go to heaven before they die based on what is written in the Bible," said Cornerstone Baptist assistant pastor Ford Glover.

The most common formal method of witnessing is going door to door in pairs, inspired by Luke 10:1, where Jesus sends out 70 people "two by two" to witness.

Christian witnessing is protected by the First Amendment and can be performed legally in any public square.

"Our method is very sensitive and respectful of the people we are trying to share the good news with," Ahlers said of the Jehovah's Witnesses.

"We tell our people that if they don't want to hear, move on," said Miller, whose members go door to door on Saturdays and Thursday evenings. "There are plenty of people who want to hear about the gospel."

End of door-to-door?

But the practice has critics.

Stan Sack, an evangelical pastor for 45 years at Sunnyside Christian Church in Colorado Springs, remembers in the 1960s and '70s dropping in on homeowners and asking to come in to talk about the gospel.

That method would be impossible today, he said. "People are very protective and suspicious now."

Although denominations like the Jehovah's Witnesses and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints claim that door-to-door ministry is effective in winning converts, Sack and some religious scholars question the practice.

"These days, going door to door or engaging in street-corner preaching are demonstrably ineffective," said David Weddle, a professor of religion at Colorado College.

Weddle compares the practice to selling products door to door, which worked in the 1950s and '60s but has largely lost its effectiveness.

"Most Christians would say that someone claiming to be saved on a street corner is not really salvation," Weddle said. "That's why we don't see widespread use of the technique by evangelicals."

"There's little tolerance these days of the hard-edged method of going door to door and asking people if they know where they will spend eternity," said John Green, a senior fellow in religion and American politics at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in Washington, D.C.

According to Weddle and Green, the purpose of Christian proselytizing is undercut by the growing number of Christians who believe other faiths and Christian denominations are also legitimate paths to heaven. Last year, the Pew Forum and the Barna Group, which studies Christian trends, published reports showing that Christians under age 30 are more accepting of other faiths than the same demographic a decade ago.

Take away the exclusivity of Christianity, and the reason to proselytize dissolves, Weddle said.

Witness by example

Confrontational witnessing is changing even among denominations most committed to the practice.

Jehovah's Witnesses have been encouraged to be more respectful of people's beliefs, Ahler said. And in recent years, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has modified its witnessing by asking members not to criticize other religions and Christian denominations.

"We don't want people to give up their religion. We ask you bring the good you have of your faith to the good we have in ours," said John Leavitt, public affairs director of the Mormon church in the Pikes Peak area.

Mormons are witnessing with more restraint, Leavitt said. They are instructed that if people "ask you about your faith, they are not asking to know everything about it," Leavitt said. "If they ask for a sip of water, don't turn on the fire hose."

Sack said his years as an evangelical pastor taught him that the best way to witness is by acting in a Christlike manner, an approach also embraced by the Catholic Church and numerous Protestant sects.

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For views on proselytizing from leaders of faiths other than Christianity, go to the Pulpit Blog. Barna, who is not affiliated with the Barna Group, can be reached at 636-0367.

The Bible on Witnessing

• Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes."
• John 14:6: "Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one come to the Father except through me."
• John 3:36: "Unless one is born of water and spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
• Luke 10: This chapter is the blueprint on how to witness, including the instruction to go door to door in pairs.
• John 4: This chapter begins with Jesus witnessing to a woman he meets at a well.
• Matthew 28:19: "Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit."
• Mark 16: 15-16: "Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he that doesn't believe shall be damned."

Source: Gazette research