The only thing worse than a pushy telemarketer is a know-it-all evangelist. It is hard to imagine that, in an effort to spread the news of Christ, we can - at times - so thoroughly repel the very people we are trying to attract.

There certainly is a style of evangelism that mimics the pushy sales person. The evangelist of this style pushes, bullies, scares and uses anything to get his way with the potential convert. I have had people who have tried to convert me, though I tell them I'm Christian, though I tell them I'm active in a church, though I tell them I'm already an ordained minister! These people seem to know what is best for everyone else. This particular style of evangelism is so frightening to Episcopalians that we avoid evangelism all together. We are in such fear that we will be seen as pushy and overbearing, we avoid anything that might remotely be construed as evangelism.