Seth Godin thinks so. Here’s what he said in an interview:
Proselytizing, in my view, is like spam. Ringing a doorbell, standing at a bus stop, buying a billboard… those are not permission-based activities. On the other hand, delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who want to get them… that works, and it always has, and it’s working better than ever. I think that sharing ideas with people who want to hear them is the essence of what it means to be a marketer, and being a good person makes this a lot easier. (HT:Church Marketing Sucks)
My impression is that he’s being a little loose with the word proselytizing, but I think I get his point. I generally find it annoying when people engage in cold call style evangelism, where there is no context, just you and a tract. But that said, I’m a little nervous about making proselytization equivalent to spam, because I know the heart of those who engage in what amounts to the actions that feel like spamming. But for any who are trying to be faithful Christians, this is a tension to be navigated. How do we communicate what we believe deeply, and believe is important for others to know, without verging into giving the relational equivalent of spam?
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A quote that Dr. Perkins and Dr. Metzger used all the time was “we have over evangelized too lightly.” I think this quote goes to the heart of the issue. Drive by evangelism as it is called, is spam, or a like a sales call.
Ask yourself this question, “why am I talking to this person?” If the answer is “to make them a Christian” then I think you are on the wrong path. When we reduce people to a means rather then an end, we cease to see them as God does, as broken but potentially beautiful people that can be made whole. Instead we see them as just another person who can fill a seat and maybe give some money.
Sure that is a little extreme and I think the answer lies in an area of gray, but if we honestly care for people and see their worth and that is the motivator to proselytize then I think we are on the right track.
I tend to agree with most of what you’ve expressed heffe, even going as far as to say the same thing about our motivations. What I’m interested in exploring as far as tension goes, is what I do if I don’t want to see my friends become Christians, kind of the flip end. Maybe for some that’s okay, but if we really believe that the way of Christ is the way to live, to be totally honest we have to be able to admit to our friends that we deeply wish for them to meet Christ. I will always be quick to follow that up by saying the my friendship is not based on that, but that because we are friends I would feel a little capricious at least if I didn’t desire that for them. (is capricious the right word? it sounded good in my mind)