Christian evangelism may be done by people you know or by strangers. Stranger evangelists may try and talk to you, when you're not interested in religion and would rather be doing something else they accost you and start telling you about Jesus. Alternatively they may do stuff like leaving tracts around, you may see something that looks like a dollar bill, then when you pick it up it’s just telling you to go to church or something. Complete strangers who accost you and start talking about Jesus typically are desperately concerned to save your soul from imagined eternal torment but they are not so interested in you as a person.
- Typically stranger evangelists aren't very interested in what type of a person you are or what type of life you lead. Exception: If they think you’re leading a sinful life they’ll be very quick and very superior in telling you to repent.
- Typically stranger evangelists are only interested in befriending you provided you come to Jesus. If you don’t respond to their evangelism eventually they drop you. (Friendships between Christians and Non-Christians are common and can work. Nevertheless Christian Fundamentalists of the type who evangelize to strangers are taught to socialise only with “the saved”. Mingling “the unsaved” is done purely in order to “save” them and they won’t carry on with you unless they think it’s bringing you to Jesus.) If your companion is telling you to come to Jesus right at the start of a conversation or steering the conversation towards Jesus within a few minutes of the start of the conversation the friendship won’t last.
- Typically stranger evangelists aren't very interested in what you have to say unless you say you’ve decided to follow Jesus. They’d much rather you listen and agree with them while they tell you about Jesus. Exception: Followers of Ray Comfort are taught to ask set questions which lead to answers along the lines of, “I’ve lied, I’ve stolen, I’ve taken god’s name in vain, I’ve looked at the opposite sex with lust, and if god judges me by the Ten Commandments I’ll go to hell. After that the evangelist will explain that only following Ray Comfort’s system will bring you salvation.
- Typically all evangelists tell you how good Christianity is, parts of Christianity that don’t appeal or that look like nonsense are taught later. Exception: Many Christian evangelists start straight away with frightening you about going to hell if you remain “unsaved”.
Efforts by Christians to get you back to their church or to any meeting where they will be the majority should be resisted. When Christians are the majority they can use a type of brainwashing pressure that would be bad for you.
It is alleged that evangelists sometimes can cause psychological damage.
- "By breaking down self-confidence, self-esteem, a sense of one's ability to know what is right intuitively and trust one's own instincts. "- [1]