Excellent post! I've often tried to get this same point across to my friends who are Christians. The Scriptures say very little about witnessing to people, but instead strongly admonishes BEING a witness...which is a completely different and more powerful way of bringing anyone to Christ. As the old saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words!" People don't remember WHAT WE SAID. But they do remember WHO WE WERE.

In response to Joshua's comment: The final part of the comment is wise. If we do not have a proper testimony, it will not matter how persuasive we are with our words. As for the first part, though, you cannot be a witness if you do not, in fact, witness. We cannot win people to Christ by merely being neighborly, but we will surely have greater effect with neighbors to whom we are neighborly.

I have more commnets on this post on my own blog.

This reminds me of one of my favourite Lark articles, "Cleveland-area revival attributed to woman's Scripture checks."

I didn't mean to sound as though I was against witnessing. I'm all for it! But nobody of any religion likes telemarketers or door to door salesmen. And I get very irritated when people try to hijack me into some pyramid deal that they themselves hardly know anything about. People don't like being indoctrinated into anything. So why should it be any different when leading people to Christ? It's just my personal opinion that anything you say to lead someone to Christ is better received when what you say is part of a 2-way conversation...not a speech. And sharing is something that friends do...not strangers. You're sharing with a friend what's important to you...not preaching a sermon. These kinds of conversations are also received better when it's already obvious to the other person that what your talking about is something that you really do believe. That requires BEING A WITNESS 1st and then WITNESSING 2nd. This demands of us a little more than we probably want to commit. We don't want to take the time make friends with someone before those questions arise. We want people to get saved on our schedule. If they want answers to serious questions during my TV show, they're just gonna have to wait. If they wanna get saved while I'm studying for a test, let's just hope God doesn't let them die until things are convenient for me. That's not good. We are supposed to be ambassadors of Christ. We should witness to people by showing them how much Christ loves them thru our own personal continuous actions of love. You can't convince people that God loves them by rushing thru a rehearsed speech, shoving a pamphlet in their hand and rushing home to watch TV.

Regarding apologetics, it can be very helpful for removing barriers for "seekers" (those who are interested in Christianity but have not have not yet made a faith commitment). However, I doubt anyone has ever been argued into becoming a Christian.

Regarding Christian knicknacks, they may be useful as conversation starters or (more likely) as reminders to the faithful. If using a "Christian" golf ball keeps a Christian golfer from losing his temper and swearing up a storm on the links, or if having an ichthus on your car reminds you to drive politely, then they've served a useful purpose.

I've known a lot of evangelicals in my life, and the instant any topic relating to religion arose, all "two-way conversation" ceased. One must be genuinely interested in the beliefs and opinions of the other for a conversation to occur; my experience with Christians leads me to believe that they pretend apparent interest in my thoughts while in fact looking for weaknesses and coldly calculating how to begin proselytizing.

they pretend apparent interest in my thoughts while in fact looking for weaknesses and coldly calculating how to begin proselytizing.

I think that's especially true of Christians who are steeped in decision theology, who believe that if they are clever enough, they can persuade you to make the same choice they did.