I’m sure you’re right that there are places and times where cold-contact evangelism is more appropriate than at other times. But let me try to put the question as pointedly as I can: Should Christians feel guilty if they’re not out regularly doing cold-contact evangelism?

I’ve been taught all my life that it’s a good thing—and perhaps even to be expected of Christians—that they be doing contact evangelism. In other words, I’ve grown up being told that if I am to be a sold-out Christian, I need to be going out on Saturday mornings, knocking on doors, handing people a gift basket or a light bulb, and asking them if I can share with them about the “gift of God” or the “light of the world,” respectively. Or I need to be hanging out at a local shopping mall, intercepting people to do a “spiritual survey” with them, and looking for a way to transition to the Gospel.

Well, the fact is I don’t particularly like doing that sort of thing. As I said earlier, I find it uncomfortable and even a little distasteful. But I wonder, am I wrong to feel that way? I mean, on the one hand, people have definitely been brought to faith by cold-contact evangelism. And I have many friends who do that kind of evangelism pretty often.

But on the other hand, I also know that cold-contact evangelism, even when it is “successful,” tends to result in more decisions than real conversions. There’s also just the bare fact that if someone pigeon-holed me in a mall, or showed up on my doorstep with a light bulb, I would find that somewhat less than endearing.

So to put a fine point on it—When I have a free Saturday morning, should I feel guilty if I’m not out on the street knocking on doors handing out light bulbs, or standing in a mall giving spiritual surveys, or even handing out tracts at the door of SAC? To push it a little further, is there ever really a time when cold-contact is a better strategy for spreading the Gospel than relational evangelism?

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