A bonus video segment here, courtesy of the Washington Post. Over the weekend, they had a pretty good story on how Georgetown University re-wrote their rules for student evangelizing.

Watching this video, I'm struck by the closing comments by Hugh Holmes' use of the Way of the Master method of proselytizing (full disclosure: I'm not a fan of it).

People would have to say they're guilty if they've broken these commandments. So then we ask them, where do guilty people go: do they go to heaven or hell? And people say they go to hell.

But that wouldn't concern people - that guilty people go to hell. If they've already admitted, based on the 10 commandments alone, that they've broken God's laws.

That's just a few things that we use on the streets to simply get people's attention so we can give them the good news of Jesus Christ.

I dunno, I'm seeing very little "good news" in that approach. I realize that it's a now popular approach and I don't doubt the sincerity of people like Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron in their beliefs. But I can't help but notice that the very terms "Christian" calls us to "be like Christ" ... and that Christ doesn't turn up too many places in my Bible dealing with people this way. Simply put, I don't get it. I trust God to use these people for the good of the kingdom, but I don't get this particular approach. Based on this one excerpt from the report, I don't seem to be alone on that:

Nathanael Oakes, who was involved with evangelical student groups at Georgetown until graduating this spring, said many people his age believe that the "broadcasting-your-message" evangelism style of previous generations is an ineffective way to spread the loving word of God.

"The goal isn't the number of Christians -- the goal is to love the people God has placed in your life," he said.

He and Brown cited a term that has become the buzzword of evangelism today for many faiths: relational. That means sharing your faith in the context of a close relationship. Another expression that has become trendy in Christian youth magazines and blogs and on T-shirts is one attributed to 13th century Saint Francis of Assisi: "Preach the gospel; if necessary, use words."

And to that, I say "amen."