Evangelism

for me, I was trying to get closer to a greek orthodox girl I was dating... I can\'t say, for sure, the depth of her piety, except to say that she stopped going to church once she moved out of her parents\' house... but when asking her about her faith she didn\'t answer very much... but instead just said \\"here\'s the church, go to it, and ask questions later.\\" Orthodoxy is something that cannot be experienced over the internet... or in a book. my first experience was highly sensory, and that was the strongest impression... the incense when first walking in the door, the chanting in greek, watching the priest facing away from me, not at all telling me about going to hell or anything like that... just it was obvious that it was truly worship, he was doing acts of piety that I could in no way understand.... but just watch, as if an exotic bird on the nature channel. I kept going in the spirit of \\"what in the heck did I just see??\\" then, in university, I met, who would become, my spiritual father... and he never talked about converting or anything... he was just content to make sure there was food in my belly, and tell me about miraculous things he had seen with his own eyes. since that time, i realized that every time I saw someone from my church cajole their friends or coworkers to come to liturgy, that those people never returned.... and because of that, I only invited someone if there was some event, like my friend\'s wedding, or once I was going to play some music for the metropolitan on his enthronement, and invited a friend to listen... Those people came away with a strong impression of the church, a sense of mystery, and later asked me more about the church... and even if they haven\'t come back, I think it\'s more of a seed that\'s planted... it can\'t be forced to grow.... I think God will remove the rocks or thorns from the soil to help Orthodoxy grow in the heart of someone if he wishes it to be so... Because each person is different, and is dealt with differently, I think it\'s wrong to come up with some sort of \\"approach\\" to evangelism... just live it, and invite your friend for some party their, and then maybe they might get curious... if not, no big deal.