I have a hard time believing that. Americans evangelizing in America, where they have had decades of firsthand experience with the culture, are offensive, condescending, and aggressive. Maybe it's better overseas, but I have a hard time believing that someone hardcore enough to fly to a ``hostile'' country wouldn't be even more aggressive.

I think that your experiences in America are very likely different than those who interact with evangelists sent abroad. Here it is easy to be tactless in the name of Jesus because the bar is very low to entry. Since we can “find Jesus” on Sunday and be out preaching on Monday, very often maturity is lacking as people try to evangelize. Add to this that one of our great freedoms in this country is to say whatever we want, offend whomever we want, and get away with it, and it’s easy to understand why evangelism can be so disingenuous here in the U.S. I probably get more frustrated than you do when I see our freedoms utilized by open-air preachers who yell at people about hell and then feel vindicated when people sneer at them.

This behavior is in sharp contrast to all of the evangelists to other countries that I have met, however. They all are very well educated as to the new culture they will be in and show a real heart for the people that they are trying to reach. I’ve sat and listened as they’ve explained cultural ideas that made no sense to me, but nevertheless were essential to understand in order to interact peacefully with those they were trying to help.

I think the reason for all of this is that the bar is much higher for those who are sent to other countries. There is a completely different level of commitment between running up to someone at a gas station to thrust a tract in his or her face, and moving your loved ones across the globe into strange and unknown areas, many times risking death for merely speaking your faith. You might expect that only the “hardcore hostile” Christians will want to make the trip, but I think it’s the reverse. The “hostile” Christians tend to be the immature ones, many times not even serious believers who are treating religion like a fad. Others use belief as a weapon to inflict discomfort on others and bolster their egos. However, this is not an indicant of strong faith: it is the weakest kind, and these are not the individuals I see going overseas.

I realize that there are always going to be bad representations of Christianity, a fact that saddens me a great deal. I’ve known many evangelists, though, and I can tell you they are the most compassionate and noble people I’ve ever met.

I'd have no problem with it if they said ``Here's some food, water, and a Bible,'' but that's not what I've seen them do.

In the end, I think you and I’d agree here, which actually was my point to begin with.