I first I didn't get what you driving at. But I figured it out. It reminds me of a pastor in the area I was living came and knocked on my door. He asked me the "what if you were to die tonight" question. I told him I was a Christian and that I would go to heaven. That wasn't good enough. Nothing I said could convince him I was a brother in Christ. Never asked me how things were going. Did I have any special needs or help. It was all about ramming Christ down my throat. I just didn't feel the love. If I wasn't a believer. His approach to witnessing his faith would not have enticed me into a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I get it. Love them as Jesus would love them and the sinners pray comes naturally.

I think it is a good tool and starting point, the problem is many people stop after the conversion, after they get the "number". Jesus called us to make disciples, not merely converts, of all nations. also a very interesting fact is this, read the gospels very carefully and pay attention to the disciples, the twelve disciples, notice how they are never fully aware or certain of Jesus, who he was and is. Only toward the end did they maybe start to understand, then Jesus died and they dispersed. After this resurrection, they finally understood, and then the gospel began to spread like wildfire because of them and the breathing of the holy spirit on them and on the rest of the church in Acts 2. We seem to think conversion is the same as disciple-making, but it is not, and even conversion itself can be a very long process for some.

I tend to agree. God saves not people.  We are charged with loving, obeying and spreading the word not with getting notches in our belt.

I'm curious to hear what your definition of treating someone with love is?

Simply put, I see prayer has two different formulas: one is formal and one is not. One is the regular already pre-made and typed up creeds and Our Fathers, the latter- informal, is the more personal and whatever-you'd-like-to-say kind of meditation. 

@husbandofawife@xanga - 

We aren't called to make believers because it's God's will for someone to believe.  My main concern with the sinners prayer is that we actually think it was because of the sinners prayer that the person was saved, like all these hundreds of years people were being missed because we didn't have the sinners prayer or something.  Whether there is was a sinner's prayer present or not, if God granted someone repentance, they were going to repent regardless.  Scripture is perfect enough in itself, that if we share the Gospel with others, God will work through us.  The word does not come back void, it just might harden someone's heart if that was God's will, and not everyone is going to get saved in one visit.  There is really no need to add all these man made efforts to evangelism.

There's nothing I hate more then the 'door-to-door' routine. I've had people show up on my doorstep at 8 am on a Saturday while my then 3 year old daughter was howling for her breakfast (which I couldn't fix fast enough to suit her), and try to talk religion with me. They've stopped by when I was on my way out and in a hurry (flagged me down in my driveway...classy), and insisted upon trying to push the subject even after me telling them (politely - I see no reason to be a jerk unless provoked), that I am not christian.

Pushy. As. Hell.

Even if I were interested in returning to christianity, the recruitment tactics churches use would be a sure turn-off. I don't need someone showing up unannounced, scaring my kids and telling me I'm going to hell if I don't drop everything in my life and start immediately believing in THEIR version of christianity. The part about scaring my kids is true; both of my younger children have autism and they're freaked out by unannounced visitors, especially ones they don't know.

Most companies don't even sell door-to-door anymore. I don't know why churches still insist on doing it.