No, I don't want to find Jesus!

[BastardTart]

I have a friend who is a evangelical Christian. She is lovely, kind, funny, great fun to hang out with, our dc play well together, etc, etc.

But she keeps inviting me to weird brainwashy religious type meetings, where new recruits (for want of a better word) are offered delicious food and a talk about how Jesus wants to welcome them into his flock.

Now her church is a huge part of her life, but religion isn't something for me. But she persists in trying to convert me despite the fact I've stated I'm not interested. How can I get her to stop?

I do sort of believe in God but not a christian myself, more of a pagan so don't mind a few hymns but all the dancing and raising of hands is a bit much for me.

I don't know why but this has got me laughing hysterically.
I think maybe the "raising of hands" thank you Mamabear4180

Another one speaking as an evangelical Christian, we are instructed to share what we believe hence inviting you to church events, but if you’re not interested the right thing is to respect that and just continue being a good friend. Just tell you don’t want to be invited to anything else at her church.

The band (metal, naturally) is Samael. Pretty good actually, perhaps you should have some decent death/satanic metal playing in the car or background next time you meet.

Go for the food.

Im a Christian too and l think you should just tell her firmly not to ask you again and if you change your mind you will let her know. We have to use our common sense as Christians too.

She likes you. She thinks she's doing you a massive favour. The key is to convince her that you are irredeemably determined to burn forever, so she gives up.

Tell her she's not a proper Christian because her church doesn't have apostolic succession. Tell her that you think people are saved by doing good works, not by their belief in God's promises.

Trust me, she'll turn purple and never discuss it again.

Awww, it is a shame when seemingly nice, normal people end up being religious fruit-cakes. Can you faze her out? I really wouldn't have for such nonsense.

*have time for such nonsense

I like church, I go to one but its all very mild. A good friend of ours often invites us over to their church but I can't bear it, its too too much. It scares me a little even, so I had to tell my friends straight out that their church wasn't my thing. If your friend is a real friend, you can continue to spend time in places where you both feel comfortable but you need go be clear that your reason for not attending her church gatherings are because they are not something you want to try.

Does the delicious food come with wine? That could be a game changer

I have a friend who is an evangelical Christian, she mentions in passing (in normal conversation) about going to church and events - she's never asked me. I suppose if I was interested I would have probed for more info....

We once had to go to an evangelical service (family thing) it went on for over 2 fucking hours (we'd only expected to be there for a short time). I was shocked at the number of the congregation who asked us if we were coming again later that day for the same service - and they couldn't believe we said no, visibly shocked!
I think they are so into it they can't believe others wouldn't be.

I got taken, unwittingly, to one of those when I was young and naive in my first year at uni. Didn't realise it was a God-selling event. Didn't discover Jesus but did discover banoffee pie, which is close.

From her point of view you have a god shaped hole that needs filling. She doesn't see the world as people who want to be religious and those that don't, it's just that the holy spirit hasn't worked on you yet. That's why she won't take one brush off as your final say so.

Hide

Just wear some of this, hopefully she get the message.

My grandmother used to feign interest in so many different Christian groups that she got a free meal most days and an outing most weekends. She never believed in a thing.
If you are not as thick-skinned as she was (God rest her soul), just keep saying no. Not just declining the invites as and when they come, but actually being very clear about the fact that you don't want to be invited again.

Every time she brings it up, look mysterious and say 'ah well now, that would be an ecumenical matter'.

I have several family members who are evangelical Christians

It is relentless and exhausting
They are up there with MLM-bots in their ability to turn every single conversation into a recruiting opportunity

Sorry, OP, but they have the hide of a rhino so you just have to keep saying no to everything. They probably won’t take the hint

How do you know it isn’t for you unless you’ve investigated it? Just saying...

If you have, you have...but...if you haven’t...

A polite no I think should suffice. Though maybe if you were invited to her baptism or a ceremony such as becoming a lay preacher, then maybe you should consider going.

That's a common misconception, Rosie. I've not tried a fair few things and am definitely happy to remain ignorant of them :)

Good grief, rosie
That’s straight out of the MLM or religo bot script

My exDP had an evangelical friend, the son of a lay preacher. He asked a couple of times if we'd be interested and then accepted our "no". As a result, we respected his faith because he respected our boundaries.

When I do worship, I'm also quite High Church, which I think is also handy for scaring off the evangelicals, too!

Yeah you need to have a conversation with your friend and tell her you're not interested in going to church.

Or say what I say which is that I can't go to church because I get too hot and burst into flames