Missionary work in the spirit of “the truth speaks for itself”
In the reflection of the stories of the expelled it appears that the missionary work of the Christians followed an older model, not the conversational model that considers the viewpoints and opinions of the other person, which is the general practice of Christian churches today. We believed in the principle that the truth speaks for itself - writes Aranka - but frequently we did not have enough trust in this and we tried forcefully to prove something, to get someone to agree, and we had too little trust in God. We expected the converts to separate from their old environment too early. If someone could not undertake our lifestyle, we said he was not open minded. Frequently we did not notice that our attitude and demeanor was dismissive, our behavior cold and unloving. We often overemphasized rejection, being careful not to participate in something evil, not to be associated with non-Christians, thus merciful love was generally missing” (Aranka).
When they spoke to someone at Christian youth events, to the question who they are, what religion, church they belong to, the Christians generally gave evasive responses, like “we do not belong to any church”. Some expressed even more serious criticism: “We were not heralding God but our lifestyle, and we expected people to agree with us in less important issues”, “We were heralding our lifestyle not the essence of Christianity, thinking that a mature Christian could not live with God in any other way than us.”
While certain Christian movements (such as the Catholic Focolare) primarily evangelize in the surroundings of their members (family, workplace, school), moreover primarily by setting an example, the Christians - missing this opportunity - travelled to distant places without particular preparation and - according to Antal - in groups that were not like a team.