Is Conversion a Four-Letter Word? Part I

  Ways of seeing 
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OVERVIEW
Here a little picture of where this series is going:

PART I - Introduction

PART II – How Modernity and Postmodernity Affect People’s View of Conversion

PART III – For Those Who Consider Conversion a Four-Letter Word

PART IV – Conclusion

INTRODUCTION
When I mention the word conversion to any group of people, it always elicits a mixed reaction.  There are some people who get excited because they have seen the transformation that comes through Christ.  But, for an increasing number of people today, including people in the congregations I serve, conversion has become a four-letter word.

When I mention this word and ask them to share with me the first words that come to their mind, the most common responses are negative – argumentative, intolerant, arrogant, manipulative – the same words used to describe a bad used-car salesmen.  As a result, many Christians have shied away from evangelism and have formed negative perceptions of conversion.

Other Christians consider their faith to be real but private.  For them, the gospel is a transaction that took place when they accepted Jesus’ death as a payment for their entrance into Heaven and has been reduced to a private affair between themselves and God.  In turn, this reductionist view of the gospel becomes irrelevant to the world around them in light of the real problems we face, whether it be poverty, senseless violence, ecological disasters, or the breakup of families.  In time, these people become “ashamed” of the gospel because it is not big enough for these problems.  Both the pushy person as well as the person whose faith is private are unknowingly under the spell of modernity.

But I have also had numerous conversations with Christians I serve that go something like this: “I don’t know why Christians always try to convert others.  I mean, I believe in Jesus, but who am I to think that I need to convert the little Muslim girl in Indonesia?  I hate it when Christians think they have to convert everybody.  I’ve met many Muslims who are much more loving and devoted to God than many Christians I know.”

These people remind me of the Crusades and the war that Bush (supposedly under God’s approval) initiated.  Is the gospel of mercy and grace simply a “mask concealing a political grab for domination and control” (Brownson in Hunsberger 1996:229)?  Are our only options to adopt a “vicious relativism”  or submit to a tolerant syncretism?  This would be the thought of some who live under a certain understanding of post-modernity.

This thesis posits that both modernity and post-modernity have contributed to conversion being perceived as a four-letter word. However, as we re-evaluate the nature of conversion and the practice of evangelism, Christ-followers will be motivated to re-engage in God’s mission with a new sense of vigor.  I plan to accomplish this with the help of various authors, lecture notes, conversations, and articles.  So let’s start the journey. The next blog entry in this series will be: How Modernity Affect's People's View of Conversion.

Comments

[Kathy]

This is a much needed conversation. Looking forward to it.

[JR Woodward]

Kathy,

Yeah, I think you will enjoy this series. I look forward to any input you might have. Peace.