Conversion - Easy, breezy, lemon-squeezy
I, and many like me, had the great Providential privilege of growing up with a wonderful church family. My parents began attending a small mission church in my hometown of Rolla, Missouri that has now grown to be a large congregation with a lot of square footage on its campus. I had wonderful teachers and leaders whom I knew cared about me and led me as I grew to become more involved in ministry and leadership. As a member of the baby-boom generation, I was part of the tide of growth in evangelical Christianity spurred by population growth, post WW2 patriotism linked with Protestantism, and media reach of Billy Graham and others.
It's tempting to make this a rail against the shortsightedness and self-righteousness of contemporary church growth experts who scoff at that model (and who are now replicating the suburban storefront praise band cookie cutter non-denom monosyllabic named church plants that were once so revolutionary and counter-Baptist-cultural). But I won't.
What I want to address is that privilege that I experienced (and not so much my older siblings because of the lateness of my parents' return to the church - I was about 4 or 5). That privilege - again, make no mistake, it is highly valued - brings with it the danger of all privilege and that is an assumption about reality that comes from being surrounded by a culture which does not give rise to questioning. It is not that questioning was discourage or disallowed (although that happens in some circles) but that the questioning simple never happens because there are no mysteries or inconsistencies to be questioned.
One such assumption in my experience was the concept of conversion. In the language of my faith that meant "going forward" - a reference to moving from the pew and walking down the aisle of the church to tell the pastor that you wanted to be "saved". To be saved means that you are saved from the condemnation of your sins which are intolerable to a holy God and therefore must be confessed and forgiven, with the acceptance of the punishment we deserved for wrongdoing (and wrong thinking) having been taken upon the Lord himself with the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. Thus, conversion = salvation.
This general aspect of conversion - the conversion being from one separated from God to one in union with God now and forever - is one with which I have no dispute. The Bible says we are a "new creature" and that we are to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind", so the idea of significant change is the substance of the conversion experience.
The problem for believers is the idea that we are instantly infused with this radical change, like the makeover shows we see on television. Our classic model is the conversion of Saul, who became the Apostle Paul who penned a great deal of our New Testament. He saw a flash of light and heard a heavenly voice and immediately responded in stunned obedience. Except in that account (Acts 9) we see nothing of our traditional altar call. We just see a blinded rebel being led to a wise man who was to give Saul some instruction and relieve Saul's physical and spiritual blindness. Thereafter Paul spent a good amount of time in preparation for what was to be his teaching, preaching, and church planting ministry.
The element that my youthful misunderstanding of conversion missed is the element of time. Yes, I believe that one's name is written in the book of life at a given point in time, but the ongoing process of salvation extends to the end of one's mortal life. As the saying goes: we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved, often expressed as conversion, sanctification, and ultimately glorification as we enter into heaven.
While this may be an elementary lesson in the doctrine of salvation, the idea that we aren't finished yet on the day we accept the Lordship of Christ, is essential to many aspects of our Christian life. Realizing that God is still at work in us, that we are called to be intentional about that work ourselves, and, perhaps most importantly, that other believers are also a work in progress, gives us pause to forgive and forebear with one another. Seeing someone whom we think is saved doing something unChrist-like can be an unnerving experience. We call their salvation into question, elevate our own judgement of ourselves in comparison, or even doubt the saving power of the Lord.
And, yes, we are called to bear fruit, to live blamelessly, to flee from sin, to expel an unrepentant immoral brother from the church, and not allow sin to be an opportunity to celebrate God's forgiveness. But in all of that, each of us is called to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" - the operative word being "work"! We also called to assemble together, to build each other up, to encourage one another, and to be corporately responsible for one another.
Don't leave a struggling Christian behind. Salvation is partly a process that requires time, experiences, failure, and discovery.
It's tempting to make this a rail against the shortsightedness and self-righteousness of contemporary church growth experts who scoff at that model (and who are now replicating the suburban storefront praise band cookie cutter non-denom monosyllabic named church plants that were once so revolutionary and counter-Baptist-cultural). But I won't.
What I want to address is that privilege that I experienced (and not so much my older siblings because of the lateness of my parents' return to the church - I was about 4 or 5). That privilege - again, make no mistake, it is highly valued - brings with it the danger of all privilege and that is an assumption about reality that comes from being surrounded by a culture which does not give rise to questioning. It is not that questioning was discourage or disallowed (although that happens in some circles) but that the questioning simple never happens because there are no mysteries or inconsistencies to be questioned.
One such assumption in my experience was the concept of conversion. In the language of my faith that meant "going forward" - a reference to moving from the pew and walking down the aisle of the church to tell the pastor that you wanted to be "saved". To be saved means that you are saved from the condemnation of your sins which are intolerable to a holy God and therefore must be confessed and forgiven, with the acceptance of the punishment we deserved for wrongdoing (and wrong thinking) having been taken upon the Lord himself with the death of Jesus on the cross and his resurrection. Thus, conversion = salvation.
This general aspect of conversion - the conversion being from one separated from God to one in union with God now and forever - is one with which I have no dispute. The Bible says we are a "new creature" and that we are to be "transformed by the renewing of your mind", so the idea of significant change is the substance of the conversion experience.
The problem for believers is the idea that we are instantly infused with this radical change, like the makeover shows we see on television. Our classic model is the conversion of Saul, who became the Apostle Paul who penned a great deal of our New Testament. He saw a flash of light and heard a heavenly voice and immediately responded in stunned obedience. Except in that account (Acts 9) we see nothing of our traditional altar call. We just see a blinded rebel being led to a wise man who was to give Saul some instruction and relieve Saul's physical and spiritual blindness. Thereafter Paul spent a good amount of time in preparation for what was to be his teaching, preaching, and church planting ministry.
The element that my youthful misunderstanding of conversion missed is the element of time. Yes, I believe that one's name is written in the book of life at a given point in time, but the ongoing process of salvation extends to the end of one's mortal life. As the saying goes: we are saved, we are being saved, and we will be saved, often expressed as conversion, sanctification, and ultimately glorification as we enter into heaven.
While this may be an elementary lesson in the doctrine of salvation, the idea that we aren't finished yet on the day we accept the Lordship of Christ, is essential to many aspects of our Christian life. Realizing that God is still at work in us, that we are called to be intentional about that work ourselves, and, perhaps most importantly, that other believers are also a work in progress, gives us pause to forgive and forebear with one another. Seeing someone whom we think is saved doing something unChrist-like can be an unnerving experience. We call their salvation into question, elevate our own judgement of ourselves in comparison, or even doubt the saving power of the Lord.
And, yes, we are called to bear fruit, to live blamelessly, to flee from sin, to expel an unrepentant immoral brother from the church, and not allow sin to be an opportunity to celebrate God's forgiveness. But in all of that, each of us is called to "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" - the operative word being "work"! We also called to assemble together, to build each other up, to encourage one another, and to be corporately responsible for one another.
Don't leave a struggling Christian behind. Salvation is partly a process that requires time, experiences, failure, and discovery.
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