Conversion — a Personal Revolution

International Graduate School of Leadership

Christian conversion is defined as the human response to the saving work of God through Christ. It is an encounter of an individual with Jesus Christ Himself, which establishes a redemptive relationship with God. It is the act of believing and choosing to follow Christ. There are two paradigms of conversion within the evangelical community that seems to describe the variety of experiences that people go through: sudden conversion — the experience of the Apostle Paul, and gradual conversion — the experience of the twelve disciples. This paper aims to conduct a benign critical analysis of predominant methods of evangelism and paradigms of conversion in light of biblical and theological perspectives. The author hopes to help Christians evaluate, rethink and improve on our evangelism efforts and seeks to revisit the Church’s mindset about conversion. Richard Peace says it well when he said that, “the experience of conversion lies at the very heart of evangelism. In order to be effective in evangelism, it is necessary to have a clear and nuanced understanding of the nature of conversion.” Peace has come to believe that “how we conceive of conversion determines how we do evangelism.” The nature of evangelistic activities and methods we employ is greatly dependent on the kind of mindset we adopt concerning conversion. This conviction will be the lens we intend to use as we look at present day evangelism and conversion perspectives.

The subject of conversion has engaged sociologists in Israel and around the world for decades. Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism etc. all have their own understanding of conversion. In this paper it is a tongues speaking Charismatic who is under investigation. Among the issues discussed are: (1) The relationship between macro-historical changes and personal redefinition. (2) The role of “crises”, whether personal or societal, in the conversion process. (3) Does the emphasis on “narratives” preclude a discussion of the crucial rule of “ritual” in conversion? (4) As opposed to “access to wider values,” how do conversions often reflect a choice to join smaller more particularistic associations such as “deviant” groups and “local” churches? The study looks at a case study of Edi Nachman a tradition Baptist turned Spirit filled Charismatic Evangelical whose conversion the author argues is revivalistic a category which has come under some challenge in recent scholarship. Lofland and Stark, Rambo, Heirich, Harding and Beckford all have their perspectives on what is conversion.

Perichoresis, 2018

Conversion is a critical part of Evangelical theology and missiology. It has been defined as a crisis experience or a decision at a specific point in time. However, there is always an aspect of development, a process, involved. Increasingly, the phenomenon of conversion of those from non-Christian backgrounds, for example from other world religions, indicates that how they become followers of Christ is often characterised by a gradual journey, sometimes accompanied by visions and dreams. This paper looks at the phenomenon of conversion through a historical and missiological lens to explain and understand the dynamics of the conversion .

Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses, 1992

, MB R3T 2N2. The research for this article was completed with assistance from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, through the University of Manitoba. their &dquo;Graham crusade decision.&dquo;4 873-90; Donald A. Clelland and Thomas C. Hood, "In the Company of the Converted:

Course Description: This seminar will explore the nature of religious and spiritual change and transformation from the perspectives of anthropology, history, psychology, religious studies, theology, and sociology. Conversion and religious/spiritual transformation are central to Christianity, but to other religions as well. This seminar will introduce students to a wide range of experiences and phenomena that are not only personally profound, but culturally and historically significant. The contours of the contemporary world are, to some degree, shaped by the forces of religious conversion and transformation stimulated by the endeavors of Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Muslims, and many other religious movements. This class will combine the resources of various disciplines to explore these rich phenomena. The format of the class is a graduate seminar. Each student will conduct his or her own research and present it to the class. o Or; We invite you to submit a brief (1 page maximum) written proposal for a third option that fulfils this course requirement: If you select this option, you must submit your written proposal to the faculty by noon on Friday, November 16. Your proposal should include a description of how your project fulfils the assessment criteria. If your proposal is approved, the faculty will notify you via eMail by 11/23.

Pastoral Psychology, 2016

This article provides an introduction to the essays in this issue on the Oxford Handbook of Religious Conversion, edited by Lewis Rambo and Charles Farhadian. After briefly discussing the origins of these essays in a session sponsored by the Religious Conversions Group at the 2015 American Academy of Religion annual meeting, as well as some of the broad historical trends and problems in the study of conversion(s), the essay provides a summary of each author's contributions and suggests that one particular topic— healing—deserves more attention in the study of conversion than it has heretofore enjoyed.

The Person and the Challenges. The Journal of Theology, Education, Canon Law and Social Studies Inspired by Pope John Paul II

Pastoral Psychology, 1989