Conversion and Community: Theological Ramblings

Oh the struggles of Community. We are doing exegetical studies on 1 Corinthians this semester in Biblical Interpretation. I’ve come to the conclusion that being a member of the church is both a blessing and exceedingly difficult. Every Sunday, whoever does announcements at the 509 reiterates that the church is not a building, but that we are the church. “Community” is something we discuss ALL the time at the 509. Our functional mission statement is “Togethering” which is defined as “everything we do together...living, doubting, following, loving, etc.” As much as togethering sounds wonderful, it is really REALLY hard.

People have a misconception that community is always fun and you always feel included. That is not the case...

But it is still good.

Reading Bonhoeffer’s Life Together helped me to realize that yes, we are the church, and that yes, what we do is a part of what it means to be the church, but having idealistic views of church is not healthy. By denying that living life together is hard, we discourage honest struggle. We make people feel guilty if they don’t get along with someone else. We make them feel like they are bad followers of Christ if they don’t slap on a smile even if they are royally frustrated with someone. I think that what Bonhoeffer is saying is that as we work out what church looks like we are bound to struggle. That struggle isn’t wrong. In fact, Bonhoeffer says “He who loves his dream of a community more than the Christian community itself becomes a destroyer of the later, even though his personal intentions may be ever so honest and earnest and sacrificial.” Living in community is a real struggle, and working towards living as the God honoring church is a process… and it is good.

Also this week, we talked about the process of conversion. I absolutely believe that it is a process. Scott McKnight says that conversion can sometimes be simply gentle nudges of the soul. C.S. Lewis described his experience as "When we set out I did not believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and when we reached the zoo I did." Personally, I know that I prayed the “sinners prayer” when I was twelve, but I did not really understand until later. I feel like I’m STILL in the process of putting my faith in Jesus.

I have felt for a long time now that the American Evangelical idea that conversion happens through a specific prayer at an exact moment in time might not be a healthy way of describing conversion. It excludes people like myself who have grown up in the church and have “always” been a Christian. Although at age 12 I did pray the sinner’s prayer, I believe that I had put my faith and trust in Jesus long before then.

The whole “ask Jesus into your heart” thing is confusing for me. First of all, is it Jesus who enables us to live an empowered life and transforms our will? Or is it the Holy Spirit? I appreciate a strong Christology, but I worry that we teach our Children a lopsided Trinity in which Jesus does everything and the other two persons of the Godhead are simply extraneous. Second of all, the phrase makes it sound like it is a one sided event in which we are the ones to invite Christ into our lives when the Bible talks always talks about God inviting us into HIS mission. Thirdly, it has the potential to minimize the importance of community.

Baptism is an important sacrament that exemplifies identification with Christ’s life, death, and resurrection as well as identification with his church body. By telling a child that all they have to do is ask Jesus into their heart and conversion is “done” they effectively tell the child that by a single act of their own will, they can save their soul AND that it takes place apart from any sort of community. I'm not saying that baptism is definitely necessary for salvation, but I do think that it might be a better way of communicating faith and trust in Christ within the context of church.

These are just some things that I’ve been working through as we are preparing to “officially” enter the mission field. Conversion and community are important realities that I believe we should take the time to really REALLY think through.