by Sharon Ely Pearson
A recent question on a Christian educators’ list-serve (NAECED) regarded a request from some grandparents who desired to bring their grandchildren “to Christ.” The query prompted several deep responses from several individuals, which caused me to reflect on what conversion means as well as the Christian formation of children. What do we mean when we say we want to lead someone to Christ? Or when we say we’ve had a “conversion experience”?
According to Wikipedia, “Conversion to Christianity primarily involves belief (faith) in God, repentance of sin, acknowledgement of falling far short of God’s glory and holiness and confession of Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the all-sufficient and only means by whom one’s sin can be atoned for and therefore the only route to salvation (John 14:16).” Phew! I can concur with the first part – but I’ve always had difficulty in the “you’re in, you’re out” belief system. After all, I’m not God calling the shots. For me, Jesus is the Way, but that is something that has come with time, struggles, and doubts. I was raised a Christian and never “left,” but I can’t make judgments on anyone else’s salvation.
The Tyndale New Bible Dictionary says conversion is “a turning, or returning to God” and it is “man’s own act, deliberately considered, freely chosen and spontaneously performed. Yet the Bible makes it clear that it is also, in a more fundamental sense, God’s work in him.” From The Oxford Companion to the Bible: “Conversion refers to two different kind of ‘turning’ to God: the change of allegiance from one religion (or branch of a religion) to another; and the movement from lack of faith or purely formal faith to commitment, or, with a moral emphasis, from a life of sin to one of attempted virtue in obedience to God.” These seem a bit more compatible with the Baptismal Promises I re-affirm today. I was only 12 when I was confirmed, so hadn’t a clue as to what I was really saying “I do” to. But as an adult, I can make a commitment to living the life God calls me to – and doing my best to act upon it on a daily basis.
Traci Lazenby Elliot, a Christian Educator, compares the conversion experience “as being like falling ‘in love,’ and our less dramatic way of thinking of relationship with God being like marriage. Without the faithfulness of long-term relationships, that falling experience isn’t worth all that much, it seems to me. A big part of my adult faith life has been about recovering or healing from things that people – well-meaning people! – said to me about God as a child, like that I’d eventually have a conversion experience. In fact, I guess, now that I think about it, that’s a part of why I do what I do for a living.”
What damage can we do to a child’s understanding of God if we insist they believe a set of doctrine or instill in them a sense of guilt or sinfulness? According to Jerome Berryman (Teaching Godly Play: Mentoring the Spiritual Lives of Children), children already have a relationship to God, and it is our responsibility to provide a safe environment in which they can explore with awe and wonder the stories of God and Jesus as a beloved Child of God. Marcus Borg (Meeting God Again for the First Time) believes we spend much of our adult spiritual lives trying to unlearn what we were taught as children.
“My journey began in the Reformed tradition (Christian Reformed), and it wasn’t until leaving the nearly pathologically protected fold of church and Christian school (entering high school) that I first heard language around “accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord” as a discrete, transformative event. Our understanding had been that we were either securely held within the covenant, or sadly outside of it (in a doomed sort of way). That is, of course, an oversimplification of Reformed theology, but it was the practical framework out of which we (back in the fold) viewed the world,” explained Dirk deVries, Christian educator, editor and Director of Curriculum Development for Morehouse Education Resources.
Traci further explained, “As a person who comes from a Protestant tradition that expected a dramatic, conversion kind of experience, but whose faith journey has led me into the “frozen chosen” fold, the language of Godly Play has been really helpful in bridging what can seem like a divide. When we talk about the prophets, or the patriarchs, or even Mary, we say, “And God came so close to (Abraham/Moses/Mary) and (Abraham/Moses/Mary) came so close to God, that (Abraham/Moses/Mary) knew what God wanted her to do.” The conversion experience is very like that, I think. God coming close to us, and us drawing close to God – or just allowing that closeness from God. We try always to be close to God. Sometimes, though, we come *so* close to God, that we experience God more intimately. I think as Episcopalians, we expect ourselves continually and continuously to accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, over and over again, every day, perhaps even every second of every day, and certainly every Sunday, in the Eucharist. Our practices help to keep us open to those moments when God might break through and “come so close” to us, but we don’t exclude those whose experiences of God are more subtle or inarticulate.
Dirk continued, “My exposure to Godly Play, working closely with Jerome as the editor of the initial volumes in The Complete Guide to Godly Play from Living the Good News, meant the next liberating step in what I understood it could mean to be in relationship to God, and I love the way you’ve [Traci] stated that so nicely. God draws so close to us, and we draw so close to God, that transformation is inevitable, sometimes disturbingly (think of Moses before the burning bush or crammed in the cleft of the mountain), but always, ultimately, joyously. Between then (in the CRC) and now (hmmm…fairly undefined, though strongly resonating with my Episcopal colleagues in MER/CPI), the road led through evangelicalism, back into the Reformed tradition (as a pastor), and finally, thankfully, to the Episcopal/Catholic influence of those at Living the Good News. Looking back, what led me to embrace something broader was having someone articulate the difference between a community of faith and what was labeled “Jesus-and-me” Christianity. All it took was hearing that phrase – it was an epiphany, a wake-up slap in the face. That was exactly what I’d embraced, and something in me knew that it was flawed: it was all just Jesus and me. Having someone name it helped free me from it.”
Jim Wallis, the well known evangelical activist and spiritual leader of Sojourners Community in Washington DC, wrote in his book The Call to Conversion, “The goal of biblical conversion is not to save souls apart from history but to bring the kingdom of God into the world with explosive force; it begins with individuals but is for the sake of the world. The more strongly present that goal is, the more genuinely a biblical conversion is. Churches today are tragically split between those who stress conversion but have forgotten its goal, and those who emphasize Christian social action but have forgotten the necessity for conversion”
With children, Elizabeth Ring (Resource Center Director in the Episcopal Diocese of Maine) has some sage advice, “Think stories about times when the presence of God was palpable. We can’t create those moments, but we can be open to them. And sometimes the Holy Spirit just needs to break through our muck. I think we all have personal stories of times when we felt something impossible to articulate, but somehow a clear message that God was there. I can remember two following the death of a beloved person; one was a deep sense that he was safe and cared for and one was that I would be okay. I would look for books for these children that were about encounters with God, directly or indirectly, and then let the Holy Spirit do the rest. I think it would also be great if the grandparents could start finding ways to tell their stories of sensing God’s presence that would be engaging for their grandchildren.”
Depending on one’s faith tradition and upbringing, I believe we all have our own definitions of conversion, sin, and salvation. I believe conversion is about a profound change in one’s belief system as well as one’s lifestyle. Conversion is about a change of heart that results in a change of living. Conversion to Jesus Christ involves the whole person, that is, not only the way we think, but also the way we behave and the way we engage and construct our self, community and society. And I don’t think it has to happen in one “Come-to-Jesus” moment – for a child or an adult.
I believe it is based on relationships – with God and others in community – who witness to God’s power and love. Not out of guilt. A lasting faith is built on love. That is how we can bring children to Christ – be present, be caring, be open to how God will speak to them on their terms.
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