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Jesus Creed

Let me make a distinction again, because I’m hearing it enough and it is helping some people to see more of what is going on, it puts much of the critique into a smaller niche, and it frees us up to think more of what is going on. Emergent refers to the official organization (or…

The most stimulating discussions I have had over the years in classes and at churches when I am leading a discussion about conversion or about the Jesus Creed “emerge” from this question: What about you, when do you think Peter was converted? Let’s look briefly at the evidence. In John 1 Peter’s brother, Andrew, has…

This is perhaps not what you are looking for. By “clean” I mean that Christians often want to tell conversion stories that are clean: I was a sinner and then I found Jesus and now I’m squeaky clean. This kind of story happens sometimes — and I know lots of people like this. So this…

One of the more interesting features of the Emerging movement (I’m not keen on calling this a “church” until we see some world-wide church structures that encompass the whole) is how it intersects with a fascinating aspect of conversion theory. Conversion theory has concluded that people convert to the Christian faith as a result of…

People convert to the Christian faith as a result of some crisis, though a word needs to be said about the meaning of “crisis.” Before that, this: the standard form of “crisis” we often see is what is called the crisis of “conscience,” and it is usually manifested in a sense of guilt that derives…

Another “emerging” type book crossed my desk and I want to be an advocate for much of what he says. But first, a clarification: Emergent describes the offical organization of Emergent Village and now coordinated by Tony Jones. Emerging describes the many and varied larger and broader sorts of Christian work going on throughout the…

In this series of reflections based on Turning to Jesus, I want to look today at the various kinds of conversion and then at the context out of which the convert comes. The process of conversion — whether suddenly or gradually — involves the movement from one context (whoever we are and wherever we are)…

Trying to define conversion in a meaningful way is not easy, so I will go to two major scholars of conversion theory. In doing this, let me emphasize that the scholarly discussion of conversion avoids specific theological terms, so sometimes this can sound a bit clinical and artificial — but I want to emphasize that…

Each local church, whether radically independent or associated with a larger denomination, institutionalizes a conversion orientation. A church does this by the way it presents the gospel, by the way it teaches Sunday School, by the way it preaches from the pulpit, by the way it shapes the programs and platforms. As I point out…

I will begin a series today on conversion theory and if you’d like to know where I’ll be going, check this out. I’ll work on the process of conversion and point out the ways it can help our evangelism and discipleship ministries.
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