Concepts of Conversion in the Inner City
By Shai Linne
What do people in America’s inner cities think about conversion?
I’m not referring the geographic center of cities, but to the urban areas that are often riddled by crime and characterized by social and economic blight. From west Philadelphia to Chicago’s south side; from the Flatbush section of Brooklyn to Watts in Los Angeles; from Anacostia in southeast Washington D.C. to the north side of St. Louis—what are the common understandings about how one becomes a Christian?
TOUGH QUESTION
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Six Ways to Give Your People False Assurance
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As a pastor, I interact with a lot of people who struggle to have confidence in the authenticity of their conversion. To their mind, their sin clings closely and their failings are always at hand. Most of the time, I find that these are faithful brothers and sisters who need comfort and reassurance.
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Testimonies of the Underestimated Gospel
9Marks asked all the T4G plenary and break-out speakers and panelists to provide us with a one sentence answer to this question:
What were the human means and instruments of your conversion?
Thabiti Anyabwile: I was converted during the preaching of Exodus 32 in a Sunday morning worship service.
Matt Chandler: I was converted by the witness of a good friend.
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Conversion and Your Church’s Architecture
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In 2004, our church building project hit a wall.
Up to that point, our plans to expand the church facility had moved forward slowly but surely. The congregation had approved drawings, voted to build, raised funds, and hired specialists to acquire the necessary building permits. And one by one the town granted our permits, until we came to the Board of Health. In 2004, the Board indicated that our septic system plans would not pass. So we withdrew our application from the town.
GOOD INTENTIONS
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The Corporate Component of Conversion
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If your doctrine of conversion is missing the corporate element, it’s missing an essential piece of the whole. A covenant head comes with a covenant people.
VERTICAL FIRST, HORIZONTAL INSEPARABLY SECOND
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Conversion, God, and the Whole Self
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From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture is clear that conversion is absolutely necessary for individuals to experience salvation and know God. Unless we turn from our sin and turn to God, unless we know experientially what the Bible describes as a spiritual, supernatural circumcision of the heart (Deut. 30:6; Rom. 2:25-29), we will not know God savingly and will stand under his judgment and wrath (Eph. 2:1-3).
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Conversion in the New Testament
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This is part 2 of a two part biblical theology of conversion. Click here for part 1.
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Conversion and the Story of Israel
Virtually everyone today emphasizes that what we have in the Bible is a story, and rightly so. It has often been characterized as the story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. It’s moving from creation to new creation.
Where does conversion fit into the story? It belongs to the part involving redemption.
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His Arm Is Strong to Save: A Trajectory of Conversion in America
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The room is dark and packed. Heat surges over the crowd, which sits enthralled by the lone man standing before them. He is holding forth for his audience, engaging their emotions and pointing toward a bold new reality. They reward him with whoops and yells. Eventually, the prophet ascends to a rhetorical climax: The need is dire, and the way forward is clear. Let’s go!
The response is thunderous. Revival has come.
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The Beauty of Conversion
By Jared Wilson
To many, the Christian doctrine of conversion appears anything but beautiful. They say it’s coercive—“No one will force their beliefs on me!” Or it’s offensive—“Who are you to say that what I believe and how I live is wrong?”
In those senses, of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The most important thing about doctrine is not whether it’s ugly or beautiful, but whether it’s false or true. That said, the true doctrine of Christian conversion is just plain beautiful.
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