Light Stories (Part 2) by James Loftin

The Process of Conversion and Choosing Words that Connect

Stories have the power to move people. Authors, the movie industry, educators throughout history, and Jesus have used this method of communication. In my prior articles (here, here, and here), we discussed crafting our testimonies and identifying the three paths most saving faith journeys take. As you begin to create a brief and clear introduction to why you began to believe in and follow Jesus, you quickly discover the difficulty in finding language that is accurate but also effective for your listeners. How do we understand and explain this mysterious but wonderful experience of conversion?

For hundreds of years, theologians, philosophers and sociologists have tried to understand the nature and the process of religious conversion. Many have tried to create names for the various stages or steps of conversion. The reality is that conversion is not a simple linear process like driving from Atlanta to Orlando. An understanding of the various components of conversion, however, does help us better appreciate and communicate the beauty of God’s gift of life. Here are the stages of conversion listed by David Hesselgrave (Communicating Christ Cross-culturally):

1. Discovery. I received a basic knowledge of God and the Gospel. 
2. Deliberation. I began to think – How will I allow this information to impact my life?
3. Determination. I made a decision, quickly or slowly. I believed in Jesus and committed my life to him.
4. Dissonance. I learned that my new life was in conflict with many of my previous values and habits. I decided to follow Jesus no matter what. 
5. Discipline. I choose to identify with the people of Jesus in his church and participate in God’s mission.

How do these stages match your faith journey? These stages may involve many years or a few minutes, but each stage is vital for a faithful, authentic, biblical conversion. Regardless of the nature of our faith journeys, God’s Spirit was working with us all along the way. A praying mother, a godly professor, a Christian book, a dramatic play, a loving friend, a chance conversation with  a stranger, or a personal crisis may have played a part in your decision to repent and accept Christ’s lordship (1 Corinthians 3:5-10; John 4:34-38). This is the beauty of God’s prevenient grace as the Spirit leading us to the moment we said yes (justifying grace).

My friend Dr. Robert Tuttle often talked about these touches of the Holy Spirit in our faith journeys. He thought of them as links in the chain of grace in our lives. There may be one link that stands out as THE Link. We may give it a date and refer to it as our conversion. That’s fine, but the chain is long, and every link is beautiful and wonderful. It’s all God’s grace.

Word Choices

In writing a brief and clear introduction to how and why you began to follow Jesus, it is critically important to avoid “Christianese” and “churchy” language. This is more difficult than you probably realize. In general, it’s usually best to avoid any proper nouns – the name of your church or camp where you had some experience such as Emmaus, the Passion Conference, or BreakThru Retreat. Here are some recommendations from friends who have rewritten their own testimonies after listening to the advice of people beyond their own culture, faith, and language groups:

• Instead of “born again” use something like: spiritual birth, spiritual awakening, come alive spiritually, given a new life, or my eyes were opened.
• Instead of “saved” use something like: rescued from fear and shame/guilt, delivered from despair, or found hope for life.
• Instead of “lost” use something like: heading in the wrong direction, separated from God, felt so dark, had no hope, or had no purpose.
• Instead of “gospel” use something like: God’s message to the world, the good news about Jesus’ purpose on earth or God’s message of hope for the world.
• Instead of “sin” use something like: rejected God, missed the mark, fell off the right path, rebelled against God’s law, disobedient to God, did not respond to God’s love in a way that honored God, did whatever I wanted to, whatever made me feel good or going my own way with no thought of God.
• Instead of “repented” use something like: admitted I was wrong, changed my mind, heart, or attitude – everything, decided to turn away, turned around, made a 180-degree turn from what I was doing, obeyed God or followed God’s Word.

Please Borrow My Friends

Many Christians are surrounded by people who live, think and talk in very similar ways. Almost all of their friends and family members identify themselves as some type of Christian. They go to a local church or they used to go. They live in a culture where they hear and see Christian language on a regular basis even outside the church world. Consider the messaging Americans often see or hear on billboards and words heard in television and social media interviews with athletes and politicians. And therein is our challenge when it comes to writing our light stories. In our normal lives, we can use language shortcuts and slang because everyone we know “speaks the same language.”

But if you want your faith story to be understood by people outside your group, you have to adjust. That’s difficult if you don’t have any relationships with outsiders. But you have my permission to borrow one of my friends. As your write and edit your Light Story, imagine that your first opportunity to share it will be with one of these friends:

• Davis, a school administrator in China. He has had no exposure to Christianity other than the negative things he has heard from his government messengers.
• Hannah, a medical researcher from Iran who moved to Arkansas. She is a devout Muslim who has never been to a church and knows almost nothing about the faith.
• Keith, a farmer in North Carolina. Although he lived his whole life in the USA, he only went inside a church one time – as a child. He can’t recall even part of one Bible verse he might have heard somewhere. The only Christian song he recognized was the melody – not the lyrics – of Amazing Grace.

Your Job and God’s

To write an effective light story, we need to understand our own journeys to Christ and be diligent about using language that is understood by people who have not had our faith experiences. It takes hard work, but it is fun and very rewarding. 

To be clear, our job is to share; it is God’s job is to draw and convert people. We have a small but important role in God’s glorious mission of light. Sharing our testimonies with grace is a foundational part of Christian discipleship – regardless on one’s training, geography, vocation or temperament. We are – every disciple of Jesus – the light of the world.  

In the next and final article in this series on sharing our light stories, I will provide specific guidance for those who grew up in loving, Christian homes. This is a great blessing, but it requires us to be careful in our language choices if we want pre-Christian friends to understand our stories.