Faith in Action, Part 1: Conversion

(a second follow up from holiday – most of the time we went walking, honest)

When my friend set up a church community project seven years ago he used to tell secular agencies that ‘faith is our motivation, not our hidden agenda’. He aimed to alleviate people’s unspoken concerns that we might be raving bible bashers, whilst not apologising for our faith. I appreciated the fact that he raised the issue directly, but still felt uncomfortable that we weren’t getting to the root of non-Christians’ feelings or being completely honest ourselves.

The general gist of the secular argument goes something like this: If you are helping vulnerable or young people from a faith motivation then by helping them they might feel indebted to you or psychologically or sociologically pressurised to become a Christian. A faith based charity might have some groups which are ‘non religious’ but there is always another group or event which you need to ‘believe’ to be a part of. Vulnerable people who have experienced friendship and acceptance for possibly the first time will not want to miss out and so will conform to gain acceptance. If evidence of this pressure is limited the sense of unease remains - ‘well, you’re still setting out to convert people’.

And this is the heart of the matter. Yes. Christian based organisations love to see people become Christians. Christians love to see people discover that they are valuable in God’s eyes – to recognise that they were created with a purpose which no other person can fulfil. To hear the excitement in someone’s voice as they tell the story of how God met with them and filled them with His Holy Spirit, about how the anxieties and sin that had held them and weighed them down for years begins to lift from them. To see people’s confidence grow as they start contributing in a meaningful way to a community.

How could any sympathetic onlooker - Agnostic, Muslim, Hindu or Atheist have a problem with this?

It is clear that that person’s life has changed for the better – they are happier, more content and a more active participant in society. Any funder looking to measure the effectiveness of a charity would be delighted to hear of such a ‘success story’.

Unfortunately for some non religionists there is still a problem. The person now believes the wrong thing! They haven’t changed their life to become an ordinary middle class secularist like them, but now fervently believes all kinds of religious mumbo jumbo. They’ve been hoodwinked into happiness and that’s worse than living their former life of poverty and desperation.

I’ve got two suggestions at this point.

The first is go and persuade people by word and deed that your way of life is both attractive and true ( I appreciated Duncan’s comment here) .

The second is: get over it. Christianity’s either true and they’ve hit the jackpot or it’s false and they’re living a life of more-blissful-than-before-ignorance. If it’s not true they may even grow out of it.

Either way there is no third option: people are entitled to choose to receive support that they think transforms their lives without being patronisingly told that they are being converted to something that isn’t in line with the current intellectual hegemony.

Of course not all strands of Christianity are the same; of course there are occasions where people are manipulated or even abused in the name of or under cover of religion. Of course there are churches which promote unhealthy guilt in their congregations.

Sadly there are abuses of power and trust in all walks of life – secular and religious, some deliberate some without even realising it. Nursing homes and schools, shops and billboards, peer groups and parliament – none escapes the scourge of evil and twisted humanity. If you’re concerned about a particular faith organisation or charity and the impact it may be having on vulnerable people then go and see them. Are they open and transparent or trying to hide their practices away? What do those who are helped by the organisation say about it? If you’re still concerned inform the appropriate authorities – we must all look out signs of abuse.

However, the overwhelming majority of churches or Christians who want to set up a faith based organisation whether it be school, charity or hospital are acting from a rubric of compassion and care. They genuinely want to relieve poverty and distress in a broken, lonely society. They are prepared to put time and money into their efforts. True, some churches have the desire to help, but not the expertise producing poor efforts, but that is why we have inspection regimes and frameworks in the UK to regulate and protect.

Many churches have another motivation which is the transformation of people and society’s lives by the power of Jesus. Or as most would call it, conversion.

Occasionally, the two motives are contradictory because people are seeking conversions as trophies and for protection against the long term decline of their dying rules and rituals. But don’t worry as such groups are unlikely to be very successful – few people choose to board a sinking ship where their only value is as a number on a pew.

Often the two motives take time to work through as church’s grapple with their responsibility to proclaim the Good News with sacrificial actions and efforts as well as words.

Most times the two motives come to mingle together in a powerful and passionate way. Both unconditional compassion and a desire for conversions that change lives day in and day out – for good.