My family attend our town's gathering to light the star on top of Castle Rock. It was our 9th year to be a part of this community tradition. It's always fun for the family.
In the past, the church on the corner handed out hot cider to cold passer-by's which was a nice service. Now the streets are lined with booths of churches playing "Red
Rover" to the optimal target audience of well-off, family based, home owners.
When I was a church planter, we too had a booth, but my request that we put it at Denver's Pride Festival caused a big fight and one of our elders left because he was so offended at my suggestion.
According to Barna and other sources, church attendance averages about 32% of households and that number has declined 1-2% each year for over a
decade.
I am
not bashing the local church-these are the facts. My perspective comes from 35 years of service and truly diligent effort. I understand the sincerity of wanting to inspire people to know and love God and love their neighbor. I also understand the economic engine behind it all.
The issue as I see it is confusion about "CONVERSION."
So what is a convert? Most of us would say it's a person who became religious or changed religions. The assumption
is that we could convert to ISIS, or Buddhism, Christianity, or Atheism. Thus churches strategize ways to bring people into their conversion machine. Starting with free lip balm or cider at a booth at the town event.
As usual, I have a different perspective on conversion. I believe every person on the planet is a convert. We are all converted to what we believe is true. Since none of
us can possess all truth, we are all at best only partial converts to the truth. We are always being converted throughout life incrementally into wider and more inclusive understandings and experiences of truth. These wider truths replace our narrower truths and we replace one conversion with another. All learning and discovery follows this exact path.
Each step transcends yet includes the previous step. Calculous transcends addition but includes it completely. Ultimate Truth then is integral, and all people of all time are all a part. Jesus compared the process to an expanding kingdom, where new wine skins must replace the old or else the precious contents and
it's containers are lost.
The stork is eventually replaced with the truth of conception. Small town fears are replaced with big city possibilities. Tribal ideas about God are stretched into an inclusive story. Religions gives way to relationship. Fundamentalism is abandoned for freedom.
These are byproducts of conversion.
Conversion is a humble disposition that allows the truth to transform us throughout life, it is not an event that is owned and relegated by religious institutions.
