Adults Finding Faith
A study of conversion among the German
protestant mainline churches (Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland)
TEN Theses
1. A central issue: Conversion is not a
phenomenon on the margins
-
Conversion
takes place in the centre of a mainline church environment (or “Volkskirche”).- Converts are people coming from the centre of society.
- In the sampe of the the study, a majority is well educated and middle class or upper middle class.
2. Conversions are experienced in a
wide range of different experiences (Greifswald’s typology of conversion –
“Greifswalder Konversionstypologie”)
The
“Greifswald Typology of Conversion” makes use of three types to describe
conversion pathways. - “growth in confidence” (“Vergewisserung”): People already affiliated to church life experience an assurance of their faith.
- “discovery” (“Entdeckung”): Church members with a loose relation to church discover Christian faith for themselves.
- “turn” or “break” (“Lebenswende”): People who are not members of the church and who were not brought up as Christians have now begun to believe.
Our empirical data revealed that conversion experiences are even more sophisticated. A distinction has to be made between the social background, i.e. the degree to which people are affiliated to a church, and the religious experience of the conversion process.
3.
Mission is possible
Mission is necessary – even in Germany – and it works. Contrary to what
used to be a common perception, a good number of our converts profess that they
had grown up in a social environment where church and faith had played no role
whatsoever.
4.
Conversion can have to do with personal crises – but
not necessarily
On the one hand, 96% of our converts say that they did experience significant
crises – negative or positive. On the other hand, only 40% said that support by
the church or individual Christians during these times was important for their
faith journey.
5. Advocats of conversion
Persons and relationships play a vital role in the conversion process – but
it is different persons at different stages of the process.
6. Supportive Church Activities
During a
conversion process, a wide range of church activities support the converts on
their faith journey. They are less helpful in attracting people from outside
the church, but they work in encouraging people who are already to some degree
affiliated.
7. Nurture courses (“Glaubenskurse”)
Nurture
courses are important for all types of conversion, and to largely the same
degree.
8. Prayer
The
experience of conversion is accompanied by a fresh experience of prayer.
9. Rituals
The stage
of commitment in the conversion process is supported by various forms of ritual
within church life, often more than one or two different forms.
10. Consequences
Converts
are more religious than other people, they experience God in a positive way and
they have a stronger sense of belonging to church than before.For more information about the Institute of Evangelism and Church Development visit http://www-alt.uni-greifswald.de/~theol/~ieeg/english.html
