Do you ever think about the conversion experience that your UPG seekers have? How does the gospel become “good news” to your target population? How can they make the decision to follow Christ? How does their decision affect their relationships with their peers and family? What happens “next” after deciding to follow Christ? There are many spiritual, psychological, and sociological implications to those under your care.
I am currently involved in a research project that is exploring the patterns of 50 individuals who contacted our MTM media office after media campaigns, and eventually became followers of Christ. Our research team conducted in-depth interviews of these 50 individuals to explore the nuances of their conversion pathway. Our research interest involves questions of commonalities and differences in their conversion. One observation that came from the data was that though many made individual decisions, some of them also came to faith with a spouse, sibling, or friend. Many of these individuals also led other Muslims to faith, started Bible study groups, and some groups became house churches. Clearly their conversion pathway included others either at the conversion experience, or soon after they became believers. Conversion was a personal experience and yet it also involved others.
Conversion passages in the New Testament are slightly different from each other, yet there are some patterns that can be observed. For example, group conversions accounted for 86% of conversions in book of Acts. We in the west generally understand Romans 10:9 as an individual conversion passage, and yet the scriptures have many examples of groups coming to faith. See this blog post Me and my Buddies Conversion
In another blog post, there is a discussion of the Fishbein model which states that when people are considering a major decision such as becoming a Christian, they will follow a reasoning process that will eventually engage their friends or relatives in the decision process. See Fishbein Model. This is especially true when people are coming from communal cultures and/or from another religious majority where conversion involves significant risks and identity change. Some sociologists call this high identity conversion.
I recently read a research report on urban church planting movements developed by Two Four Eight from Durbin, South Africa. The report observes that “fruitful urban disciple-makers seem to identify and concentrate their disciple-making engagement at the affinity group level rather than at the people group level.” Affinity groups are pockets of people like Zacchaeus and the tax collectors, businesswoman Lydia from the Thyatira purple cloth guild, and philosophers meeting at the Areopagus in Athens. In each of these, individual conversion and group conversion occur naturally.
In High Identity conversion contexts, a social and psychological construct called entitivity is important. These affinity groups find common cohesion, not in their ethnic group, but in what makes them an “entity.” One effect of entitivity is that group members are willing to withstand persecution considering a group decision of which they are a part. They are willing to be bolder in proclaiming to the outside world their newfound belief because they have a trusted fraternity who supports them in a new belief system.
It is for this reason that we who are MTM practitioners should be cognizant of the role of groups in individuals’ conversion experiences. In Revelations 2:18-25, the church in Thyatira, Lydia’s hometown, withstood significant problems of immorality and syncretism. Jesus honored this group who “held fast” to what they had in Christ. Entitivity groups provide stability to individuals in an emerging fellowship.
