conversions

I don’t think we give converts enough credit (or, perhaps, enough patience).

Those of us who grew up in the church, do we really understand the immensity of declaring a changed worldview? Even after the change has occurred (in that slow, subtle, steady way that people usually change), the declaration is still a drastic and public event. If the convert is coming from a family or immersed in a culture that looks down on their new beliefs, it’s even harder. They know the questions that will be coming – and even worse, the silent looks, the whispered judgments, the unspoken assumptions.

Let us all give each other the grace to change at our own speed, and the courtesy not to assume we know exactly what those changes entail when they come. But let us also pray for the courage to be honest about our own changes, and not hide behind a comfortable mask as our true self morphs into something else.