Empowering destitute people towards transforming communities

4Missions with the destitute bring about conversion

Conversion basically means “a turning, or returning” to God (Douglas et al. 1988:228).
Gutierrez (1983:95) observes that every spiritual journey starts with conversion: it involves a break with the life lived up to that point. This is also true of missions with the destitute. Our journey of missions with the destitute will bring about change; we change – meaning we experience conversion. They change, and , one would hope, experience their own conversions. It is an ongoing process, challenging as well as reciprocal in nature.
In doing missions with the destitute, what kind of conversion are we talking about, who must convert, and when can we stop converting, if ever?

4.1Conversion must be both personal and corporate

Traditional understandings of conversion focused initially on personal conversion, and subsequently as something we “take to them and make them experience”. However, this approach completely neglected any understanding of the fact that we also experience conversion when we engage in doing missions with people. It also neglected a respect for people by coercing them to convert, often with “fear of hell” as the main weapon, instead of discovering with them what could be, glimpsing with them images of God’s love, in a way that would draw instead of drive people to God.
As a result conversion today is perceived rather like a two-sided coin: on the one hand it is a very personal concept, on the other it must also include corporate conversion. Both are necessary.
The concept of personal conversion is emphasized strongly in the New Testament, as opposed to corporate conversion in the Old Testament (Douglas et al., 1988:228). Van Reenen (1996:23) explains the personal aspect of conversion in observing that part of missions must include conversion, where conversion is: (1) "turning from self which is in rebellion against God, turning to God through faith in the finished work of Christ on the cross, and coming into union with him through the saving blood of Jesus Christ". Kallenberg (2002:32) expands this understanding when he defines conversion as also including: "the change of one's social identity, the acquisition of a new conceptual language, and the shifting of one's paradigm".
Douglas et al. (1988:228) note that the Old Testament speaks mostly about national conversions: where the community (and sometimes individuals) needed to (re)turn to God because they had strayed out of His paths. Today, we need conversion on a social and communal level. This includes conversion of faith communities, but also conversion in terms of public and social systems, as addressed in Liberation Theology.
Sears (2005:4) touches more fully on the social-communal facet of conversion in pointing out that the actions of social healing in which the church engages are meant to transform ourselves, our churches and our society so that we can more effectively carry out the Gospel: which includes tackling injustice.
De Beer (2003:4) echoes this in the thought, “Hearing the calls to conversion”. He writes:

As we become present in and with the city, as we face death in all its different forms, as we analyse power outside us and within, we might hear the Spirit calling us to new conversions. Just becoming a Public Church in itself requires a conversion from a privatized faith to a public faith, from a narrow spirituality to a holistic spirituality, from a commitment to evangelism in a narrow sense to a commitment to wholeness in every sphere of the city. But we might also be called to conversion from our own use of power, our own apathy, our own abandonment of the public arena (De Beer, 2003:4).

De Beer adds another dimension to conversion by reflecting on the issue of personal and corporate conversion in a different manner: he states that conversion would include experiences of death. He puts this as follows:

As we read and deconstruct the city we will be exposed to death in our midst. Real physical death caused by violence and crime, AIDS and TB. But also the death of apathy and loneliness, of xenophobia and other exclusions, of godforsakeness and ecological disaster. The death caused by the primacy of cars over people, and roads over parks. The death within our own hearts, because we have become silent. The death of a church theology that has abandoned the public spaces to other forces (De Beer, 2003:4)

It would seem that conversion is always personal, yet it must not stop there: the personal changes we experience must motivate us to influence our society and social systems to corporate conversion, so that social healing and social justice can become reality. This could often include death, sometimes painful death, so that something new can rise from the ashes.
In terms of the destitute, there is a need for personal conversion among the destitute, as well as among the people doing missions with them, but there is also a need for social-communal conversions that would create a society of justice. In such a society the poor would not have to suffer as they do, and destitution would be improbable.

4.2Conversion should be reciprocal

When we do missions with others, with the destitute, who is supposed to be converted? Obviously we want them to “convert” in the sense that they embrace Jesus as Saviour, yet this is but a part of the bigger picture of conversion. Doing missions with others means that there should always be a move towards the conversion of every party involved. This gives doing missions with the destitute its reciprocal character. If an influence to convert is felt, then it must be felt by all.
Bevans and Schroeder (2005:xv) describe mission as the effort to effect passage over the boundary between faith in Jesus Christ and its absence. They continue:

…in this understanding of mission, the basic function of Christian proclamation, dialogue, witness, service, worship, liberation and nurture are of specific concern. And in that context questions arise, including: ‘How does the transition from one cultural context to another influence the shape and interaction between these dynamic functions, especially in regard to the cultural and religious plurality that comprises the global context of Christian life and mission?’

This influence spells out “conversion”. In doing missions with others (in this case the destitute), interaction (in terms of the facts mentioned above) exerts influence, and this influence brings about change. Such a change is conversion from one way of thinking to another, from one way of doing to another. It represents conversion brought about by the context in which we are doing missions, and by the people with whom we are doing missions. At the same time, in a reciprocal fashion, they experience the same kind of influence, leading to their own unique conversions.
Boff (1999:44) highlights the fact that the church needs to be evangelized by cultures, so that conversion can take place, quoting the Puebla final document (no. 1147) that recognizes the evangelizing power of the poor in the words: “(the poor) challenge the church constantly, calling it to conversion”.
And even though conversion when doing mission with others can be a challenging and sometimes daunting idea, we ought to openly submit ourselves to “Cross-cultural reality testing” (Hiebert, Shaw & Tienou, 1999:27). Consciously submitting to such testing must bring about conversion. In the words of these writers:

Cross-cultural reality testing forces people to examine both their own and others' understandings of reality. Most people simply assume that the way they look at things is the way things really are, and judge other cultures' views of reality before understanding them. These judgments are based on ethnocentrism, which closes the door to further understanding and communication. Furthermore, ethnocentric judgments keep missionaries from examining their own beliefs and values to determine which of them are based on biblical foundations and which on their cultural beliefs.

Reciprocal conversions will not only empower the destitute towards SHALOM, but will also change the way we do missions with the destitute. As we “convert”, we will do missions differently, we will manifest the Missio Dei in a better way.