Conversion: How God Creates a People

by Michael Lawrence

Does what a church believes about how people become Christians change how we do evangelism? In this concise book, Michael Lawrence explains the doctrine of conversion and helps us consider the relationship between what we believe about how people are saved and our approach to sharing the gospel in the context of the local church. Readers of this book will understand how the local church should participate in the conversion process through ordinary means, such as biblical preaching and intentional relationships.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Christian Living, Ecclesiology, Church, Faith, Christianity

144 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2017

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.


MICHAEL LAWRENCE is senior pastor of Hinson Baptist Church in Portland, OR. He earned a PhD in church history from Cambridge University and an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He previously served as associate pastor at Capitol Hill Baptist Church with Mark Dever. In addition to his books, he's contributed to Why I am a Baptist, edited by Tom Nettles and Russel Moore, and Sex and the Supremacy of Christ, edited by John Piper and Justin Taylor. He's also written for the 9Marks Journal, Christian History Magazine, dating advice for Boundless E-zine, and is a contributor to Preaching Today. Married, with five children, he loves jazz, indie rock, and exploring the Pacific Northwest.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just phenomenal.

[Ben Omer · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most important books I’ve read. How Christian’s understand conversion (how people are saved) will determine how Christian’s do everything else. When we have a biblical view of conversion, everything else falls into place.

How we think about God, ourselves, the church, discipleship, evangelism, etc. is all determined by that one thing. I implore everyone to read this book.

Biggest takeaway: win them to Christ first, not community first

[Michael Stilley · Rating 5 out of 5]

So good. I remember first reading this book overseas with several groups of people, many of whom were nominal Christians from various backgrounds. The Lord used this book to awaken several to the realization that they had never truly been born again and needed to trust Christ for the first time. Others, steeped in legalism, came to true assurance as they recognized that their standards for holiness were unbiblical and leaned on other church members to help them see evidences of God’s grace. I love this book and am grateful for the opportunity to read it again years later.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

5+ ⭐️ This has been the most impactful of the series so far. I will definitely read again and chew on many glorious truths!

[Nathanaël · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ce livre fait partie de la série Building Healthy Churches publiée par 9Marks (et traduite par Publication Chrétienne), dont j’ai lu la plupart des ouvrages, sur la discipline d’Eglise, les anciens, le discipulat, l’évangélisation, entre autre. Mais je dois dire que La conversion, de Michael Lawrence, est celui qui m’a le plus marqué. J’ai remarqué en discutant avec des frères que mon expérience était similaire à la leur : ils se sont tous, à un moment ou l’autre, reconnu dans ce que décrivait l’auteur sur l’expérience de conversion. Si vous vous dites chrétien et que vous lisez ce livre, il vous parlera certainement, que vous soyez sincère, ou hypocrite. Cela peut paraître provocateur mais je le dis volontairement, car c’est aussi dans cet esprit que le livre a été écrit. Nous savons très bien que dans toute Eglise locale il y a des chrétiens authentiques et des chrétiens imposteurs, et cela pour différentes raisons présentées dans ce livre.

J’ai apprécié la manière à la fois douce et ferme avec laquelle Michael Lawrence présente le problème grave des fausses conversions produites par un Evangile corrompu d’une manière ou d’une autre. Ses premiers chapitres sont construits autour du schéma "vérité/imposture". Cela permet d’abord de déconstruire les mauvaises conceptions de l’Evangile et de la conversion, avant d’aboutir aux implications que cela a pour notre vie chrétienne au sein et en dehors de l’Eglise, pour notre évangélisation, et pour le ministère.

Je crois que c’est par la manière sincère et directe avec laquelle l’auteur aborde ces thèmes que tout chrétien finit par se reconnaitre dans les lignes de ce livre. Je pense notamment à ceux qui ont grandit dans des familles chrétiennes, dans l’Eglise, entendant pendants des années des enseignements moralistes ou légalistes, croyant que c’était cela l’essence de l’Evangile et du christianisme, se rendant compte des années plus tard qu’il n’en était rien. Pour ceux qui sont dans cette situation et qui n'en ont pas encore pris conscience, ce livre peut les amener à réaliser qu'ils se trompent sur leur compréhension de l'Evangile et de leur conversion.

Une de mes craintes était que ce livre débouche sur la conception d’une Eglise absolument pure uniquement constituée de régénérés. Bien que je partage le désir tout à fait légitime et biblique de l’auteur de voir l'Eglise purifiée par le Saint Esprit à travers la Parole de Dieu, j’ai trouvé très pertinent et appréciable le fait qu’il conclue son livre par un chapitre dédié à ce risque en particuliers. Cela permet au lecteur de ne pas finir ces pages avec une vision irréaliste de l’Eglise dans l’attente du retour de Christ, en cherchant à dénicher tous les non-régénérés dans son assemblée et à les expluser. Comme le dit Michael Lawrence : "l'Eglise n'est pas pour ceux qui qui sont déjà arrivés au Paradis, mais pour ceux dont l'espoir et l'attente sont tournées vers celui-ci" et ailleurs "La communauté de l'Eglise est l'école de la foi, et non le panthéon de la foi".

En résumé, vous ressortirez de ce livre avec une bonne définition de l’Evangile et de la conversion authentique telle que la Bible les décrit, ainsi que des raisons pour lesquelles ce sujet est crucial pour la vie du chrétien et de l’Eglise du Christ.

[Ben Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This just might be the best book in this series. Lawrence beautifully weaves together all the threads of local church theology and practice in a typical 9Marks fashion. I highly recommend this excellent book on such an important and relevant topic!

[Drew French · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve long thought that conversion is the most foundationally important and unknowingly misunderstood and actually controversial of the 9 Marks. I think this book also stands as the best of the series. This book winsomely exposes a blind spot for many evangelicals. Must read!

[Andrew Krom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! Practical. Easy to Read. Very helpful in correcting many errors in the church regarding conversion.

[Tanner Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

I put off reading this one because I felt like it was kind of self-explanatory, but this was still wonderful. It was the encouragement to not push people to believe they know Christ when they actually don’t. Ecclesiological principles may help add unnecessary confusion when we need to make it abundantly clear what a Christian is.

[Caleb Browne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm convinced every member of church leadership, along with their congregation, needs to read this book.

[Matt Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

UPDATE AGAIN: Another read through with my church. So good.

UPDATE: I just read this again in order to lead my church through a discussion of it and decided to upgrade it to 5 stars. I’ve found that this book has really influenced my preaching and discipling over the last year or so. I’ve also found it useful in membership interviews as people have described their understanding of the gospel and their testimonies. A great and important book.

Michael Lawrence has written a needed corrective for the church. The Bible's description of conversion impacts us, our churches, and our evangelism. Lawrence demonstrates that a right doctrine of conversion impacts these areas. This book therefore challenges our theology and our practice.

I'd recommend it for new Christians seeking to grapple with their newfound faith and long time Christians who don't seem to understand that their faith in Jesus necessarily entails change in their faith.

[Josh Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The introduction to this book captured my attention right away. Why? Because it is a story I have heard shared all too often by Christians that I have both read of and know personally. Here is part of the introduction:

"Recently I was talking to one of my friends about his two adult kids. He's worried about them. They're not into drugs or partying. They both have healthy, warm relationships with their parents and peers. They went to excellent universities and excelled. They're athletic, ambitious, beautiful, charming young adults. If they were your kids, you'd be proud of them, as my friend is. Still, you're be worried, because neither of them seems to have the slightest interest in Jesus Christ. And to make matters more difficult, both of them identify themselves as Christians.

These two kids were raised in the church. They learned their Bible lessons in Sunday School. They were active in the youth group. They were never outwardly rebellious. They each prayed 'the sinner's prayer.' They were baptized. When they went off to college, they kept the nice, moral behavior they'd learned at church, but...

They basically left Jesus behind. They didn't abandon the name of 'Christian.' They simply stopped showing interest in the Christian life.

You understand why my friend is worried. He has nice kids who are convinced they don't need Jesus because they already have him. yet the more he watches their adult lives unfold, the less and less confident he is that they even know Jesus at all."

The author goes on to say in the introduction the following:

"Of course, this isn't a problem that just affects parents and children. It affects churches. When our converts from one evangelistic campaign are nowhere to be seen when the next campaign rolls around; when our members treat church as optional, to be balanced with sports leagues and vacation houses; when giving and attendance fall far short of the membership numbers; when volunteers are hard to find unless it's a social event, the problem isn't our evangelism technique, or poor leadership, or uninteresting worship services, or bad volunteer management. The problem may well be our practical theology of conversion. Too often we treat the symptoms. But what we really need is to go after the underlying disease."

The book covers everything from true salvation to how we respond to those who have been saved to proper evangelism. And yet, the book is a short read. Only 128 pages long.

Here are the chapter titles:

New, Not Nice: The Necessity of Regeneration
Saved, Not Sincere: God's Work, Not Ours
Disciples, Not Decisions: The Character of Our Response
Holy, Not Healed: Implications for the Christian Life
Distinct, Not Designed: Implications for the Corporate Life of the Church
Summon, Don't Sell: Implications for our Evangelism
Assess before you Assure: Implications for Ministry
Charitable, Not Chary: The Danger of an Overly Pure Church

I encourage every Christian to read this book and really consider the Scriptural truth of its contents!

[Alex Shepard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great resource for rightly understanding how God brings sinners from the domain of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son and the application of this for the local church. This is an especially important doctrine to understand amidst the confusion that is often brought about by moralistic, emotionally charged, and number-seeking efforts that cheapen God’s grace and minimize sin.
Lawrence is also helpful in giving practical encouragement towards a pitfall that many readers (including myself) can fall into; namely of placing legalistic requirements of maturity and theological knowledge for conversion instead of repentance and faith in Christ.
I think this is well worth an afternoon read for any Christian.

“If one of my children came to me and said, ‘Dad, I want you to love me, so I’m going to be especially good today,’ I would be hurt. ‘Don’t you understand me or my love for you?’ I would say, ‘I don’t love you because you’re good, I love you because you’re mine.’ God, likewise doesn’t love us because we love and obey him. In fact, we don’t! God loves us because he loves us (see Deut. 7:7-8). He loves us because he’s chosen us and we are his.”

[Ryan Cable · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, nothing too unique. I enjoyed the chapter about how churches should be striving to live like Christ and be there for eachother in church membership. I also enjoyed it explaining the misconception of being nice as opposed to being nice in light of Christ’s saving sacrifice and resurrection. A little repetitive at times and two of the chapters could’ve been merged in my opinion.

[Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good little 9marks book on conversion. Would recommend giving to someone wanting a primer on regeneration and conversion (repentance and faith). Short. Sweet. Spurring for evangelism, knowing the power of God’s grace through the gospel in converting sinners to Christ.

[Alex Koehler · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the most helpful resources on understanding what it truly means to be a genuine believer, and how that translates into the local church. Will be a new go to for those topics!

[Becky · Rating 5 out of 5]

First sentence from chapter one: In the introduction, I mentioned my friend who was concerned that his well-mannered adult children weren’t really Christians. You might say they were nice, but not new—not new creations. His experience raises questions about the doctrine of conversion, as well as what that doctrine should look like in the life of a church. It’s crucial to get both our doctrine and our practices right. Churches should believe that God makes people radically new, not just nice, through conversion. But they should be able not only to write this out on paper, but also to live it out. What does that look like? In two of the most important passages in Scripture for understanding conversion, both the prophet Ezekiel and Jesus help us answer that question.

Premise/plot: Michael Lawrence's newest book is on the doctrine of conversion. But it's not dry theology--far from it. As he argues in his book, our doctrine of conversion has practical implications. Our doctrine of conversion influences not only how we live our lives daily in our families but also communally in our churches and neighborhoods. Lawrence's main point--one of them anyway--is that Christians can have the "right" the "proper" definition of conversion in their minds, as part of their creed. BUT if this doctrine isn't lived out, isn't experienced, doesn't change our relationships then something is very wrong. Doctrines are to be applied. And our doctrine of conversion is essential for helping the church do church.

Too often our confessional theology says one thing, while our practical theology says something else. We say that regeneration makes us new creatures in Christ, but then we teach our kids a moralism that atheists could duplicate. We say that Christianity is about a trusting relationship with Jesus, but then we treat it like checking a box on a decision card. We say that only the Holy Spirit transfers a person from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light, but then we employ the marketing tools used for getting someone to switch brands of toothpaste. Again and again, what we claim in our doctrinal statements about conversion doesn’t match what our churches practice or their ministry models. So it shouldn’t surprise us that our kids end up being something less than Christian.

I want to think about the difference that should make in the life of the church—from the way we go about evangelism, to our membership and discipleship practices, to the way we think about the church as a whole. In other words, this is a book of doctrine, and this is a book of practice. It is a book about conversion, and it is a book about the church. After all, God creates a people through conversion. Show me someone’s doctrine of conversion, and I can tell you a lot about his church.

Good theology is intensely practical, and if it’s not, then it isn’t worth the name.

Essentially in his book, Lawrence does two things. First, he unpacks the doctrine of conversion. He explains what it is and what it isn't. Being a new creation, being born again, isn't becoming nicer or more moral. Second, he argues that a rightly held doctrine should be rightly applied in our churches, in our homes, in our neighborhoods. Our doctrine of conversion, of regeneration, is closely related to our doctrine of evangelism and missions. And if we hold contradictory doctrines, there's a big problem that we need to address and that we ultimately need to change!

These days, there are lots of different kinds of nice. There’s the polite but detached tolerance of “live and let live” nice. There’s the socially conscious and politically engaged nice. There’s religious nice in many different denominational and faith-community forms. There’s “spiritual but not religious” nice. There’s even what’s known in my town as “Portland nice,” a sort of nonconfrontational, “let’s not make anyone feel uncomfortable, even though we’re silently judging and dismissing you in our minds” nice. But for all the different kinds of nice, the appeal of nice hasn’t changed much in the last two thousand years. To be a nice person, a good person, a person who’s becoming a better person, is to feel good about yourself. It’s that appeal of moral self-commendation that binds our modern variations together into a common religious program that Nicodemus would have recognized (see Luke 10:25–29). Nice allows you to commend yourself to others, and maybe even to God. Nice gives you the means of self-justification and the ability to vindicate your life to whoever is asking. That’s appealing.

The appeal of nice is always based on three ideas: an optimistic view of human beings, a domesticated view of God, and a view of religion as a means of moral self-reform.

No churches ever explicitly teach the religion of nice. In fact, they typically teach the exact opposite. But those same churches are filled with people who believe that God will accept them based on how good they’ve been. I’ve heard it on too many living rooms couches and nursing home beds. Not perfect—no one ever says that—but good enough.

What makes the moralistic program of nice difficult to spot in our evangelical churches is that it’s almost never taught explicitly. Instead, it’s the natural condition of our unregenerate selves. It follows us into the church like walking inside with the aroma of the outdoors: it’s hard to smell on yourself because you are so accustomed to it.

How can we tell we have a problem applying our doctrine of conversion in our churches?

We condemn the world’s sin more than our own.
We put sins in a hierarchy, and tolerate some sins (especially our own) more than others.
In church, we sing songs and pray prayers of praise, not songs and prayers of confession.
We describe our own sins as “mistakes.”
We use Bible stories to teach children to be good rather than to point them to a Savior: “Be like David” not “You need a new and better David, who is Christ.”

So many of us learned the message of nice in churches that introduced us to a Jesus who promised to improve us, not a Jesus who calls his followers to die to themselves; these churches taught us to be nice without making sure we were new. I fear this is why so many of my friends’ children have walked away from Christianity. They haven’t given up on nice. They’ve simply discovered that they don’t need Jesus to be nice.

A radical change must occur in us. But the word that the Bible never uses to describe what Jesus is talking about is reformation. You might reform a church, but not a dead heart. The personal change that Jesus says we need goes much deeper; it reaches down to our very nature. The necessity of being born again flows from five biblical truths: the inability of human beings, the holiness of God, the grace of the gospel, the power of God’s Spirit, and the creation of a people.

When churches look more like the world than Christ, we effectively preach a different gospel. More than likely it will be the gospel of nice.

It’s popular to think of God’s judgment of sinners in hell as God giving us what we ask for—life without God. It’s true that hell is the absence of God’s love. But hell is also the presence of God in his justice, measuring out to sin what it deserves. And it is this, the wrath of God, from which we must be saved. Since God is good, he will pay back injustice and sin what it deserves. And we all have sinned. This has enormous implications for our preaching. For the gospel to make sense, we must preach the justice and wrath of God. Too easily, however, churches downplay these basic truths and so change the gospel. It’s hard to talk about hell and God’s wrath. It is much easier to talk about being saved from purposeless lives, low self-esteem, or unhappiness. So we treat Jesus as the solution to a subjective, internal problem. Come to Jesus; he’ll give you purpose and meaning. The trouble is, subjective problems can be solved through subjective solutions. I might choose Jesus to gain a sense of purpose, but my friend down the street sincerely chooses a career. Who’s to say which is better? It’s all subjective. When we fail to preach the justice of God and downplay his wrath, we are talking about some other gospel. We have changed it from an objective rescue to a subjective path to personal fulfillment.

Grace is what saves. Faith is the instrument. Which means: we’re not saved by faith. We’re saved by grace, and faith receives that grace. Faith trusts that gift. What happens when we think faith saves us? Sincerity becomes paramount. We begin to think of faith as a single act—a prayer prayed, a decision made, a card signed, a hand raised—rather than as a whole-life orientation. The trouble is, we can never be sure if we were sincere enough. So insecurity follows, and a culture of rededication develops. Anxious children pray “the prayer” over and over. Youth rededicate themselves at every youth retreat. Adults do the same. All are hoping that this time the expression of faith will be sincere enough.

The language of God’s love is the language of God’s choice, his election. God chooses to love. He doesn’t have to love us. In fact, by all rights, he shouldn’t love us. But he does. God’s love for us isn’t on a whim. If we turn this around, so that God loves us because we chose and love him, Christianity becomes a religion of selfsalvation. The message is that God is obligated to save us because of our love, our choice, our sincerity. Our faith, not his love, becomes the deciding factor. And we introduce pride into the heart and soul of our churches. The gospel has been turned on its head.

To become a Christian, you must repent of your sins. The basic idea of repentance is to turn.

We were created to worship, and if we won’t worship God, we’ll worship something else. Calling people to repentance, then, means calling for a reorientation of worship. So who or what are we worshiping rather than God? What compels our time and energy, our spending and our leisure? What makes us angry? What gives us hope and comfort? What are our aspirations for our children? Idols make lots of promises, even though they can’t keep them.

Repenting means exchanging our idols for God. Before it’s a change in behavior, it must be a change in worship. How different that is from how we often think of repentance. Too often we treat repentance as a call to clean up our lives. We do good to make up for the bad. We try to even the scale, or even push it back to the positive side. Sometimes we talk about repentance as if it were a really serious, religious New Year’s resolution.

Repentance is not a feeling. Repentance is being convicted by the Holy Spirit of the sinfulness of our sin—not the badness of our deeds but the treachery of our hearts toward God. Repentance means hating what we formerly loved and served—our idols—and turning away from them. Repentance means turning to love God, whom we formerly hated, and serving him instead. It’s a new deepest loyalty of the heart.

If repentance really is a change of worship, then our churches must not pressure people to make hasty, illconsidered “decisions” for Jesus, and then offer them quick assurance. Instead, we must call people to repent. When we separate repentance from conversion, either because we think it can come later or we fear scaring people off, we reduce conversion to bad feelings or moral resolve. Worse, we risk assuring a “convert” that he is right with God when in fact he is not. It’s almost like giving someone a vaccine against the gospel.

What does a false convert look like?

Often, it is someone who
is excited about heaven, but bored by Christians and the local church;
thinks heaven will be great, whether God is there or not;
likes Jesus, but didn’t sign up for the rest—obedience, holiness, discipleship, suffering;
can’t tell the difference between obedience motivated by love and legalism;
is bothered by other people’s sins more than his or her own;
holds grace cheap and his own comfort costly.

To become a Christian is to take up a life of repentance. Jesus described it as taking up our cross and following him. It begins at a point in time, but it continues in a life of service and love to God. If repentance is one side of coin, the other side is belief or faith. To become a Christian, you must not only repent, you must also believe the good news about Jesus.

Real faith leans, and depends, and follows, and works.

Lawrence's book is relevant; it is packed with truth that we all need to hear. Whether we've ever thought much about conversion or not. To the old, to the young, we could all use some truth.

My thoughts: I thought this was a wonderful refresher. I would definitely recommend this one. I remember vividly when I first learned of the (reformed) doctrine of conversion. It was life-changing, life-giving. It was one of those THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING moments. This book was a great reminder of that initial excitement, the embrace of grace.

[Matt Chapman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really excellent!

[Sydney Levi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short, convicting and to the point! One of the best books I’ve ever read. Walking down an aisle at church alone to “get saved” doesn’t save anyone from sin.

Repent from sin, believe Jesus died on the cross and rose again. There is a family of believers, the church, ready to live life with you.

[Sam Clapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

A short but clear explanation of what it means to become a Christian and how churches should properly treat their congregations in response. I highly recommend.

[Kyle · Rating 4 out of 5]

Practical yet biblically rooted explanation of the doctrine of conversion. This doctrine permeates into many facets of the Christian life and must be correctly understood.

[Jeremiah von Kühn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Agree with David Wells -- "Down-to-earth, clear, practical, straight shooting, biblically cogent treatment of the nature and necessity of conversion. This is an excellent book." Love how he shows how our theology of conversion drives (or ought to drive) practice. Especially enjoyed chapter 6 (Summon, don't sell: implications for our evangelism) and chapter 8 (Charitable, not chary: the danger of an overly pure church). Chapter 8 was refreshing, especially coming from 9Marks, as some of their guys can, at times, give the impression that they expect a completely pure church now.

[Sam Knecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Conversion is often misunderstood, assumed, or ignored. Yet it is the one and only means by which God makes a people for himself, by which Christ builds his church. Not grasping a biblical understanding of conversion can lead churches to counterintuitive--even harmful--practices.

This book from Michael Lawrence is full of both hard, solid doctrine and soft, messy pastoral application. A wide range of Christians can glean benefits from these 130 pages.

[Emily Herd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really amazing book. I would recommend it everyone!

[Aaron · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excited to begin the Building Healthy Churches series.

TLDR: Preach the true gospel, not a self-improvement program to become nicer or a therapeutic program to make sinners feel better. Realize that God is the one who grants faith. Practice continual repentance and turn away from sin. Those who are truly converted are those who have a taste for God and bear the marks of the Spirit. Lasting and enduring fruit is confirmed by the church members who walk alongside us. True conversion leads to true change.

Major Takeaways:

1. The gospel is not a self-improvement program. "Nice doesn't work. We must be made new." (24) Even though we say we believe that God makes dead people alive, too often we functionally are hoping that God just makes mean people nice. What does this look like? Jonathan Edwards said the regenerate person is "one who has been given a taste for God." Do you and I desire God? Do we want to know Him? "A Christian is someone whose heart has been transformed by God's grace, who is characterized by repentance and faith, who desires to be with God and know him more." (27)

2. "Faith isn't an emotion God evaluates by its intensity. Faith is trust, and it's only as good as the object of its trust." (37) May we be rescued from the culture of getting saved every year at summer camp.

3. How do we as a church offer assurance? If we teach "moralism," people will depend on their good deeds. If we teach "sincerity," people will depend on emotional experiences and a culture of rededication. If we teach "spirituality," we will depend on the fact of a journey and not the hope of the destination. If we teach "decisionism," we will depend on the prayers we have prayed.
What we SHOULD look at is current evidence of God's grace in our lives and the ENDURING fruit. (57)

4. John Piper is quoted: "I don't know I'm alive because I have a birth certificate. I know I'm alive because I'm breathing." How might we implement this in small group ministry in the church today? Also... are there enough people who are close enough to us to actually see whether or not we have "enduring fruit?"

5. Chapter 4 contains an excellent contrast between the true gospel and the pathetic therapeutic "gospel" that passes for truth in the church today ("When our churches slip into a therapeutic gospel, we treat the Christian life less as a battle against sin and more as a battle to feel accepted" - 71).

6. Christians who continue in unrepentant sin when confronted with it do not deserve the name. At that point, they are a walking contradiction. You can't be a follower of Christ who is not endeavoring to do what Christ says. This is where church discipline comes into play (Matt. 18).

[Emery Gesell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredible. Understanding conversion is crucial for individuals and church, yet is somehow so misunderstood among believers. The explored tension between seeking to be “nice” over being made new in the church is so prevalent. I enjoyed the conversation about how to recognize this attitude and treat it within the local body and individually.

I LOVED the conclusion: that understanding the doctrine of conversion matters for three reasons.

1. Matters to God- so that he can be TRULY praised by God’s people. This theology reorients our understanding of our purpose of assembly and meaning of membership.
2. Matters to us- we must be able to know what conversion is so that we can properly battle sin while being assured of our belief. So that we can be equipped to battle and fight sin in ourselves and among other believers in the church.
3.Matters to the world- The world cannot have confidence in God if the church is reflecting the world, which is a result of lack of knowledge of true conversion. The world must see genuine lives changed to have hope in a Creator.

So good. I would urge every believer to read this book.

[D · Rating 5 out of 5]

My second time through and am reading with a church
leader. This is such an important book, and we need to
have a Biblical understanding of conversion. False
converts and false assurance has plagued Churches
because often our approach to evangelism, discipleship,
and membership isn't marked by a Biblical understanding
of conversion. I personally think our desire to be successful/overly appeasing has led to this. However, by doing so we miss the power of the gospel that makes the dead alive, makes one born again. This book moves me to trust in God who raises the dead.

[Gavin Huse · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read on a biblical vision of conversion as it relates to the local church. Tempting to get frustrated with part of the evangelical landscape based on what this teaches, so I’d be gentle with those you might share this with that might have been “spiritually reared” in pretty common Bible Belt communities…but needed nonetheless. It has some overlap with works like Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship, like allowing the small, local church community to be the deep foundation of discipleship and letting fruit in someone’s life support their claims of salvation. Delicate but important subject that is handled well in my opinion. Overall, left me with a timely and deeper love for small, local, unseen churches shepherding God’s flock.

Other notes: Developing an appreciation for these authors—they’re truthful, yet gentle and avoid dogmatic/extreme language (there’s always room for nuance in any subject). Expect more of these on the coming reading lists!

[Anna Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Happy to make this my first read of 2025. This is an invaluable read! The author packs so much into a small book making it accessible, but he doesn’t hold back. This book exposes many of the superficial ways we can convince ourselves we are converted (which can either make us perpetually doubtful or ignorant of our true state), and clarifies what and who we are converted to. I will read this book again!

[Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be one of my favorite books in the Building Heathy Churches series. Lawrence does a phenomenal job showing readers what conversion actually looks like and how a proper understanding of this doctrine is essential to how we approach and carry out evangelism, discipleship, ministry, corporate church membership and even our own Christian lives.

I will most certainly be reading this small but mighty book again.