Conversion Is a Journey, Not a Moment

This is Father Jared Cramer from St. John’s Episcopal Church in Grand Haven, Michigan, here with today’s edition of Christian Mythbusters, a regular segment I offer to counter some common misconceptions about the Christian faith. One of the most common myths about Christianity is that conversion is always sudden, dramatic, and once-and-for-all. Many people picture the blinding light, the voice from heaven, the instant turnaround of Saul becoming Paul on the road to Damascus. It’s a powerful story, and for many Christians—myself included growing up in an evangelical context—it becomes the model of what “real” conversion is supposed to look like. If you didn’t have a lightning-bolt moment, you might wonder whether your faith story somehow counts less. But the deeper truth of the Christian tradition is far richer and far more human. Yes, some people do experience dramatic, life-changing moments that feel like a Damascus Road. But most of us are converted not once, but many times. Conversion, in the Christian sense, is not merely a single event—it is a lifelong process of being reshaped by God’s love . Consider St. Peter. His story is not one of a single, decisive turning point, but of repeated conversions. First, he leaves his nets and follows Jesus. Then, in fear, he denies Jesus three times. Later, he is restored and entrusted with the care of the flock, as Jesus tells him: “Feed my sheep.” But even that is not the end of his transformation. In the Book of Acts, Peter must undergo another conversion when he realizes, through the vision of the sheet filled with unclean animals and then the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, that Gentiles are fully welcomed into God’s people without preconditions. Everything in his religious upbringing, everything he thought Scripture said, had taught him otherwise, yet the Spirit made the old certainty impossible to hold. And still, Peter’s story continues. In Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, we hear that Peter later stopped eating with Gentile believers out of fear of criticism from more traditional Jewish Christians. Paul confronted him publicly. Even an apostle, even a leader of the Church, was still learning, still growing, still being converted. An ancient Christian tradition tells us that near the end of his life, during the persecution under Nero, Peter fled Rome in fear. On the road, he encountered the risen Christ and asked, “Lord, where are you going?”—Domine, quo vadis? Christ replied, “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” In that moment, Peter experienced yet another conversion. He turned around, returned to the city, and faced martyrdom with courage. Even at the end, Peter was still becoming who God called him to be. This is the pattern many of us recognize in our own lives—not a single, perfect turning, but a journey marked by growth, failure, repentance, and renewal. The Benedictine tradition has a name for this: conversatio morum, often translated as “conversion of life.” It means an ongoing transformation, a daily turning toward God, a willingness to keep being changed. And that requires humility. It requires the courage to admit we might not yet fully understand God, Scripture, or even ourselves. It requires openness to discover that what we once thought certain may need to grow, deepen, or even be re-imagined in light of the Holy Spirit’s work. Above all, it requires attentiveness—to notice where God is moving in our lives, where love is calling us forward, where grace is inviting us to rise again after we fall. So if your faith has not been one dramatic moment but a series of small awakenings, setbacks, and new beginnings, take heart. You are not failing at Christianity—you are living it. The Christian life is not about arriving once and for all; it is about continuing to be converted, again and again, into the likeness of Christ through God’s love. Thanks for being with me. To find out more about my parish, you can go to sjegh.com. Until next time, remember: protest like Jesus, love recklessly, and live your faith out in a community that accepts you but also challenges you to be better tomorrow than you are today.