The Struggle of Conversion

For young New Zealanders who choose to convert to Christianity from secular backgrounds, their conversion is a deeply emotional experience. One factor that has a significant bearing on the emotional state of a young convert is the way in which their parents react to the news. Another is the presence of “crisis” as a common feature within the conversion process. Spiritual experiences can also result in a variety of emotional responses, not all of them positive. For Māori young people who convert to Christianity in New Zealand, there exist pressures from within their own culture, as well as a felt sense of distance and difference from a majority-European Christian church. I interviewed 32 young New Zealanders who converted to Christianity from secular backgrounds, and this paper will seek to chronicle some of the common emotional challenges that they experienced as a part of their conversion journeys. I will then conclude by interacting with Andrew Root’s concept of place sharing in ministry as a suggested way of ministering to young people who are experiencing the struggle of conversion.