Page 120 - EMCAPP-Journal No. 23

Werner May (Germany) was the senior chairman of the IGNIS Instute for
Christan Psychology in Kitzingen for more than 25 years (www.ignis.de). As
a teacher his main interest was in basic questons of Christan Psychology
and in counseling of foster families. He also helped to build up the Ins�tute
for Christan Psychology, Educa�on and Therapy in Switzerland www.icp.ch.
Now he is the chairman of the European Movement for Christan Anthropo-
logy, Psychology and Therapy www.emcapp.eu and publishes the free e-
journal Christan Psychology Around The World h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/.
Werner has been married to Agnes for now 50 years. They live in Würz-
burg, Germany, and have six adult children.

Former ar�cles by Werner available here:
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/20/#p=71
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/19/#p=56
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/18/#p=53
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/17/#p=34
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/16/#p=37
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/15/
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/12/#p=29
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/2/
h�ps://emcapp.ignis.de/22/#p=72

Werner May (Germany):

The Threefold Conversion

The idea of the three conversions is generally a�ri- front door key, so to speak, but that he also wanted
buted to Zinzendorf (1700-1760), the founder of to bring his breath of fresh air into every room of
the Moravian Brethren in Herrnhut. this house. So it was a ma�er of �dying up room by
This refers to: room.

1. the conversion to Jesus Christ, Even today, I s�ll want to discover new rooms whe-
2. the conversion to fellowship, church or to the re he is not yet master, or old ones where it might
body of Christ, and finally be good to go through them again with Jesus. The-
3. the conversion to the world, understood as soli- re will always be smaller or larger conversion steps
darity with all humanity, whether Chris�an or to follow, because we understand increasingly dee-
non-Chris�an, and with the crea�on. ply what makes our heart �ck and who God is.
In many areas of life, our first conversion leads to
The �me at which an individual may be ready for an ever deeper understanding of the freedom from
one or other of these conversions can vary greatly. the power of sin that God wants to give us and of
A�er decades of Chris�an life, however, the requi- how this freedom should be lived out. It is necessa-
rement is to live out all three conversions cons- ry to overcome one-sidedness not only in dealing
ciously, with all their challenges, responsibili�es with money, but also in all the other areas of our
and blessings. lives.

The first conversion While the desire not to sin a�er our first conversion
When I was first converted to Jesus Christ almost 50 was primarily meant in the sense of sins of trans-
years ago, I realized that Jesus not only wanted to gression, we now also desire not to sin in the sense
be the master of my house, that I had given him the of sins of omission, to love more, to give more.

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