Conversion: The Lived Experience of Third-Generation Seventh-Day Adventist Young Adults

Abstract

This qualitative study was concerned with describing the lived experience of conversion in the lives of third- and greater-generation Seventh-day Adventist (Adventist) young adults. Fourteen participants were asked to describe both their formational faith experiences as well as their conversion experiences. A hermeneutical analysis found that a pattern of overlapping themes emerged across the 14 interviews. Themes for experience of conversion were: (i) Process, (ii) Integrates Intellectual Knowledge, (iii) Integrates Affective Experience, and (iv) Transformational. The findings are discussed from the perspective of Adventist theologies of nurture and conversion, models of faith formation, and literature on research of conversion.

Acknowledgments

This research was partly funded by the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, as well as the Jane and Jerome Thayer Scholarship and the Steele Scholarship.

Additional information

Funding

Partial funding for this research came from the North American Division of Seventh-day Adventists, as well as the Jane and Jerome Thayer Scholarship and the Steele Scholarship, both awarded at Andrews University.

Notes on contributors

Edyta Jankiewicz

Edyta Jankiewicz is a PhD graduate of Religious Education at Andrews University, Berrien Springs, MI. Her areas of interest are faith formation and development in children and young adults. Until recently, she taught in the Discipleship and Religious Education Department of the Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University.