It has been said, by people far wiser than this pastor, that there are two conversions to Jesus Christ. One conversion involves personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. The other conversion involves personal commitment to Jesus Christ’s Body, the Church.

This double conversion is suggested by the vows of the Baptismal Covenant. Conversion to Jesus Christ, Savior and Lord, is at stake in the third vow of the covenant: "Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord, in union with the Church which Christ has opened to people of all ages, nations, and races?"

Conversion to Jesus Christ’s Body, the Church, is involved in three vows of the Baptismal Covenant. The fourth, fifth, and sixth vows of the covenant involve commitment to the Church universal, to the denomination, and to the congregation: "According to the grace given to you, will you remain a faithful member of Christ’s holy Church and serve as Christ’s representative in the world?" "As a member of Christ’s universal Church, will you be loyal to The United Methodist Church, and do all in your power to strengthen its ministries?" "As a member of this congregation, will you faithfully participate in its ministries by your prayers, your presence, your gifts, and your service?"

It is easy to fall into the trap of thinking only conversion to Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord, counts. This trap claims that conversion to Christ, the Savior and Lord, equals real Christianity. This trap also assumes that the Church is just the "organization" or the "institution" that results from the previously converted gathering together. This trap adds that taking the Church seriously is just "Churchianity," not genuine Christianity.

For years, this pastor was caught in this theological trap. I thought that only conversion to Jesus Christ, the Savior and Lord, mattered. Converted to Christ’s salvation and Lordship, I found it very easy to criticize the Church for reasons that changed with my age. During my teenage years, I thought the Church was not "cool" enough. During my college and "Jesus movement" years, I thought the Church was not "spiritual" enough. During my divinity school years, I thought the Church was not theological enough. During my earliest years of ordained ministry, I thought the Church was not God-centered enough. Converted to Christ, the Savior and the Lord, I thought that I had a license to criticize the Church for any and all reasons. After all, the Church was not all that important anyway, or so I believed.

In the summer of 1979, while taking a summer-school course at Princeton Theological Seminary, I began to experience a conversion to Jesus Christ’s Body, the Church. It did not involve drama or terror. But it did include a change of heart and mind toward the Church, which is understood as Christ’s Body.

To be personally converted to Christ twice -- to Him as Savior/Lord and to His Body the Church -- is to be a Christian who takes the Church very seriously. A Christian who is serious about the Church might be called an "ecclesial Christian" (that is, a church Christian).

In the May 2007 issue of First Things, Rev. Richard John Neuhaus writes: "Every Christian is an ecclesial Christian...because nobody ever came to know Christ except through the Church, even if it is the Church represented by a mother teaching her children the faith. That is true enough. Yet an ecclesial Christian is one who thinks of the Church as a person, indeed as an encounter with the person of Christ. He is not always looking back to origins in order to discover ‘the real Jesus.’ The real Jesus lives in the Church."