I saw a discussion on the web regarding conversion from the RCC to a Lutheran church. Odd I should come across this today. You see, I and my wife are currently attending a LCMS church in a small town in Idaho, but our story starts in Utah. If you have a minute I will give you a brief history.
I was raised Mormon. I believed everything I was taught and desired to teach others what I knew at the time as “the Truth” of the restored Gospel. I served a two-year mission in Indiana sharing my message. Funny, the only “success” I found was with those who were Mormon but less active and one who was married to a Mormon woman with no particular religion of his own. There was one, however, by the name of Carla whom I did persuade to convert. I have tried to find her and explain what I know now, but that is another story.
While I was on my mission, I ran into an Evangelical man who leaned more to the Covenant theology of Calvinism. This was the first time I came face to face with the doctrine of faith alone and I felt like Indiana Jones in The Last Crusade, who was looming over a great chasm, being urged on, mumbling “leap of faith”. Okay, that is a little melodramatic, but this is as close to the feeling as my words can come. Everything I thought I knew as “Truth” was challenged. Over time, eight years more or less, I finally was given the grace for the moment I was called to proclaim my faith in Christ alone and not in the teaching and practices of the Mormon Church. But in eight years, I was no longer an island: I was married to a beautiful Mormon girl. About six months after my declaration of faith (to my aghast, Mormon parents) and after the birth of my child, we moved to Florida. As ironic as it may sound, I caught the first train out of Utah: It happened to be with the extensive Mormon ranch system, but I hoped that Florida would give me more of a chance to grow in my faith unhindered by a disapproving family and in-laws.
I became acquainted with the Episcopal Church. The parish that I attended in St. Cloud was faithful, but they refused to re-baptize me, saying that my Mormon baptism was sufficient. I was perplexed. Somehow, I knew this was incorrect. My understanding of Christian theology was infantile at the time and my concept of Trinity was Modalist at best. My desire was to have a Biblical understanding of God and a baptism that would be the outward sign of the inward grace that I knew I had experienced. Then the election of Gene Robinson became a very disconcerting event. His election had not yet been ratified, but I knew that something was wrong. Sin was still sin in my book and I wanted or needed a church that would nurture me in Biblical doctrine.
We spent our first Christmas in Florida without any family, just my wife and my baby girl. I wanted to attend Mass, but we wanted to go to the beach. So instead of going inland to St. Cloud, we went to Melbourne and to a Roman Catholic Church. The Mass was so similar to the Anglican Mass that I talked to the priest about baptism. By the next Easter, I was a full-fledged Roman Catholic. I was very badly catechized. My understanding regarding such doctrines as Trinity became solidified in Orthodoxy, but my view of Grace and Redemption still was very much Evangelical.
We had our second daughter. Through all this my wife retained her Mormon faith. She watched my conversion with dismay as I drifted farther and farther from the faith of our youth. Needless to say, there was a lot of contention in my family. Working for the Mormon Ranch in Florida (Deseret Ranch) necessitated us living on Ranch property. It was 300,000 acres of rural Florida. It was as beautiful as it was isolated. The leadership of the local Mormon Church was also, usually, the leadership of the Ranch. Because of its isolation, we knew very few people outside. When all hope of my contrition and reconciliation to Mormonism evaporated, my employment with the Ranch became intolerable. Even my Mormon wife was appalled by the blatant discrimination. By God’s Grace, He provided me with a job on the Coast, away from the Mormon ranch and frankly the Mormon influence.
It was in this period of our lives that my wife became acquainted with faithful Christians and her heart began to embrace if not Christianity then fellowship with Christians. It was during this period that I became active in a Continuing Anglican church. I didn’t really have a problem skipping across the line that divides the Anglican Church from the Roman Church. An aside… there is a huge spectrum of Anglicans. On the extreme ends you have Presbyterians with Prayer Books and Catholics without a Pope (neither very via media). This particular parish was more Catholic than my Roman parish. But it was like coming home: my first experience was with the Episcopal Church, and my Evangelical view of Grace and Election was embraced.
Everything was going smoothly. My wife and I were working through our differences. Our children were attending the Anglican Church and my wife worked in the nursery on Sundays. Then we experienced the 2004 hurricane season. We were financially devastated, but safe. We recovered only to be hit again with the 2005 hurricane season. It was that winter that we decided that we wanted to move back to the West.
We ended up in Idaho… in a very small town. About half the folks here are LDS, but the other half attending a myriad of churches. However, I didn’t have the option of a continuing Anglican church. All that seemed to avail itself was the Catholic Church, so back to Rome I went. Going back to Rome was intolerable for my wife, who found herself again surrounded by her Mormon peers, not to mention that her mother and father were only in the adjacent county. Her parents have never been supportive of our marriage, and even less so after I left the Mormon Church. They have offered all assistance to my wife if she would leave me. It should go on record that my wife and I are committed to each other and our marriage. We made a compact early on after our move to Deseret Ranch that divorce was not an option. And so we tried to work through our differences.
We found, however, that my conversion away from Mormonism was so complete that I could not tolerate association with nor validate their practice by my participation. Put simply, I would not attend her meetings nor the social functions. She began to take our now three daughters to church with her. I began to attend Mass by myself. The tug-o-war began. My five-year old began to pray the Hail, Mary and the Our Father for her evening prayers. Grandma would make sure they all had their own children’s copies of the Book of Mormon. You can imagine the shock and horror on my mother-in-law’s face when my little girl pulled out a Rosary in the middle of a Mormon Sacrament Meeting.
Okay, you may wonder what these three pages of agonizing, personal history have to do with the question “Are there any converts from the RCC in the Lutheran Church?” It is because of what happens next. My wife and I were at each other’s throats. I was determined to raise my children Christian and for a lack of an Anglican church, the Roman church would suite. Denise was constantly barraged by her Mormon leaders and her parents to stand strong in her faith and combat the apostasy that was consuming her family. In a knockout (figuratively, mind you) fight, in the wee hours of the morning she in exasperation said, “We should forget Mormonism and Catholicism and find a church that we can both go to.” You can imagine the silence that enveloped us as we stood there, the truth of the statement sinking in. But as happens with most domestic squabbles, by the morning all was forgotten and cruel things said forgiven.
For a month, we didn’t mention it again. I couldn’t imagine giving up the RCC again for anything less sacramental. I had gained a steadfast belief in the Real Presence in the Eucharist. My devotion to the Sacrament of the Altar was near idolatry, but if idolatry it was in reverence of what I learned this bread and wine to really be: My Lord’s Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity. As time drew on and the birth of our 4th child (a little boy) drew closer and as our religion was tearing our family apart, the inspiration of Denise’ statement sunk in. I was finally game. And so was she.
We went to so many churches. We went to the Presbyterian, Baptist, Episcopal, Church of Christ, and lastly the Lutheran Church. None of them fit our idea of neutral-ground. The Baptist was too disorderly, Presbyterian too strict, Episcopal too liberal, Church of Christ too legal. Our concern with the LCMS was that it was both anti-Catholic and anti-Mormon: we would both be in hot water.
Oddly, it was my mistake in what time the Presbyterian’s Sunday school began that led us to actually visit the Lutheran Church as a family. From our first attendance to now we have never felt unwelcome. We have come this far: neither of us is ready to convert fully, yet; but we are both willing to raise our children in this Lutheran Church. I have laid aside my Rosary, and Denise has laid aside the Book of Mormon. We only worship as what we have with our neutral-ground Church. We are here for the long haul. We are studying Evangelical doctrine, most of which I have always believed as Catholic, some of which is different. Denise is still learning and growing and our children are just happy to be together on Sunday.
I could go on… and on… and on, but that is not my purpose of my now lengthy composition. I wrote this in an attempt to answer a qualified ‘yes’ to your question that there is a convert to Lutheranism from the RCC and to share how that is coming about.
Yours in Christ,
Brian McBride
