I know it's a bit fangled, but just go with it for now... it might actually help you remember.

Conversion
This is when someone changes from one worldview to another. Usually it is associated with a person following a different religion. Different stories of conversion are very easy to get hold of. There are lots of people around who could talk about their faith in God and perhaps how they changed at some point in their life.

Go here for a downloadable interview of how an Uzbek man became a christian.

Samira tells of her conversion to Islam in a downloadable interview here.

This page tells a brief overview of the life of Malcolm X. He was a prominent black muslim in America during the 1960s. He was converted to Islam while in prison. If you ask one of your beliefs teachers at school they can show you a clip from the great Spike Lee film where he converts.

Malcolm X

A 'charismatic' church is difficult to define because the word 'charismatic' means all sorts of things (by the way - it is pronounced 'kariz-matic'). However, (for the sake of argument) in this situation the exam board appears to view it as something more lively where God is felt or experienced in a personal way. People often associate 'charismatic worship' as an experience where God is felt to be immanent. There is an entire church movement that has this name, but there are many christians who would be unhappy to say that only these christians can experience God closely.

Christians believe that they can experience God by the Holy Spirit - the third person of the Trinity who is present in christians on earth today.

CCK (Church of Christ the King) in Brighton is well known as a charismatic church. They are famous for their lively meetings and highly professional music groups.

Where else would someone experience God? If God exists, and if He does something miraculous, then this would be the best place to go. There are some modern believers who argue that God does miracles today, but probably the most convincing place to go is the story of Jesus. Any of the four gospels is a good place, but here are three to start with.

Luke 8v22-53 - the calming of a storm, the demon possessed man, the sick woman and the dead girl.

Prayer can seem a bit meaningless if God is omniscient, but actually there are some good reasons to pray that Jesus gives in the Bible.

Luke 11:1-13 - because Christians believe that they have been adopted by God into His family, they should pray because it is a way of expressing your relationship to your father. If a child has a parent, then they should really ask for stuff if and when they need it. It is viewed as the same with Christians.



The way that prayer works as an experience is like this: you pray because you can't do it all on your own. God (the strong, big one) responds by helping you (the small, weak one) and your experience is that you are being supported by one who cares for you. A very good example of this is the story of a christian mum who's son had a brain tumour. She speaks about how at the very worst time she was living in a constant state of prayer.

The bread and wine that Jesus talks about in this Bible passage is something which most Christians act on*.

There are different ideas about what the taking of the bread and wine means, but at it's most basic the bread and wine are reminders of what Jesus was going to do when he died on the cross. Christianity is centrally about the death and resurrection of Jesus, and the bread and wine ritual is a way of experiencing it in some way. Meditation is when you chew things over in your mind, and this ritual is a very good way of mulling over something important to you as a christian.

*There are different interpretations of what the sacraments are among christians, but these two are a safe bet for any exam situation.