The Difference of Conversion examines theologically the possibilities for a religious minority group to maintain its own corporate identity while contributing as a member of the greater society. The research centers on the Swedish Baptist denomination, Örebromissionen, and focuses on its youth ministry. The research material is the weekly newspaper Missionsbaneret. This examination is twofold: part one is a historical analysis, and the second, a Diaspora-theological analysis that results in the development of a Diaspora ecclesiology. The historical analysis is influenced by a discursive approach and emphasize two areas of focus; what makes something visible, or problematic, and which steering techniques that are used. The study covers three different periods – 1930s, 1950s and 1980s. The research shows that it has been a great challenge for Örebromissionen to maintain a corporate identity in Sweden, both during the Folk Church period as well as in the Folkhemmet period. The examination suggests that this depends on two coexisting processes; first, the understanding of personal conversion primarily as an emotional, datable, and complete experience within the denomination and secondly the strong emphasis of a shared identity in society. The theological analysis begins with a description of the late Mennonite theologian John Howard Yoder’s Diaspora theology. Using Diaspora-theological analysis shows that the strong emphasis of a shared identity in Swedish society has changed the theology concerning personal conversion in relationship to moral values; where once conversion preceded moral change to later when moral development preceded conversion. This shift in understanding was brought about by new practices introduced in Youth Ministry. In conclusion it is suggested that a Diaspora ecclesiology that both wants to maintain a corporate identity as well as to contribute to a good society must emphasize a multi-cultural society, accentuate the individual as a part of a specific religious social body, and understand the religious corporate identity borders as porous, and therefore constantly re-negotiated.

The Maiden Association in Asker was founded in 1865 20 kilometers southwest of Örebro in the county of Närke. A group of unmarried women closely connected to the Asker Baptist congregation met for prayer, bible reading and conversations with early democratic overtones. They gathered in a time of change in a variety of areas, both social as well as church-related. The surviving material from these women – in the form of protocols, membership registers, etc. – provides an insight into their reflexive process. The local Maiden Association in Asker becomes a window, a vantage point into something that would otherwise be hard to access: in other words, the situation and thinking of "ordinary" women. The overall aim of this study has been to contribute to the understanding of how continuity and changes during the latter part of the 19th century, mainly in the realm of church history, could influence the thinking and life ideals of nonconformist Christian women. Based on my meeting with the source material, two central questions have been formulated: 1. How did the Maiden Association in Asker, during the time period 1865–1903 and in its context, formulate and shape the identities as Christian, woman and young? 2. Why were they formulated and shaped in this way? The method selected may be described as church historical and hermeneutic, with an inductive approach. The source material is derived from two distinct periods in the life of the association, 1865–1880 and 1888–1903, which has given the opportunity to identify changes over time. Two theoretical perspectives have been established – one based on identity and one based on intersectionality. The investigation shows the clear influence of the holiness movements at the local level in the shape of the Holiness Union and the Örebro Mission Association. But the study also shows that the lives and thinking of women were not only characterized by change, but also by continuity. The church historical changes that the nonconformist religious women in Asker took part in were not a clean-cut break with previous lutheran traditions and conventions. / Jungfruföreningen i Asker startade 1865 två mil sydväst om Örebro i Närke. En grupp ogifta kvinnor i nära relation till Askers baptistförsamling möttes för bön, bibelläsning och samtal med tidigdemokratiska förtecken. De hade en egen vald styrelse bestående av uteslutande kvinnor. I föreningen gällde allas rätt att rösta och göra sin röst hörd i samtalen långt innan kvinnlig rösträtt genomfördes i Sverige. I sammankomsterna formulerade de själva frågor, vilka de resonerade kring och sedan nedtecknade de sina slutsatser i samtalsprotokoll. Den lokala Jungfruföreningen i Asker blir ett fönster, ett titthål in i historien. Föreningens kvarlämnade spår i form av protokoll m.m. ger en möjlighet att se in i en svunnen tid och in i en grupp frikyrkligt präglade kvinnors tänkande och livsideal. Dessa ”vanliga” unga kristna kvinnor, de flesta och för de flesta okända, konstruerade sina identiteter som kristen, kvinna och ung i en tid av samhälleliga och inte minst kyrkohistoriska förändringar. Studiens frågeställningar fokuserar på hur dessa identiteter formulerades och gestaltades och varför det skedde på detta sätt, under perioden 1865–1903.