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== Individual conversion ==
[[File:Jan Frans van Geel and Jan Baptist van Hool - The calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew, detail of the pulpit in the St. Andrew's Church, Antwerp.jpg|thumb|Jan Frans van Geel and Jan Baptist van Hool – The calling of St. Peter and St. Andrew, detail of the pulpit in the St. Andrew's Church, Antwerp|alt=depiction of a life size wooden carving of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew as they climb out of their fishing boat]]
[[File:Pimonenko. Victime of fanatisme.jpg|thumb|''[[A Victim of Fanaticism]]'' (1899) by [[Mykola Pymonenko]]. A convert is often unwelcome by the adherents of the former faith.]]
James P. Hanigan writes that individual conversion is the foundational experience and the central message of Christianity, adding that Christian conversion begins with an experience of being "thrown off balance" through cognitive and psychological "disequilibrium", followed by an "awakening" of consciousness and a new awareness of God.{{sfn|Hanigan|1983|pp=25, 28–29}} Hanigan compares it to "death and rebirth, a turning away..., a putting off of the old..., a change of mind and heart".{{sfn|Hanigan|1983|pp=25–26}} The person responds by acknowledging and confessing personal lostness and sinfulness, and then accepting a [[Universal call to holiness|call to holiness]] thus restoring balance. This initial internal conversion is followed by practices that further the process of conversion, which according to Hanigan, will include ethical changes.{{sfn|Hanigan|1983|loc=abstract|pp=25–28}}
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