Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 9
Dean says nationalism and patriotism among evangelicals and even “Amish, conservative Anabaptists” breaks his heart because it forgets “the very origin of who you are”; what specific signs would reveal that a congregation has traded Jesus’ kingdom-building blueprint for confidence in the state?
Another way to ask: What clear signs show a church has started trusting the state or nationalism more than Jesus and his kingdom?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
The transcript suggests the clearest signs are when a church’s hope, identity, and energy shift toward political takeover or national loyalty, rather than the two-kingdom separation and practical Jesus-following that formed the Anabaptist movement.
- Dean says he is “brokenhearted” seeing evangelicals and “Amish, conservative Anabaptists getting wrapped up in… nationalism and… patriotism.”
- He frames it as forgetting origins: “somehow you don’t get the very origin of who you are.”
- He warns of trading confidence in Christ for politics: “we have traded… the answers… in Jesus Christ… [for thinking] the state and politics is going to somehow [fix it]. No.”
- Stephen roots this in two kingdoms: the Bible makes it “so clear… these two things are two kingdoms; they don’t mix.”
- Both warn repeating Constantine-like entanglement will be “a disaster,” and Stephen says Christians are trying to “make that happen” now.
- The host ties this to 1525 issues: early Anabaptists constantly tried to “pull it away” from the state-church model.