Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 7
She says the church didn’t force the cape dress or head covering, and that she saw “the beauty and modesty way before… the head covering,” taking about a year and wanting to know “why I was doing what I was doing”; what does her slow, reasons-based obedience suggest about early Christian catechesis and practice—learning to obey with understanding—compared to quick “decisions” common in evangelical culture?
Another way to ask: She says no one forced the head covering, and she took about a year to understand why she was doing it. What does her slow, thoughtful obedience teach about learning the faith with understanding compared to quick “decisions” people often make?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Her story suggests discipleship worked best for her when she was given time, freedom, and biblical reasons—obedience growing from understanding rather than pressure. While she did have a decisive “commitment” moment, her later practice (dress and covering) developed slowly through teaching, questions, and friendship.
- She says her Mennonite setting wasn’t coercive: “they didn’t force me to put the cape dress on… They didn’t force me to cover my head. They let me make that decision.”
- She describes a sequence of conviction: “I saw… the beauty and modesty way before I saw the head covering.”
- She emphasizes time and process: “I was wearing a cape dress for about a year… it took me a long time to make my changes.”
- She wanted understanding: “I wanted to know why I was doing what I was doing.”
- Her method was catechetical in practice: she “bounce[d] questions off my Mennonite friends and off my Grace Assembly friends,” and says Mennonite friends “would support it by the Bible.”
- Yet she also had earlier “decision” moments: at five she “made a commitment,” and later at an altar call she “committed my life to God.”