Discussion Questions

Rosie describes being driven to “face to face with my mortality” at 16 through illness, and then searching for God first by “joining church and wearing a bigger cap”; what does her story suggest God was (and wasn’t) willing to let outward religious markers accomplish in her, and how does that challenge the way Christians can confuse identity, conformity, and the new birth? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie tried to find God by joining church and looking more religious. What does her story show that outward religion can’t do inside a person, and how might Christians confuse “fitting in” with being truly born again?

In *Rekindling the Anabaptist Flame*, Rosie says she realized she had not experienced the “new birth” and felt God “calling me to say yes to him”; what does her description imply about God’s initiative and human response, and how might early Christians have expected conversion to be recognizable in more than church membership? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie says she hadn’t experienced the “new birth” and felt God calling her to say yes. What does this say about what God does first and how people respond, and how would early Christians expect real conversion to show up beyond just joining a church?

Rosie went ahead with baptism despite “real doubts” about her Amish church and later said she “never quite rested easily” because of the bishop who baptized her; what assumptions about baptism, conscience, and church authority are embedded in her discomfort, and how does that compare to common evangelical certainty that baptism is mainly a personal symbol rather than a weighty communal act? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie was baptized even though she had serious doubts about her church and the bishop. What does her discomfort show about how she saw baptism, conscience, and church authority, and how is that different from the view that baptism is mainly a personal symbol?

Rosie talks about learning to recognize “the still quiet voice of the Spirit,” saying it “didn’t produce confusion and turmoil and chaos” and that she needed to “wait until the storm passed”; what practical tests for discernment does she model here, and where might this collide with modern Christian urgency to act quickly, follow strong personalities, or chase emotional intensity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie says the Spirit’s voice brings peace, not chaos, and she learned to wait until the “storm” passed. What simple tests for knowing God’s guidance is she using, and how does that clash with the pressure to act fast or chase big emotions and strong leaders?

When Rosie observed the Church of God meetings, she judged them as “noise and fluff… like lawyers,” and she called their leader “quietly manipulative”; what does her critique assume about how God normally works (substance vs. spectacle), and what safeguards would early Christian communities likely have used to resist charismatic movements that isolate people from family? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie thought the Church of God meetings were mostly “noise and fluff” and that the leader was quietly controlling. What does this show she believes about how God usually works (real substance vs. show), and how might early churches protect people from leaders who pull them away from family?

Rosie says “critical thinking is not a strong suit of the Amish” and that they were “sitting ducks” for charisma; what parts of your own church culture might also make people vulnerable to manipulation—just in different ways—and what habits (scriptural, communal, intellectual) would actually build resilience without producing pride? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie says the Amish weren’t trained to think critically and were easy targets for charismatic leaders. In what ways might your church culture also make people easy to manipulate, and what habits could build real strength without making people proud?

Rosie calls the Amish “unmatched in effortless community” and says it’s what she misses most, even while she couldn’t stay Amish; what does her testimony reveal about God’s purposes for community, and how does it expose both the strengths and spiritual dangers of communities built on conformity? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie misses the Amish community even though she couldn’t stay. What does that teach about why God wants community, and how can communities built on conformity be both strong and spiritually dangerous?

Rosie describes the art world as easily becoming “untethered from the right and good” and “an expression of an evil heart,” while also admitting artistic longings and parenting an artist daughter; what would faithful, early-Christian-style discipleship look like for gifts like art and music—neither suppressing them nor letting them rule—and where does modern Christianity tend to overreact in either direction? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie warns that the art world can drift from what is right, but she also loves art and is raising an artist daughter. What would wise, early-Christian-style discipleship look like for art and music—not crushing the gifts and not letting them take over—and where does modern Christianity often swing too far either way?

Rosie connects obedience and providence by noting that the day after their rebaptism they met the friend who introduced B-Venom therapy, saying she “can’t feel like that was a coincidence” and that choosing to be “truly baptized” set a chain of healing in motion; how should Christians talk about obedience, blessing, and timing without turning God into a formula, and what does her story suggest God is like in how He rewards, delays, or weaves events? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie thinks their rebaptism was connected to later meeting someone who helped her heal, and she doesn’t see it as a coincidence. How can Christians talk about obedience and blessing without treating God like a formula, and what does her story suggest about how God times and weaves events?

Rosie says belonging to a brotherhood has taught her that “some things in Christian life must be experienced collectively,” and she warns seekers to “learn to know the voice of God… and not be afraid to wait on the Lord as long as it takes”; what concrete decisions or habits in your life would need to change if you took those two claims seriously (collective discipleship and patient waiting), and what fears or resistances does that expose in you? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Rosie says some parts of Christian life must be lived as a group, and she says to wait for God’s voice as long as it takes. If you took those seriously, what would you need to change in your daily choices and habits, and what fears in you might resist that?