Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 2
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?
Another 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?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
Her wording puts the first move with God—He “called”—but insists on a real human response—she had to “say yes” and give her life to the Lord. The transcript implies conversion is recognizable by an inner spiritual reality (“new birth”), not merely by signing onto a church.
- The book led her to “face to face with the realization that I hadn’t experienced this new birth.”
- She frames it as God’s initiative: “God was calling me to say yes to him.”
- She describes a decisive response: “So I prayed and gave my life to the Lord.”
- She later distinguishes that experience from joining: she had planned to “join church that summer,” but the new birth realization came before that.
- She sought a group that was “more spiritually alive,” suggesting she expected real spiritual life to be observable and not just institutional.