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Question 7
Dean Taylor highlights that the Anabaptists rejected dualisms like “sacred/secular,” “clergy/laity,” and even separating “proclamation of the gospel and social concerns”; what modern church categories or budget lines depend on those separations, and what would it look like in your actual week if those separations were treated as false?
Another way to ask: What parts of today’s church depend on splitting life into categories like sacred/secular or clergy/laity? What would your week look like if you stopped treating those splits as real?

Direct Answer Dean Taylor implies many modern categories assume some work is “spiritual” (preaching, church programs) and other work is “ordinary,” but the Anabaptists treated all of life as priestly kingdom representation. If we treated those separations as false, our work, schedules, and spending would be planned as direct participation in mission, discipleship, and neighbor love.

Support from Transcript:

  • He says their dualism was kingdom vs world, while “all other dualisms…were rejected: sacred and secular, clergy and laity,” and even separating “proclamation… and social concerns.”
  • Taylor insists that “your occupations in life, everything you do in life, was for this purpose.”
  • He explains they didn’t debate “Do we help…poor…sick? Or do we just get them saved?”—“That kind of thinking never even came to them.”
  • He uses ambassador language: “We are the ambassadors of heaven…showing the world what it looks like if people actually take Jesus seriously.”
  • He connects this to priesthood of all believers: not just theory, but how you “consider your occupations…tomorrow.”
  • He describes evangelism as everywhere: “by day and by night…in house and in field…in prisons,” and a “holistic approach” to needs.
Discussion Follow-ups In a normal week, which tasks do you label “just my job” or “just housework”? What would change if those were consciously treated as part of representing the kingdom and making disciples?

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