Discussion Questions

E. Stanley Jones describes a generational slide from Abraham’s firsthand friendship with God to Isaac’s “awe” and then to Jacob’s “decaying morals”; where do you see the modern church (or your own spiritual life) most tempted to live on “afterglow” rather than firsthand encounter, and what specific practices keep that drawer from becoming “empty”? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Where are you (or your church) most likely to live off past spiritual highs instead of a real, present walk with God? What daily or weekly habits keep your faith from drying up?

Dean Taylor admits that loving history can subtly replace the “target” of becoming “new and alive” with Christ in every generation; how can serious Christians pursue tradition and church history in a way that produces spiritual renewal rather than nostalgia, identity-pride, or secondhand faith? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How can Christians study tradition and church history without just feeling nostalgic or proud, but instead becoming more alive in Christ today? What helps keep faith from becoming secondhand?

When the king offered the Hutterites permission to exist only in groups of “five to seven people” (effectively dismantling community), what does their struggle and prayer (“asked him if his will was for us to remain together”) reveal about how they discerned God’s will, and how does that challenge modern individualistic approaches to guidance? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the Hutterites’ prayer about staying together show about how they tried to figure out God’s will? How does that challenge the idea that guidance is only a private, individual thing?

The chronicles record believers digging holes “like foxes,” being smoked out, threatened with gallows at their doors, and housing “250 children” with the sick and blind in one place—what picture of God’s care and the church’s responsibility for the vulnerable is assumed in these stories, and what would it require for our churches to live with that same kind of costly mutual obligation? JumpstartAnother way to ask: In these stories, what do we learn about how God cares for suffering people and how the church should care for the weak? What would our churches have to change to carry that kind of costly responsibility for each other?

Dean highlights that the chronicles openly preserve pages of “disastrous mistakes” and elder failures, comparing it to Scripture’s unflattering portraits (David/Bathsheba, Peter’s denial); what would honest historical confession look like in your church tradition, and what are we afraid would happen if we told the truth that plainly? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would it look like for your church tradition to openly admit its big failures, like the Bible does with its heroes? What do you fear would happen if you were that honest?

During the “golden period” of prosperity and skilled trades (doctors, watch making, etc.), Dean calls it a “big temptation” to keep trades serving “the propagating of the kingdom of God”; what concrete dangers arise when Christians become respected, economically valuable, and culturally useful, and how can prosperity be structured to fuel mission rather than comfort? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What new dangers show up when Christians become successful, respected, and financially secure? How can money and success be used to push the mission forward instead of making us comfortable?

In prison, a missionary insisted he “didn’t choose” the task but was “appointed by God and his spirit in his church,” and tied that calling to preaching, believer’s baptism, and obedience; how does that church-sent, Spirit-appointed view of mission confront modern notions of “calling” as private preference, and what authority should the local church have to send (or restrain) missionaries? JumpstartAnother way to ask: How does the idea of being sent by the church and appointed by the Spirit challenge the idea that “calling” is just personal preference? How much say should a local church have in sending or stopping missionaries?

Brother Paul told the Lutheran ministers, “If you can show me one little flock of Christ that is a fruit of your preaching, I will join them,” and then argued fiercely for a visible, identifiable church using Jesus’ and Peter’s words; what would count today as a “little flock” you could actually point to, and how would this visible-church demand disrupt common evangelical confidence in an “invisible church” that cannot be located? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What would a real “little flock” of Christ look like today that you could actually point to and identify? How does that challenge the idea of an “invisible church” that can’t be clearly found anywhere?

The Hutterites refused to validate “warmongers” as Christians, rejected war/sword as Christian, and resisted war taxes even when it cost them livestock and raids; what does this insistence say about their understanding of grace and discipleship, and where do modern Christians quietly baptize violence, coercion, or state priorities in ways early Christians (and these Anabaptists) would have found impossible? JumpstartAnother way to ask: What does the Hutterites’ refusal to support war say about what they believed grace and following Jesus require? Where do Christians today excuse violence, pressure, or government goals in ways they would not accept?

In the worst years—massacres, famine, torture (red-hot iron, gunpowder in wounds), babies killed, people mixing clay with food—the chronicles still say, “we followed the example of our forefathers by sending out brothers…to seek those on fire for the truth”; what inner logic would make mission feel necessary for survival (“if we stop…we’re going to deteriorate”), and what would your life have to change for obedience and gospel advance to remain non-negotiable under real loss? JumpstartAnother way to ask: Why would spreading the gospel feel necessary just to stay spiritually alive, even during extreme suffering? What would you have to change so obedience and mission stay non-negotiable when you face real loss?