Skip to content

Add your phone number?

Optional. Nothing is sent unless you choose it.
The Historic Faith
Sign in

Jumpstarter 3 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion
Radical Reformation History  /  Lecture 7: The Birth of the Anabaptists  /  Discussion Questions
All Questions
Question 3
The lesson contrasts an “invisible church” mindset (“everybody in the whole area is a Christian… only God knows”) with the Anabaptist claim that the church is visible and tied to incarnation and the kingdom; how would an early Christian (pre-Constantine) have understood the visibility of the church, and what practices today either reinforce or undermine that visibility?
Another way to ask: Before Christianity had government support, how would early Christians have shown that the church was something you could actually see? What do churches today do that makes the church more visible—or hides it?

Direct Answer Based on Dean Taylor’s comments, early Christians would have understood the church as a visible community of disciples whose faith is seen in practices and obedience, not merely assumed because they live in a “Christian” territory. Visibility is reinforced by disciplined communal practices and undermined when “church” becomes a cultural label with no observable difference.

Support from Transcript:

  • Dean critiques the state-church fruit: “the church is invisible, nobody knows who it is… everybody in the whole area is a Christian, but only God knows.”
  • He says the Anabaptists argued “the church is visible,” tying it to “incarnation… Christ is alive both in spirit and in flesh, and it is visible.”
  • He asks whether church is “synonymous with the kingdom of God as residents,” and answers for Anabaptists and the early church: “yes.”
  • The first baptisms are linked to “true faith expressed in deeds of love,” and then living a “holy Christian life… steadfast… in tribulation.”
  • Zolikon practices show visibility: daily meetings, “daily communion,” baptisms, and a community shaped by obedience rather than parish membership.
Discussion Follow-ups Which habits in your church make discipleship publicly recognizable (shared life, obedience, mutual encouragement)? Which habits allow people to blend in with no change of heart or life?

Jumpstarter 3 of 10
Back Questions Next