Jumpstarter 7 of 10

Ideas to help restart your discussion

Question 7

Bercot highlights that Anabaptist Gelassenheit enabled believers to accept imprisonment, torture, and death; what do you think early Christians assumed about discipleship and suffering that makes modern Christianity seem unprepared for a costly faith?

Another way to ask: What did early Christians believe about following Jesus and suffering that helped them face prison or death? Why does modern Christianity often seem less ready for a faith that costs a lot?

Direct Answer Bercot’s point suggests early believers (as seen in the Anabaptist example) assumed discipleship meant total surrender to God’s will, including accepting the cross of suffering—even imprisonment or death—rather than treating faith as a path to comfort. Modern Christianity can seem unprepared when it lacks that same Gelassenheit.

Support from Transcript:

He says Gelassenheit “enabled the 16th-century Anabaptists to accept the cross of imprisonment, torture, and often death.”
He connects costly endurance to surrender: “this total surrender to God’s will” is what made such suffering bearable.
The Kingdom Life requires people who have “totally surrendered themselves to God,” not living for “personal ambitions.”
He contrasts with easier versions of Christianity: “nominal Christians” and “easy believism” don’t know the Kingdom Life.
Kingdom Life is described as total devotion: mind in heaven, daily life sanctified, and obedience that becomes “not burdensome.”

Discussion Follow-ups If surrender is the key to enduring suffering, what comforts or ambitions might keep a believer from being “prepared”? What would it look like to practice Gelassenheit before any persecution ever comes?

Jumpstarter 7 of 10

Add your phone number?

Thank you!

Jumpstarter 7 of 10