A bad question is one reason for lingering silence in a small group Bible study. So, for small group leaders, it is worth our time to think about what makes a good question.
Learning how to ask good questions is a lifelong pursuit. It pays dividends in almost every setting and every relationship in life. But there are few gatherings in which this skill makes a greater difference than in teaching or leading a small group.
What Makes a Good Question?
I have taught and led small group Bible studies for many years, so I’ve had plenty of occasions to ponder the quality of my questions. The observations below are the fruit of my experience, though I know I have much more to learn. I welcome additional contributions in the comments.
In my experience, good questions in small groups share these six qualities.
A good question is asked in a natural order.
What is true in one-on-one conversations is also true in small groups: Accelerating too quickly makes things awkward. Learning and respecting the natural progression of questions is a concrete way for leaders to love their group members.
Questions should generally move from easy to difficult and from objective to personal. It is also usually advisable to ask questions in the observe-interpret-apply progression that we suggest as a Bible study framework.
A good question is honest.
I’ve written an entire post about honest questions, so I will offer only a quick summary here.
Having studied the Bible passage in depth before the meeting, a leader should have a point of view and a direction in which they want to lead the conversation. However, the best questions are asked in humility, understanding that even the most studied Christians have much to learn from others.
Asking simplistic fill-in-the-blank or guess-what-I’m-thinking questions is often more an activity than an invitation to interaction. These questions rarely supply enough oxygen to sustain a conversation.
A good question is tethered to the text.
There are certainly times to probe our friends’ thoughts, experiences, and feelings. After all, our group members’ backgrounds and perspectives are part of what makes small groups so valuable. But within a small group Bible study, discussion should flow from the Scriptures.
If the purpose of our small group is to study the Bible, we should ask questions about the Bible. Our human tendency is to look away from Scripture, so many of our questions must gently remind our friends to look back at the text.
Application questions are the most personal and individual questions we can ask, but even these should originate in the text. Having talked through observations and interpreted the passage as a group, the author’s main point should drive all application questions.
A good question is understandable.
When we are excited about a Bible passage, it is easy to get carried away when writing questions. We must break our questions down into small, manageable steps.
Good questions should not be too long. They should not introduce fancy concepts or big words. Usually, they should not consist of multiple parts.
A good question is concise and clear. It asks people to consider something specific. If our friends can’t understand what we’re asking, we’ve no chance of a good discussion.
A good question is purposeful.
When putting notes together for a meeting, a leader should have a defined plan. They should have a considered idea about the main point for the passage, and they should put a question plan together to help their group gather the information to arrive at that destination.
This means that some interesting features of the passage may not make it into the discussion. With a limited amount of time, a leader needs to choose their questions carefully.
A good question is prayerfully considered.
As leaders, we should pray about all aspects of our Bible study meetings. This includes our questions and the conversations they spark.
A key ingredient of planning our questions is considering possible responses. If we envision the answers, we can evaluate the quality of our inquiries and anticipate the need to rephrase or follow up in a particular way. And the better we know our small group members, the better we’ll be able to predict how our questions will land on them.
Worth the Effort
A low-quality question is just one of the explanations for silence in a small group. But it may be the most common. (I will write about bad group atmospheres and reluctant group members—the other reasons I gave for unanswered questions—in the coming weeks.) Next week I’ll provide an example of small group questions that have the qualities I’ve listed above.
Planning helpful questions is slow, difficult work and it takes time to get better. But it’s worth it—for the good of our meetings and the growth of our friends.
