Leadership

Replacing Those Dead-End Questions Most Small Groups Ask

by J.W. Phillips
01/27/25
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Replacing Those Dead-End Questions Most Small Groups Ask

You’ve read those lists of suggested questions for small group bible studies before. Questions commonly asked are:

1) What is the major point of the passage?
2) What is the context?
3) What do we learn about God?
4) What do we learn about Jesus?
5) What do we learn about the Holy Spirit?
6) What do we learn about ourselves?
7) What is the main application?

These questions, with slight variations, are used in almost every small group focused on either a sermon or an ongoing bible study. This is a huge mistake! Why? Because they will “dead-end” a group into shallow sharing.

These questions focus disproportionately on the text, and not on the individual;on teaching a lesson, and not on ministering to a heart; on mastering Scripture, and not on Scripture mastering us.

Adopt a format like that and small group sharing will stay stuck on the surface level.

There may be an equal distribution of talk, but that should never have been the goal to begin with. It would be better to focus on one or two people during a session and actually accomplish something.

A major fallacy of these commonly suggested questions is that most of these were already answered from the sermon heard, or the book studied, so why waste time duplicating that?

If a big chunk of time is given to pontificating on Scripture, the time Scripture is allowed for ministering to group members is severely limited.

It is far preferable to:

1) trust the Bible teaching already given;
2) transition from observation to application more quickly;
3) convey confidence in Scripture by applying Scripture instead of observing how it could apply.

Adopting this preferrable small group format will entail implementing the principle: description before prescription.

Instead of identifying a solution too quickly, first seek to understand the problem. Description!

Then, with the benefit of increased understanding, adjust or amend current responses to the problem. Prescription!

Often, what we call a scriptural solution isn’t particularly helpful. We grab a principle, parachute it into a situation we don’t understand yet, and call that a solution.

People who think this way could reduce the Bible to a pamphlet.

Their solution, broadly stated, could be: “Love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

Well, yes, I guess… sort of … kind of … you could say that. But in saying that, how effective a solution is that, really?

A scriptural solution, if it’s going to help, must translate from a general premise to a specific plan. Leave the specifics out, and it won’t be much of a solution.

To learn needed specifics, friends will care enough to get a more refined and defined description of a group member’s problem.

By encouraging group members to share the specifics of what they are facing, that sharing will yield insights the group wouldn’t have gotten otherwise. And this means their caring can now be more competent.

These ten questions will facilitate the need for description; and by asking them, the group members are showing they are truly interested in what this person is facing.

1. When did this situation begin?

2. How often does this situation occur?

3. Are there certain hours of the day, or certain days of the week, when this situation seems to occur?

4. What appear to be the major triggers?

5. What appear to be the major components?

6. Does this situation remind you of a similar situation you encountered?

7. How has this situation affected you and others close to you?

8. How have you attempted to solve this situation before?

9. What part of this previous solution seemed to help? (Steer way from dichotomous “black and white” thinking that says, “Nothing worked!”)

10. What part of the solution should we focus on right now? (This encourages the person sharing not to view himself or herself as a clueless person dependent upon the group but as a valued person who has some good insights we want to hear first).

These questions should always be asked in a personal, sensitive way, not mechanically as if running through a check list.

Also, instead of a rigid adherence to this list, a follow-up question may need to be asked given an answer just given, so ask it before proceeding to the next question.

Throughout this questioning (softly spoken, and not in the rapid-fire manner of a prosecutor), it is extremely important to listen well.

Reading the intangibles (facial expression, body language, tone of voice, etc.) is also important since a big part of communication is non-verbal.

Additional training can be provided later for how, and how not, to use these questions. But hopefully, you’re sensing the drift of this approach.

We want to learn more about our friend so we can help more.