How to Ask Good Questions when Leading Bible Study
While each small group’s conversation will be unique, questions keep us all going the right direction like a rudder on a ship. They steer each group to reflect on the same truths and consider relevant applications.
That’s why we’re intentional with our questions. With thoughtful questions, you can teach people how to read and meditate on the text. You’re training them in how to approach the Bible and what tools to use.
To do this well, your preparation should involve studying, practicing explanation, and considering application. We cover how to do all of these things extensively in preparation for exposition in our Exposition Cohorts, but here is a shortlist of some of what we cover. The following will assume that the group has not already completed a list of questions for homework.
FALLEN CONDITION QUESTIONS
As the leader, you should begin by identifying the Fallen Condition in the text. This deals with the brokenness on display. Sometimes it’s sin, other times it's frailty or not knowing what to do next. Whoever the original audience or subject of the text is, they are living in a broken world. How are they feeling that in this passage? Don’t ask this to your small group, but pay attention to it. It’s going to set up your first couple of questions.
The first question should be crafted to be easy to answer without getting too vulnerable. One way to do this is to connect the Fallen Condition of the text with our something in our world today. How do we feel the same brokenness that the passage identifies? For example, if the passage is about being wise with your words, where are some of the arenas in our culture where we see a lack of wisdom with words? If the brokenness reveals real insecurity in life, ask where they see insecurity manifest itself online or in their conversations.
The next question should move into the personal. How has this Fallen Condition specifically impacted our own lives? To continue with the wise words example, when have we felt the sting of loose speech, whether our own or from others? In what kinds of situations should we be on alert for this issue? To continue with our previous example, if the Fallen Condition is insecurity, ask about seasons when they’ve faced struggles with lack of stability.
CONTEXT QUESTIONS
Here is where we can train our people how to approach a text. We never want to place meaning on a passage because of our own emotions, issues, or cultural biases. In order to prevent this kind of eisegesis, we need our sisters to strive to understand context first.
Context questions should cover some elements of the historical background. It can also point folks to a slightly zoomed out literary context for what happens right before or after the passage of focus. It may even be helpful to touch on the canonical context and how the people in the passage relate to God because of where we are in the storyline of Scripture. Consider what would be most helpful to highlight based on the main takeaways of the text. (For a deeper look at Context, see our training articles on Understanding Context: Part One and Part Two.)
OBSERVATION QUESTIONS
Our next step is Observation. After understanding context, we are not yet ready to jump to conclusions on the meaning. Craft questions around important words, clearly defined sections, or repeated concepts.
If our passage is poetry, we may notice what kind of imagery is being emphasized. If it’s a narrative, we might want to identify where in the plot arc this passage is taking place. For epistles, we might identify what supporting arguments are being made and how transitions take us from one idea to the next.
MEANING QUESTIONS
In this step, we want to make sure the main point(s) of the passage is clear. What is the author’s intent in writing this passage? What are the key takeaways intended to be?
Oftentimes this will focus on what God intends to communicate about his relationship with his people. It may be a specific exhortation or theological truth. Oftentimes it will relate to how Christ works in this element of our lives.
Consider how to make this takeaway stick in the minds of your people. What is a theme or type that might be on display in this text? What imagery or illustrative question can help form a word picture in their minds to seal this truth into memory?
APPLICATION QUESTIONS
Knowledge of a passage is not an end unto itself. Truth should elicit a response.
How do we live in response to this text? As a person, as a church, or as a community? How does it change our thinking? How does it effect our hearts? How does it change our actions?
As with deciding how to spend our time together, the number of questions you ask will be determined by many variables. You will know how long members of your group can focus, what level of biblical literacy they have, and when they need to spend more time digging into a doctrinal topic adjacent to your passage. We hope these categories give you some ideas for how to walk, step by step, through a text, whether it be with a room full of high schoolers, some women from church, your neighbor, or the co-workers who asked you why you read your Bible at lunch.
Find further skill in studying and teaching through the steps in this article by taking our short course The Fundamentals of Bible Teaching or by joining one of our Exposition Cohorts.
