The Power of Asking Questions

30,000 Questions Later: The Power of Asking Better Questions

In the 20 years I’ve led small group Bible studies, I’ve discovered the power of asking questions. I’ve written around 30,000 questions — some good, some not so good. In this article, we’ll look at the power of questions: nine reasons why asking questions is powerful, six aspects of a good question, two mistakes to avoid, and my one favorite question, which I’ll share at the end.

Asking powerful questions is not only helpful for small group Bible study leaders — it’s helpful for Sunday school teachers, coaches, parents, and even for us as we study the Bible ourselves to dig deeper and discover biblical truth. These questions are great for Bible study, but they’re also useful in everyday life.

Nine Reasons Why Questions Are Powerful

1. Jesus Asked Questions

Jesus was an amazing Bible teacher and he used questions to lead people to biblical truth. In Luke 9:18–20, he asked his disciples, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” They gave various answers, and then he pressed further: “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered, “The Christ of God.” Jesus encouraged his disciples to think and to state what was on their minds. Saying something out loud forces you to verbalize what you really believe. He asked them to wrestle through who he was instead of simply telling them. And we know from Romans that we are to believe in our heart and confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord — Jesus’ question got them to do just that.

In Luke 10:36, right after sharing the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus asked the man who had started the conversation, “Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?” The man answered, “The one who showed him mercy.” Jesus said, “You go and do likewise.” Jesus didn’t give him the conclusion — he asked a question that forced the lawyer to make that conclusion himself. Once the man did, he could not easily walk away and pretend he didn’t understand.

A third example is in Mark 8, where Jesus asked the disciples a rapid series of questions: Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes, do you not see, and having ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the 5,000, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up? And the seven for the 4,000, how many baskets? Do you not yet understand?

That’s nine questions in quick succession. He could have simply told them, “The leaven of the Pharisees is their teaching.” But he never gave them the answer. He just kept asking questions to get them to think.

2. Questions Engage the Mind

We’ve all sat in a lecture where someone drones on and on while you’re looking at your watch wondering when it will stop. But when a question is asked, it puts the ball in your court. It activates your mind around whatever is being shared. You can’t be absent-minded, can’t be thinking about lunch. A question immediately shifts your brain into gear. So even asking any question — forget whether it’s a good one or a bad one — forces the listener to start paying attention, and that is definitely a win.

3. Questions Turn Listeners into Participants

Instead of just sitting there, people are now part of the learning process. And being part of that process helps them remember. We’ve all sat through presentations that left us thinking, “What did I actually get out of that?” One-way information output is generally not the most effective way to help people retain content. That’s why, in our church after sermons, we always have one or two discussion questions — just to engage people’s minds and help them take at least something away that they can practice during the week.

4. Questions Expose Misunderstandings

If you just keep talking and telling people your ideas, you have no idea whether they understand correctly, whether they have the right takeaway, the right theology. Maybe they’ve totally misunderstood your point. But you can’t know that unless you ask.

This applies beyond the Bible — to mathematics, teaching kids to read, coaching sports. I coach a youth basketball team, and I’ve been asking them things like, “Where should you stand in this defensive formation? Show me on the board where you should move and how you should cut.” When they show me, I sometimes realize a player didn’t fully grasp the concept, or that one player understands and another doesn’t and needs more coaching. Questions reveal that.

5. Questions Create Ownership

When people discover truth from scripture themselves, they own it. You can sometimes even see their face light up. They know the truth they’ve found isn’t just something the teacher made up or handed to them — it’s something they found themselves. That is very powerful.

When I go through a gospel presentation, I’ve been opening scripture, letting the person read it, and then asking questions. They find all the answers, and we write them down together. At the end, they often want to take that piece of paper with them — because those are the answers they gave, not just answers I told them.

6. Questions Push People Back to Scripture

Asking questions encourages the listener to look to scripture for the answer instead of simply listening to the opinion of their favorite Bible teacher. We can all listen to a great preacher — but how do we know what they’re teaching is correct? By going back to scripture. Good Bible teachers should be encouraging their listeners to study the word themselves and discover its meaning. It respects the authority of scripture as the source of our lessons.

7. Questions Reinforce the Authority of Scripture

Questions show that the Bible — not the teacher’s insight — is the authority. When we ask questions that drive people to look up the passage for themselves, we’re reinforcing that the word of God is trustworthy and worth digging into personally.

8. Questions Create Connection

When you ask questions, you invite other people into the conversation. You let them know it’s not just your opinion that matters — their perspective matters too. You’re stepping down from the pulpit, off the pedestal, and saying, “We are all studying God’s word together.” It shifts the dynamic from a teacher-student relationship to more of a peer relationship, and that is very powerful.

9. Questions Bring in Truth from Different Perspectives

Often I finish preparing a Bible study, write down all the points I can find in the text, and think I’ve found everything. Then we have the actual small group, and someone shares a perspective I never saw, never thought about. The whole group learns something that never would have happened if I had just come in and said, “I’m the lone teacher here and I’ll tell you what I got from this passage.” After many small groups, I’ve gone back to my notes and added things I learned from others.

This is a key point: the teacher is not the only person with the Holy Spirit. The brothers and sisters in your small group have the Holy Spirit too, and he is teaching them as well. We should listen to everyone and make sure everyone is included.

Six Qualities of a Good Question

1. Open-Ended

Don’t ask yes-or-no questions or questions that can be answered in one word. Instead of “Did Paul enjoy sharing his testimony?” ask “Why was Paul so excited to share his testimony?” That’s an open-ended question that invites conversation.

2. Easy to Understand

If you’re a Bible study teacher writing questions for your study, ask your spouse or a family member to read them first to make sure they’re clear. Don’t ask something convoluted like, “How do the plans and designs of the tabernacle — the structure, the layout, and the imagery — remind the Jews and us today of the coming Messiah who would fulfill Old Testament prophecy?” People will just look at you blankly. Instead, simply ask, “How does the tabernacle point to Jesus?” That’s far easier to understand.

3. Thought-Provoking

Avoid Sunday school–style questions that are too easy and too obvious. The whole group will just look at you like, “Challenge us a little.” Don’t ask “Should we lie?” or “Should we steal?” — those don’t create discussion.

Instead, ask: “Is it acceptable to lie if your child’s life is on the line?” or “What are some ways people steal in everyday life?” Or consider a question like, “God tells us not to seek our own glory, but then God seeks glory himself. Why is that?” You could even ask, “Is God prideful?” It may sound slightly provocative, but that kind of question stimulates strong opinions and gets people genuinely engaged.

4. Group-Appropriate

Be careful about being too personal in a group setting. “What is the worst sin you’ve ever done?” will make people clam up. There is a place for accountability and deeper sharing, but know your group and how far they’re willing to go. You can go deeper gradually, but you don’t want people shutting down because a question felt too invasive.

5. Varied in Type

Mix different kinds of questions. Observation questions: who, what, where, when? Interpretation questions: what does this mean, how do we understand this? Application questions: how do we obey this, how do we put this into practice? Experience questions: have you ever experienced answered prayer like Paul did? Asking different types of questions helps your group think deeply about scripture and then think about how to apply it to their lives.

6. Anchored in Scripture

Always keep in mind that God’s word is the authority. Bible studies can go off the rails when they become “everyone share your own opinion” time. A great question to bring things back on track is: “Where does the Bible say that?” Everyone in the group should feel free to ask this — even of the teacher.

Two Mistakes to Avoid

1. Being the Answer Man

The teacher does not have to answer every question. Encourage people to look to scripture for answers, not to you. We want to train people that the Bible is the authority, not a person. We don’t want to build up our own ego or give people the impression that they must get their answers from us and that we are always right. We are not always right.

That requires some self-control, because sometimes we think we have the best answer and we just want to tell everyone. But as we saw Jesus do, sometimes the best move is to not give the answer at all.

2. Filling in the Silence

In many small groups, when a question is asked, there’s an awkward silence. Everyone looks down, avoids eye contact, silently pleading, “Please don’t call on me.” We’ve all been there.

A lot of teachers — and I used to do this too — are afraid of that awkward silence. So they ask a question, wait five or ten seconds, and when no one answers, jump in and answer it themselves, thinking they’re doing the group a favor. You’re not. If you jump in every time, you train people not to answer. All they have to do is hold out for ten seconds and the teacher will save the day. They learn they don’t have to engage.

The truth is, silence is not a bad thing. When people are quiet, their brain wheels are often turning. I once attended a coaching training where one takeaway has stuck with me ever since: let the silence do the work. When you ask a question, just wait. That silence is often when a person is seriously thinking through what’s been said, wrestling with the question, struggling to find the words for their answer. That process can be very valuable.

It may be that your group’s dynamic needs to shift, and that means waiting — as long as it takes — for someone to jump in. If no one can find the answer because the question is genuinely complex, you can give a nudge: “How about look at verse 17 and see if you can find the answer there.” But in the end, you want them to voice their answer, not have it handed to them.

My Favorite Question

There’s one question I ask in almost every single Bible study. It’s probably not what you’d expect. The question is simply: “What do you think?”

Inevitably in a Bible study, a tricky topic comes up and someone voices a question, then looks at me expecting the answer. They think I should have it — I’m the teacher, the small group leader — so I’ll just tell them the answer and we can move on. But very often, instead of answering, I turn it back: “What do you think?” At this point the whole group usually laughs, because they know I’m going to do that. But then they share their thoughts — and in working through the question out loud, they sometimes find the answer themselves. They’ll think it through, state it, and then say, “Actually, I don’t even have that question anymore.”

Other times, someone else in the group tries to address the question and offers their answer, which is also good. This doesn’t mean I never answer questions — at the end I’ll sometimes share thoughts from scripture. But I prefer to let the group think it through first, and often their thoughts are already very good.

Conclusion: Ask Better Questions

YouTube is a difficult format for asking questions. In face-to-face Bible studies, I love asking questions — but on a screen, they tend to come across as rhetorical. So let me encourage you: find a local group you can join where you can ask questions and be asked questions. YouTube has its place, but it is not a replacement for a local Bible study group where you can all open your Bibles, dig in, ask questions, and have a vibrant, dynamic discussion around the word of God.

And practice writing questions. I’ve written many questions, and through that process I’ve gotten better at it — though there’s always room to improve. Sometimes I give my questions to someone else and ask: Do you understand these? Are they good? Are they open-ended? Getting outside feedback helps.

Jesus was the most authoritative teacher in the history of the world, and yet he regularly asked questions. What does that tell you?