Weekly Questions

Weekly questions exist to move your group from talking to doing. They take Sunday’s conversation and turn it into a conversation about tomorrow.

But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves.

James 1:22

We cannot only talk about God’s word. We have to put it into action. That is the whole job of these questions, to help your group work out how to apply tomorrow what we talked through as a church.

What a win looks like

A win is your group applying God’s word to their actual lives, consistently. When people start telling stories about choices they made because of a conversation you had, you are winning.

The win is not understanding. The win is applied, active truth.

Four things to keep in mind

Grace. Once you focus on application it gets easy to slide into legalism. Frame application as a response to what God has already done, not a work that earns his approval.

Guilt. Guilt travels alongside legalism. There is no place for it in the life of a Christian. Christ paid the price for our shortcomings. Our response to that love is trust and obedience, not wallowing.

Authority. The authority in the answer is God’s word, not opinion. Bring the group back to the truth of scripture. Push them to answer from it, and push them to go looking in it.

Love. The conversation has to be drenched in love. 1 Corinthians 13 says we can be completely correct and still be making noise if love is missing.

Principles for planning

Personalize. Do not use the questions exactly as they come to you. Reword them for your group. You will learn how they land with your people, so put in the time.

Be selective. You do not have to use all of them. Pick the ones that will really engage your group.

Be direct. Nobody gets specific about application unless you push. Get down to tomorrow. How does this change who you are at home? How does it change who you are at work?

Be flexible. The conversation will often call for a change to your plan. Go with it. If people are engaged and heading toward application, follow that. Your plan should sharpen the conversation or redirect it, never kill it.

Bible study questions

When you are working straight from a passage, these five carry most of the weight.

What stands out to you in this passage? There are no right or wrong answers here.

What do you think the author was really trying to say? Ask this, or something like it, to get at the heart of a passage.

Can you illustrate this truth with an example from your own life? The answers show what the principle looks like on a normal Tuesday.

What is the next step for you to live out what God is saying to you through this passage? Personal application, near the end of the study.

What is one thing you are asking God for right now? Questions like this open into prayer and into caring for each other.