So you’ve prepped your talk. You’ve got a plan for the games. You’ve sent out the regular email to the parents to remind families that youth group is on tonight.
And then you think… oh no.
It’s time to write some discussion questions for the small group time.
The Why Question
This isn’t an article about how to write good questions—not exactly. Instead I want to zoom out a little further and invite you to ask why. Specifically: Why are we actually having this small group discussion time? What is it really for? What am I hoping it will achieve? Thinking through these questions should bring us clarity and make our task easier.
I have three possible answers, though I’m sure others exist as well. I want to show you three different types of conversation you might seek to have—each with its own objectives. And as you’ll see, they’re very different from each other.
1. The Mountain
Sometimes the purpose of a discussion time or Bible study is to get your group up a mountain.
I recently traveled to Morocco, where a local guide named Omar led me and my group up and down the largest peak in the Atlas range. Omar knew the route, and he’d planned every step of the way. “Let’s pause for a rest,” he would say gently, as if it had only just occurred to him—but the perfect timings of our journey suggested otherwise. He’d figured it all out beforehand.
You, too, can be a mountain leader. You start by studying the terrain—looking carefully at the passage you’re going to be discussing. Then you decide on the goal of your journey—the main point that you want the young people to grasp. Now you need to plot your route. You’re going to write questions that will get teenagers to the right goal, by God’s grace, step by step.
A lot of these questions are likely to be about comprehension. You’re making sure students see what they need to see in order to grasp the overall message. You might add questions of interpretation—why do you think Jesus puts it that way? What’s this word doing here?
As a mountain leader, you’ll also keep an eye on time. You won’t let the group linger on the first question for three-quarters of the session if there are six more you want to get through. Equally, you’ll know when there’s time to let them go off on a tangent—they just need to get back on the track you’ve mapped out in time to reach the summit by the end of the slot.
2. The Tutorial
Other times, your small group conversations might be more like a tutorial.
I’m not talking about YouTube tutorials on hair styling here. I’m talking about the university tutorial. The kind of meeting with a tutor or professor where you’re not just being taught facts, you’re being taught to think. In this small group scenario, your aim is to get teenagers exploring for themselves.
One experience from my own university days springs to mind. I’d spent my week writing an utterly uninspired essay on Greek pottery, and sworn never to look at a pot again. An hour-long session with my supervisor opened my eyes. As he asked questions and shared thoughts, I suddenly got why these pots were actually incredibly interesting. I was empowered to think about them in a whole new way.
This is the kind of empowering you’ll want to do in a tutorial-type small group. You’ll urge group members to say why they’ve given the answers they’ve given, and you’ll actively invite them to express their doubts and misgivings. You don’t mind so much where the discussion goes exactly—it’s not about grasping a specific point. Your aim is to help teenagers to develop a thinking faith, making their beliefs their own.
This doesn’t mean that the conversation will necessarily feel intellectual—just that you’ll go where your noses take you. What do you find surprising in this passage? Why do you think it’s so difficult to put this into practice? What do you think people at your school would say about that? I know you know this is true, but does it FEEL like it’s true? These are the types of questions you’ll want to ask as you engage students’ curiosity.
After that tutorial on pottery, I actually printed out a picture of one particular pot and stuck it on my pinboard. Nerdy, I admit—but isn’t this the kind of response we want from our young people as they engage with the gospel of grace?
3. The Pool Party
The sun is shining. There are ice-cold drinks in the fridge, inflatables bobbing in the water, and a table heaving with snacks. You’re chatting by the edge of the pool, feet dangling, just catching up on life. Occasionally someone decides to plunge in and swim for a bit. Refreshed, they slick back their wet hair and return to the conversation.
This third approach to group times is all about fostering relationships—between group members, and ultimately with Jesus.
As the group leader running a pool-party type discussion time, you can see yourself as the party host. Your aim is to make sure everyone feels welcomed and comfortable. You’re hospitable to their wants and needs, and you’re trying to help everyone to get along well.
The Bible is still crucial to this type of conversation: it’s the pool at the center of the party! You’re being refreshed by God’s Word, soaking it up together. But this doesn’t feel like hard work. Maybe you just focus on one or two key ideas or moments in the passage. How could this help you when…? What does that make you think of?
As the leader you’ll make the key ideas clear, but most of your time will probably be spent chatting about who Jesus is and why that matters for your students’ lives. This approach works especially well for teenagers who are new to exploring Christianity, or alternatively, after a group has already heard a Bible-based talk together. You’ll encourage students to share openly, and you’ll leave plenty of time for prayer. You’re just doing life together, centered around the Lord Jesus.
The Spirit at Work
Of course, in one sense you aren’t the mountain leader, university professor, or party host. These roles are God’s—it’s his Spirit alone who can teach us the truth. Astonishingly, though, he loves working through ordinary humans to do so.
In light of that, I don’t offer these models in order to pile on pressure. Rather, I hope that these three approaches can help ease your load—clarifying what it is you’re trying to do in a given small group time and therefore letting you off the hook of trying to do it all. After all, no single conversation is ever going to be the whole story of a young person’s faith in Christ. It’s just one marker along a long road of days which have each been planned by God.
So, consider which approach makes most sense for your group this week. Try it out, and see how the Lord may use your efforts to grow these young people into young disciples, by the power of his Spirit.
“To him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:20-21
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