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Answers about Questions · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking. This is the deep dive where we
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take the source material and really dig in to find those
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insights that matter for our thinking, our growth, and for
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how we lead. And today we are doing a deep
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dive on a skill that's, well, it's more than just a technique.
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It really feels like it structures the whole
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interaction. We're talking about effective
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questions in Group settings. Yeah.
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And, you know, if you've ever LED any kind of group, a small
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group, even a meeting at work, you know that feeling.
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Oh yeah. The difference between a
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conversation that really gets going and just like painful
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silence, it usually comes down to the question you started
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with. Right.
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And the sources we looked at, they have this core idea that
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questions are the, and I'm quoting here the life force of
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discussion. I love that phrase, the life
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force. It really says it all.
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They shape how healthy the group is, where it's going.
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And if the questions weak, the whole conversation just it dies
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on the vine. So our mission today is to
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really get into the art of leading a discussion by asking
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the right question at the right time.
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And that principle, it's universal, isn't it?
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I mean, asking the right question is the starting point
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for getting the right answer, whether you're, you know,
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studying theology or trying to figure out a business strategy.
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It sets the whole direction for what you're going to discover.
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Exactly. So what we've done is structured
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this to take you from the kind of big picture philosophy to the
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really practical hands on stuff. First we'll look at why we even
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ask questions and we'll dig into this this really classic
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educational framework. Then we'll breakdown the two
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main types of questions we have in our toolkit.
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And then finally, we'll get super practical and look at the
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specific things that make a question work or make it fall
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flat. So you'll have a kind of
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diagnostic tool you can use for your next discussion.
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That's the idea. OK, let's do it.
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Let's start with the big picture, the why?
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Why are we stopping the flow of information to ask a question
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instead of just, you know, continuing to talk?
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Well, to get that, we have to 1st define what we're trying to
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do, what is instruction, what's our purpose?
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And the sources point us way back, actually over 100 years,
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to a book by John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of
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Teaching. It was published in 1884. 1884
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Wow. Yeah.
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And his definitions of teaching and learning are just, they're
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foundational for what we're talking about, especially in a
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group that's meant for spiritual growth.
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We. Should be probably just pause on
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that day for a second. 1884. I mean, this is a time when the
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model for education was still pretty rigid.
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Oh yeah, very much. The teacher talks, you listen.
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Rope memorization was huge. So Gregory's work coming out of
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that context, it must have been a pretty radical idea.
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It puts a lot of the responses disability back on the leader.
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It's a huge shift. Gregory was really pushing
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against that passive lecture style model and that's why it's
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so relevant for us. It shifts the focus from the
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leader as just a a content dumper.
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Right, the bucket filler idea. Exactly.
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It puts the focus squarely on the learner's own mind, their
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own engagement. And for anyone coming from a
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theological perspective, that's everything.
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Change has to get into the conscience.
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The will, not just your short term memory.
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OK, so let's get into his definition of teaching.
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He says it's arousing and using the pupils mind to grasp the
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desired thought or to master the desired act.
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Notice those two action words? Arousing and using.
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Teaching isn't passive. The leader has to actively
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stimulate something. Your goal isn't just to talk at
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people, it's to switch on their own thinking.
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So if I, as a group leader, just give a lecture or hand out a
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bunch of notes? You've successfully passed on
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information maybe? But I haven't actually taught
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them, according to Gregory. Not in this sense, no, because
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the pupil's mind wasn't used, it was just a receptacle.
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That's a huge burden then on the person leading.
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You have to be a catalyst. You can't do the heavy lifting
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for them. The connecting of ideas.
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If you do, they're not being taught.
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I mean, the measure of success isn't how clear your
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presentation was, it's how much thinking the group did on their
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own. And that leads right into his
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second definition, then the one for learning.
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It does. Gregory defines learning as
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thinking into one's own understanding, a new idea or
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truth, or working into habit, a new art or skill.
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Thinking into one's own understanding that phrase just
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it really sticks out. It's everything it highlights
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that you have to personally grab hold of it for it to be real
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learning. Yeah, you can listen to the most
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brilliant sermon on, say, justification, but until you
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actually wrestle with it yourself and fit it into how you
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understand God and the world, until your mind takes ownership
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of it, it's just someone else's knowledge.
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It just sits on the surface, right?
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Real learning means you're actually rearranging things
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inside your own head, and a question is the tool you use to
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start that whole. Process.
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So if teaching is about arousing the mind and learning is about
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internalizing the truth. Then the whole point of asking
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questions is to make that loop happen.
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The question is the spark. It's what moves information from
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just being heard to being understood.
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And the source material gets even more specific.
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It says a question stimulates thought in four distinct ways.
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It's not just one thing. Right, the first one is
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arousing. This is just this mental wake up
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call. We all need that.
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We do. We know attention starts to
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drift after just a few minutes of listening.
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So a well timed question, especially one that points right
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back to the text. It snaps you out of that passive
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mode. Yeah, you see it in a group.
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Three people are talking. One person is kind of staring
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off into space. Yeah.
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You ask them a direct question and suddenly they're back in the
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room. Exactly.
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Their brain has to switch from just listening to actually
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processing. It's a jolt.
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Like in a business meeting, instead of saying here are the
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numbers for Q3, you say looking only at the customer acquisition
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cost, what's the one assumption we have to challenge?
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Perfect example. That forces immediate focus, so
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that's arousing. The second function is
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clarifying. OK, this is for when a concept
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is fuzzy or ambiguous. It's all about precision.
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Which is so critical because people in a group can use the
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same word to mean totally different things.
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All the time. Like in our small group, someone
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might say we need to be more devoted, and a good clarifying
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question would be what does devoted look like practically
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based on the passage we just read, It forces you to define
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your terms. Exactly.
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It separates A vague feeling from a solid understanding.
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In a theological discussion. It's constant.
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Someone talks about sanctification, so you ask
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what's the real difference between growing in grace and
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just trying to be a better person according to this
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chapter? Right, it makes them draw the
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lines themselves. OK, so the third function is
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guiding. This is more strategic.
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The leader steps in, but without giving the answer to steer the
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conversation toward a specific goal.
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So less about definition, more about direction.
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Right guiding questions are for course correction.
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Let's say your group is studying a passage on prayer and they get
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bogged down in an argument about I don't know the exact date the
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book was written. Happens all the time.
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So a guiding question pulls them out of the weeds.
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You might say, OK, let's assume it was written.
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Then how does that historical fact change what verse 5 says
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about the purpose of prayer? I see.
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So it steers their thinking back to the main point of the text.
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It's the difference between just letting a conversation happen
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and actively teaching. A facilitator might let the
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group wander off, but a teacher guides the thought process.
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So if they're stuck on what was said, a guiding question pushes
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them to why it was said. Precisely, and that leads to the
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final function, which is analyzing.
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This is the highest level of thinking Gregory is after
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analyzing questions, make the learner breakdown big ideas.
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Compare different parts of an argument.
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See how different concepts relate to each other.
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So this is way beyond just recalling facts.
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Oh yeah, If you're studying, say, the doctrines of sin and
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grace, an analyzing question could be something like, if this
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text defines sin as a deep seated corruption, how must
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grace operate to bring about genuine change?
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Wow, yeah, that forces you to connect some really big ideas.
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You have to process, relate, synthesize.
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And by doing that, they're forced to own the concept.
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They're scrutinizing it themselves.
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So you see, we're not just asking questions to fill
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silence. We're using them as very
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specific tools to achieve a very specific goal.
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Get people thinking so they can learn in that deep, personal
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way. OK, so now that we have the why,
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the whole philosophy behind it, let's get into the what?
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Yeah, What are the actual tools in the toolkit?
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The sources break them down very clearly into two main
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categories. It's based on when you create
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them and what you use them for. They are prepared questions and
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facilitating questions. And getting that distinction is
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probably pretty key for anyone preparing to lead a group.
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It is. It separates your game plan from
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your in the moment adjustments. All right, let's start with the
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game plan, then the first category.
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Category one is prepared questions.
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These are the ones you think up beforehand while you're studying
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the text or the topic for the week.
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They're meant to create a clear path through the material.
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And the sources list 6 different types, right?
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That's right, and they generally move from the simple to the more
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complex, from just looking at what's there to figuring out
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what it means for your life. Which makes sense.
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That's how good thinking works. You start with the data, then
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you interpret it, then you apply it.
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Exactly. So the first type is launching
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questions. These are your Ice Breakers.
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They're meant to introduce the topic, maybe connected to last
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week's study, or just get people talking and feeling comfortable.
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Low stakes entry points. Totally In a Bible study, a
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launching question might be when you hear the term grace, what's
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the first idea or story that comes to your mind?
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Yeah, that's not threatening. It's a general personal
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connection in a work setting. It could be.
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Before we jump into the numbers, what was the most interesting
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headline you saw this week related to our industry?
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Right, it just gets the engine started.
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The second type is observation questions.
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These are so foundational. Before we can talk about what
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something means, we have to agree on what it says.
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What are the actual facts on the page?
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What names do you see? What places?
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What are the key verbs or repeated phrases?
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If you're looking at a passage in Scripture, it's according to
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verse 3. What specific action did God
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command them to take? It anchors the whole discussion
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in the source material. You can't just make things up.
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Right. And once you have the facts, you
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move to the third type, correlation questions.
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These questions look outward. How does this specific verse or
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idea connect to other parts of the Bible or to the bigger story
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of redemption? This is how you avoid thinking
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in silos theologically. If you're reading about
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obedience in one book, a correlation question would be
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how does this command and to obey fit with the doctrine of
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justification by faith alone that Paul talks about elsewhere?
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Yeah, it forces the group to build a coherent framework to
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check for consistency. So after observation and
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correlation, you get to the 4th type, which is often the hardest
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interpretation questions. That's it.
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We know what it says, but what did the author intend for it to
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mean? This is where you have to
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wrestle with context, genre, all of that.
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This is where the real deep thinking happens.
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You're not just finding an answer, you're constructing an
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understanding In a Pauline epistle, you might ask, given
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what we know about the struggles this church was facing, what was
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Paul's main goal in writing verses 4 through 6?
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Right, it requires putting all the pieces together.
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Then fifth, you have summary questions.
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These are really good for making sure everyone is on the same
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page before you move on. Like what's the one big idea
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here? Exactly what is the central
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point we've pulled out of this section?
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In a work meeting, after reviewing a long report, you'd
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ask if you had to brief the CEO in one sentence on what we
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learned, what would you say? It cuts through the noise and
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make sure everyone has the main take away.
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And that leads to the final prepared question number six,
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application questions. This is the So what question,
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OK, Given what this means, how should it change us, our
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actions, our attitudes, our priorities?
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This is where the truth becomes real.
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Yeah, it moves from the head to the hands and feet.
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After studying God's sovereignty.
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The question isn't just what is sovereignty, it's how does
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knowing God is sovereign change how I face my anxiety about work
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tomorrow? Perfect.
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That's the six pack of prepared questions.
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But, and this is a huge but. I was waiting for the catch.
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The sources are really clear on this.
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Even though you've prepared them, you have to use them with
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flexibility. You can't just read them off a
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list like a robot. Because if you do that, you'll
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kill the very thing you're trying to create, which is a
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real live conversation. You'll suffer.
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The ideal is that for the people in the group, these prepared
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questions should feel like they're coming up spontaneously,
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that they're a natural response to what's being said.
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So it takes a lot of restraint from the leader if the group
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jumps ahead to interpretation before you've officially asked
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your correlation question. You don't drag them back, you go
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with it. You seize that moment of energy
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and weave your question into the flow.
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You might say, that's a really interesting interpretation.
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How does that line up with what we know about this document
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doctrine from other parts of Scripture?
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So you're still getting the correlation work done, but
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you're doing it in response to them.
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Exactly. You need the structure.
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But being rigid is the enemy of a good discussion.
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And that need for flexibility brings us right to the second
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big category of questions. You.
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Don't prepare right. Category 2 is facilitating
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questions. These are genuinely spontaneous.
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You don't plan them, you generate them in the moment to
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manage the the rhythm and the dynamics of the group.
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So this is your tool kit for when things go off the rails, or
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when there's an awkward silence, or when two people disagree?
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Yep. It's about steering the process
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of the conversation, not just the content.
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And the sources say these have another role too, right?
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Something about listening. Yeah, and this is so important.
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They help build the habit of people actually listening to
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each other. How so?
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Well, when a leader uses a facilitating question to connect
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what one person just said to what another person is about to
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say, it signals to the whole group that every contribution
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matters. It fosters this culture of
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paying attention. I see.
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So what are some of these? The sources list five types.
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The first are extending questions.
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You use these when someone gives a good answer, but it's a bit
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short or it could use more detail.
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So you're trying to draw them out a bit more?
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Exactly. You could say something like,
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that's a great start. Could you unpack that second
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point a little more for us? Or what specifically in the text
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made you think of that? It's a polite way of asking for
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more. OK, that's useful.
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Yeah. What's next?
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2nd, clarifying questions. We talked about clarity as a
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general function, but here it's about group dynamics.
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Someone uses a fuzzy term or makes a statement that's a bit
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confusing. So you jump in and ask.
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You might say when you use the phrase spiritual warfare, could
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you tell us what you mean by that in this context?
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It just makes sure everyone's on the same page.
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Prevents people from talking past each.
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Other right third are justifying questions.
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These are gentle, but they're firm.
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You're asking the group to back up what they're saying,
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especially if it sounds like just an opinion.
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This is a big one for theological precision though.
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Where do you see that in the text?
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Question. That's a classic one.
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It trains the group to move from I feel like to the text says.
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It builds intellectual honesty in a work meeting is what's the
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data that supports that conclusion?
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I like that teaches good habits. 4th you have redirecting
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questions. These are for managing time and
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focus. You know when one person has
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been talking for 5 minutes straight?
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Or the conversation has drifted from the book of Romans to
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complaining about the price of gas.
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Exactly. You need a way to gently pull it
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back. How do you do that without being
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rude? You could say that's an
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interesting point, but let's bring it back to the text.
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How does what we were just discussing in verse 10 speak to
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that situation? You acknowledge their point but
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scare them back to the main Rd. OK.
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And the last one. Finally, reflecting questions.
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These are great for when you have different, maybe even
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conflicting ideas on the table. You can use them to get others
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involved. How does that work?
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So say person A and person B have offered two different
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interpretations of a tough verse.
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You might turn to person C and ask, what did you hear in the
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difference between those two points?
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Could you summarize each of their views for us?
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That's clever. It forces Person C to have
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listened carefully and to process what was said.
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And it gets their mind working, just like Gregory said.
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So you have your planned questions for the content and
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your spontaneous ones for the process.
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But just knowing the types isn't enough, is it?
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You can ask an observation question.
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That's just a bad question. Absolutely.
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And that's the final piece of the puzzle.
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We have to look at quality control.
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What are the characteristics that make any question prepared
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or spontaneous a good question? This is where we get into the
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real nuts and bolts of crafting the question itself.
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Yeah, the source materials give us 4 essential characteristics.
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And if your question fails on any of these, it stops being a
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tool and starts being a roadblock.
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All right, let's break them down.
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What's the first one? The 1st and maybe the most
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fundamental rule is that a good question is open-ended, not
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closed. So it can't be answered with
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just a yes or a no. Or even a single word.
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It has to require a thoughtful response.
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A closed question just shuts down the thinking process, The
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person says yes, and then the conversation dies.
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And the leader is forced to pick it up again, probably by
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explaining why yes was the right answer.
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Exactly, so the leader ends up doing the thinking work that the
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group was supposed to do. You're just confirming your own
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knowledge at that point, not helping them learn.
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So open-ended questions usually start with what, how, or why.
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That's the typical formula they push for explanation and
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synthesis. Let's look at the examples from
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the material. A good open question is what
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does it mean to continue to live in Christ?
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OK, you can't answer that in one word.
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You have to pull together ideas about theology, ethics, personal
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experience. Right.
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It forces you to articulate what you believe.
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Now compare that to a closed question like What are the four
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ways to continue to live in Christ?
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That's just a memory test. It's asking for a list.
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It is. It's testing recall, which is a
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very low level of learning, and if the group doesn't know the
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list, the discussion just stops cold.
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The leader has to provide the answer.
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The worst version is the simple yes, No.
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Is God concerned that we continue to live in Christ?
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I mean, the answer is obviously yes.
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There's nowhere to go from there.
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It doesn't open up any space to talk about why God is concerned
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or how he helps us. You know, I think a lot of
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leaders ask closed questions because they're afraid of
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silence. That is a huge part of it.
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An open question might be met with silence because people are
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actually thinking and that can feel uncomfortable.
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So the leader jumps in with an easy closed question just to
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break the tension. And in doing that, you short
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circuit the very mental work you are trying to start.
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You have to learn to be comfortable with that thinking.
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Silence. OK.
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So number one is be open-ended. What's the second
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characteristic? The second is that a good
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question doesn't anticipate the answer.
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In other words, it's non leading.
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So you're not trying to steer them to a specific,
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predetermined answer. Right.
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A leading question has the answer baked right into it.
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It's really just a statement with a question mark tacked on
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the end. This seems like a common
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mistake, especially in theological discussions where
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leaders are nervous about the group coming to the wrong
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conclusion. It's a huge temptation.
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You want to ensure orthodoxy, so you ask a question that confirms
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it. But that completely undermines
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Gregory's goal of using the pupil's mind.
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You're not using it, you're just asking for agreement.
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Exactly. Let's take the example from the
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material. Jesus was God, wasn't he?
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Yeah, that's not really a question.
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It's a loyalty test. It's not inviting you to study
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the text. It's demanding you agree with a
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doctrine. Right now the doctrine of
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Christ's deity is non negotiable, of course, but
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asking a leading question robs the group of the chance to
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discover for themselves from the text why we believe that.
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So a better non leading question would be something like.
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Something like in this passage. What specific things does Jesus
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say or do that only God could do?
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I see. That forces them back to the
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text to build the case for the Doctor themselves.
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It's their discovery. And it makes their convictions
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so much stronger than if they just agreed with the leader.
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A leading question encourages conformity.
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A good non leading question encourages conviction.
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OK, so be open and be non leading.
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What's #3. #3 is be simple, not double barreled.
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I know these. This is when you try to cram too
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much into one question. Exactly.
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The rule is simple. One question, 1 issue.
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If you ask a question with two or three parts, you just confuse
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people. They don't know where to start.
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And they usually end up just answering the last part they
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heard or the easiest part. And the rest of your brilliant
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complex question just gets lost. The example in the source is a
21:01
perfect train wreck. What does it mean to continue to
21:03
live in Christ? Why is it important and are you
21:06
doing it? Whoa, yeah, that's three totally
21:09
different questions rolled into one.
21:10
You've got interpretation, then significance, then personal
21:14
application. It's cognitive overload.
21:16
Someone might give a quick answer to the first part,
21:18
someone else might say yes to the last part, and the really
21:20
deep important middle part about why it matters gets completely
21:24
skipped. So the right way to do it is to
21:26
break it down. One at a time.
21:28
First, based on this text, what does it mean to continue to live
21:32
in Christ? Let the group discuss that then.
21:36
OK, given that meaning, why is that so significant for a
21:39
Christian? Discuss that, and only then
21:42
maybe. So what's 1 practical way that
21:45
could change how you approach your wheat?
21:46
Sequentially, one step at a time.
21:48
It seems so obvious, but it's so easy to mess up in the moment.
21:52
It is. Keeping it simple is the key to
21:54
clarity. All right.
21:56
That brings us to the 4th and final characteristic.
21:59
The last one is be concise rather than complex.
22:03
A good question has to be clear enough that it doesn't need an
22:05
immediate explanation if. People respond with a blank
22:09
stare and someone has to ask, sorry, can you say that again?
22:13
Your question failed. Right.
22:15
It has to be appropriate for the group you're talking to, and
22:17
that means considering three things, the vocabulary you use,
22:21
the complexity of the ideas, and how much background knowledge
22:25
they need to even understand the question.
22:27
This is the jargon trap, isn't it?
22:29
Especially for leaders who have a lot of specialized training,
22:31
It's. So easy to fall into, we forget
22:34
that the precise technical terms we use in our own study can be a
22:38
massive wall for other people. The source has a great over the
22:41
top example of this. It's a classic.
22:43
The bad question is in Paul's eloquent discourse on the
22:46
profundity of Christological soteriology.
22:48
What is his view of traditional ceremonial religion for
22:51
justification and sanctification?
22:54
A slight chuckle. Yeah, if you ask that, you've
22:56
just lost half the group while they try to remember what the
22:58
soteriology even means. Their minds are working, but
23:01
they're not working on the text. They're working on decoding your
23:04
question. The knowledge required to even
23:07
understand the question is a barrier to the learning you're
23:11
trying to facilitate. So what's the better, concise
23:13
version? The source boils it all down to
23:16
what's wrong with keeping rules. That's brilliant.
23:19
It's the same core theological issue works versus grace, but
23:23
it's direct, it uses everyday language, and it gets right to
23:27
the heart of the matter. It removes the academic barrier
23:30
and lets people just think about the actual concept.
23:33
The goal in a group is communication and engagement,
23:36
not showing off your vocabulary. The question should be like a
23:39
clean window you look through to see the topic.
23:41
Not a stained glass mural that's beautiful but impossible to see
23:45
through. The question itself should be
23:47
invisible. Only the thinking it produces
23:49
should be visible. OK, so that's a very clear, very
23:52
practical framework. Let's try to pull it all
23:53
together. Sure.
23:55
We started with the philosophy from Gregory that questions are
23:58
the tools we use to get people to actively think truth into
24:01
their own understanding. Right then we looked at the 2
24:04
main categories of tools. You have your prepared
24:07
questions, the six types that map out your journey through the
24:10
content. And then you're facilitating
24:12
questions, the five types you use spontaneously to manage the
24:16
conversation in real time. And finally, we got the four
24:18
quality control checks for any question we ask has to be
24:22
open-ended. Non leading.
24:24
Simple, not double barreled. And concise, not complex.
24:28
If you can master these principles, you're not just
24:30
learning how to lead a better small group, you're learning how
24:33
knowledge itself actually gets transferred.
24:36
That's right, it's about stimulating a mind, not just
24:38
filling a memory bank. The question you ask determines
24:42
the quality of the thinking that happens next.
24:44
So we always like to leave our listeners with a final thought,
24:47
a challenge to take with them. And for this one, I think it
24:49
comes down to a point of tension.
24:51
We talked about how a question needs to be open-ended to allow
24:54
for thinking, but also non leading to allow for genuine
24:58
discovery. And sometimes the most open and
25:00
non leading question is followed by silence.
25:03
That's the moment of tension for a leader, isn't it?
25:06
That silence? But that silence is the sound of
25:09
thinking. It's the sound of minds at work.
25:12
So here's the challenge. Next time you're leading a
25:14
discussion, try to focus specifically on mastering that
25:18
difficult art of being non leading.
25:21
Pay attention to that moment when you feel the urge to phrase
25:25
a question in a way that guarantees you'll get the right
25:27
answer. And when you feel that impulse,
25:29
just ask yourself, am I trying to pass on information or am I
25:33
trying to arouse and use their mind?
25:35
Can I resist the urge to lead them by the nose and instead
25:39
trust the process of letting them find the truth in the test
25:41
for themselves? That, right there is the real
25:44
work of reformed thinking. Until next time.
25:46
Thanks for joining the deep dives.