How to Ask Great Questions: Guide Discussion, Build Relationships, Deepen Faith

by Karen Lee-Thorp

Great answers start with great questions.People remember what they discover for themselves far more than what others tell them. A great question can mean the difference between exchanging information and discovering deeper meaning.In How to Ask Great Questions, you’ll learn when and how to ask effective questions and how to promote follow-up discussions that will lead from thoughtful conversations to life application. Ideal for small-group leaders, Sunday school teachers, and anyone who regularly leads group discussions or committee meetings.How to Ask Great Questions will equip you tobuild relationships between group membershelp people unpack a passage of Scripture or another bookdraw out opinions, feelings, and assumptionsdeepen discussions with intentional focusguide people in applying the Bible to their livesfacilitate problem-solving and decision-making in group settingsTransform a gathering of acquaintances into a community of friends.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Faith, Teaching

95 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

KAREN LEE-THORP is a freelance writer and former senior editor for NavPress Bible studies. She has written or co-written more than fifty books, workbooks, and study guides. She speaks from years of research on the Bible and women’s issues as well as from her own experience of God’s goodness in the face of incest, anorexia, and health challenges. She holds a BA from Yale University. Her books include Why Beauty Matters, the Doing Life Together series (Zondervan), the Revolutionary Parenting Workbook (Cook, with George Barna) and several volumes in the series Bringing the Bible to Life (Zondervan). She lives with her family in Southern California.

Reviews

[Jonah Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A brief, practical guide of helping considerations when reading a group. Though there were times I wished the boom included more on a given topic, I found the book as a whole to be very helpful, with a few key sections I will likely return to when considering group dynamics and discussion.

[Hannah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great, practical advice for anyone leading a group of adults!!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, straightforward guide to thinking about the questions you ask while leading a group. This is specifically from within a faith context, but I think the principles apply pretty widely.

[Emily Yu Saalman · Rating 5 out of 5]

So applicable and insightful.

[Jessica (JT) · Rating 4 out of 5]

A pretty good overview of question asking for Christian small group meetings. I have lead youth groups for years and I find myself wishing I had read this book earlier. I found it most useful in showing how to keep a conversation going longer. It used plenty of examples to help the reader get ideas.

I am taking one star off because parts of it were a little too formal for my taste. Some of it felt like reading a dictionary because it was so dry. It started to feel a little repetitive at the end as well. I still found it useful and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who will lead or facilitate any small discussion group.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this to be full of good advice and guidelines for fostering discussion in a small group setting. although aimed primarily at Christian groups many of the approaches discussed would be equally helpful to a more secular discussion group. I highly recommend this if you're going to be leading discussion in a small group setting.

[Ryan Boomershine · Rating 3 out of 5]

Helpful for those leading close discussions. This is made more for the Bible study setting than the classroom.