Bible Discussion Questions: They Answered. Now What?
You asked a question.
You waited.
And somebody answered.
Only . . . it wasn't the answer you expected.
Actually, you're not quite sure what to do with it.
You could say, “That's interesting,” and move on to the next question.
You could explain what you think the answer should have been.
You could ask somebody else.
Or you could follow what this person just said and see where it goes.
And while you're deciding, everybody is looking at you.
This is one of the parts of discussion-based teaching we don't talk about enough.
We spend a lot of time thinking about what questions to ask.
But once somebody answers, we have another decision to make:
What do I do with the answer?
An Answer Isn't Just the Space Between Two Questions
It's possible to ask plenty of questions and still basically be lecturing.
Question.
Answer.
“Good."
Teacher explains.
Next question.
Answer.
“Exactly.
”Teacher explains some more.
There's nothing necessarily wrong with the teacher adding explanation. Sometimes that's exactly what the class needs. But notice what can happen.
The teacher's questions become little pauses in the lesson. The class gets to talk for a moment, but their answers don't really affect anything.
The teacher already knows where he's going.
And he's going there regardless.
So . . . if people's answers never affect what happens next, we're not really having a discussion. We're just putting questions between parts of the lecture.
A real discussion requires something more from the teacher than asking good questions.
It requires listening.
Listen Before You Decide What Comes Next
In the last article, we talked about giving people enough time to think after you ask a Bible discussion question. But eventually somebody answers. That's when a different part of discussion leadership begins.
When someone starts answering, it's tempting to start preparing your response before he's finished.
We all do it in ordinary conversation.
But when you're leading a Bible discussion, try listening for something you can work with.
Maybe he says something that needs clarification.
Maybe he notices something in the passage nobody else has mentioned.
Maybe he gives you half an answer but hasn't made the connection yet.
Maybe what he says reveals that several people in the room may be struggling with the same thing.
Or maybe he's headed somewhere you hadn't planned to go.
You don't have to know immediately what you're going to do with every answer.
Listen first.
Then decide.
Sometimes the best thing you can say is simply:
“Tell me a little more about that.”
Follow-Up Bible Discussion Questions Can Do a Lot of Work
You don't need twenty clever follow-up questions memorized.
A few will take you a long way:
“What makes you say that?”
That asks someone to go beyond the first answer and explain his thinking.
“Where do you see that in the passage?”
That brings the discussion back to Scripture without immediately telling somebody whether you agree.
“Does anyone see it differently?”
That opens the conversation to the rest of the room.
“So what difference would that make?”
That helps move the class from understanding toward response.
The point isn't to keep people talking for the sake of talking.
A follow-up question should help the class look more closely, think more carefully, or move more deeply into what the passage is saying.
Sometimes the first answer is only the beginning of the discussion. Follow-up questions are often a vital part of preparing Bible questions that help adults engage Scripture for themselves.
Let Them Talk to Each Other
Here's something else that's easy to miss.
Not every comment has to come back through you. Here's what I mean:
Mary answers your question.
You respond to Mary.
Then you call on Bob.
Bob answers you.
You respond to Bob.
Then Susan speaks to you.
Pretty soon the class is having several individual conversations with the teacher.
That's better than nobody talking, but there's another possibility.
Bob may respond to something Mary said.
Susan may see the passage differently.
Someone across the room may say, “I hadn't thought about it that way.”
Let that happen.
You might even invite it:
“What do the rest of you think about what Mary just said?”
Now you're not the center of every exchange.
You're still leading.
You're still responsible for keeping the conversation anchored in Scripture.
But you're helping people engage the Bible with one another, not merely answer the teacher one at a time.
Some Answers Deserve More Time Than You Planned
This is where discussion can get uncomfortable for teachers who prepare carefully.
You've got six more questions.
And somebody just gave an answer worth exploring.
What do you do?
Sometimes you stay there.
Ask the follow-up.
Let somebody else respond.
Go back to the verse.
See what happens.
That may mean Question 7 never gets asked.
That's one reason we talked earlier in this series about knowing the spine of the lesson. If the conversation is taking people deeper into the central truth of the passage, spending another five minutes there may be a better use of the class's time than moving on simply because another question is waiting on your page.
But that doesn't mean every interesting answer deserves ten minutes.
An Interesting Answer Can Still Take You Off Course
Someone mentions something political.
Someone tells a story from work.
Someone raises a theological issue that's fascinating but only loosely connected to the passage.
And suddenly everybody wants to talk about it.
That's still discussion.
It just may not be the discussion you need to have.
So ask yourself the same question we used when deciding what material to leave out:
Is this helping us engage more deeply with what this passage is saying?
If it is, you may have found somewhere worth staying.
If it isn't, you can acknowledge the comment and bring the class back:
“That's an interesting question. Let's come back to what Paul is saying here.”
Following the conversation doesn't mean surrendering leadership of it.
What If the Answer Is Wrong?
Of course, sometimes the answer isn't just unexpected. It's flat-out wrong - or at least not supported by the passage.
That's one of the risks of asking real questions. Once people start talking, you don't control everything they're going to say.
Sometimes you'll need to correct something.
Sometimes another question - “Where do you see that in the passage?” - will help the class examine the answer together.
And there's another moment that can be just as uncomfortable:
What happens when someone asks a really good question - and you don't know the answer either?
Both situations can make a teacher long for the safety of the lesson plan.
They're also part of what happens when we invite people into a real conversation about Scripture.
We'll come back to both of those situations in a future article. For now, the important thing is to recognize that listening to people's answers doesn't mean you have to agree with every answer - or pretend you have an immediate answer for every question. I've occasionally been known to say something like:
“That's a really good question, Bob. I'll do some study on it this week and we can finish up next week. Would you do the same? I'm sure between us we can find a good answer.”
Your Outline Is a Plan, Not a Script
Good preparation matters.
Know the passage.
Know where you hope the discussion goes.
Prepare good questions.
Think about possible follow-ups.
But don't prepare so tightly that the only successful class is the one that follows your plan exactly.
The people sitting in front of you aren't part of the outline.
They're the reason you made one.
Their questions matter.
Their observations matter.
Their confusion matters.
And if we're really listening, sometimes those things ought to change what happens next.
Sometimes an answer you never anticipated will take the class somewhere better than the answer you were expecting.
That's one of the risks of asking real questions.
It's also one of the reasons we ask them.
This Week's One Change
The next time someone answers one of your questions, resist the urge to decide immediately what you're going to say next.
Listen.
Then ask yourself:
Is there something here worth following?
Maybe you ask, “What makes you say that?”
Maybe you ask where they see it in the passage.
Maybe you invite someone else into the conversation.
Maybe you clarify something.
And sometimes you decide you've heard enough and move on.
The goal isn't to follow every answer.
It's to listen well enough to know which answers are worth following.
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