Bible Discussion Leadership: What If Nobody Answers?
OK . . . You've decided to try it.
Instead of explaining the next point in your lesson, you ask the class a question.
It's a good question, too. You thought about it while you were preparing. It doesn't have an obvious yes-or-no answer. It gives people an opportunity to think about the passage and say what they see.
So you ask it.
And nobody says anything.
Three seconds pass.
Then five.
Someone looks down at his Bible.
Someone else suddenly seems very interested in her coffee.
By about seven seconds, you're beginning to wonder whether the question even made sense.
So you do what almost every teacher has done at one time or another.
You answer it yourself . . . and somewhere in the back of your mind, you think, Well, so much for discussion.
But what if the silence didn't mean your question failed?
What if they were thinking?
Silence Feels Longer When You're the Teacher
When you're standing in front of a class waiting for someone to answer, five seconds can feel like five minutes. We're accustomed to filling silence. Teachers may be especially uncomfortable with it because we feel responsible for keeping the lesson moving. If nobody responds quickly, our instinct is to rescue the moment.
So . . . We rephrase the question.
Then we rephrase it again.
Sometimes we turn it into an easier question.
And if none of that works, we answer it ourselves and move on.
The problem is that we may be training our class not to answer. I've written before about some of the practical things you can do when your Bible study class goes silent. Here, though, I want to concentrate on something that may happen before we ever try to fix the silence: we may be interpreting it too quickly.
Think about what happens from their perspective.
If experience has taught them that the teacher will answer his own question after four or five seconds, why do the work of formulating an answer? They know that if they wait just a little longer, the teacher will take care of it. And a class that has spent years primarily listening may need even more time.
They may be wondering:
Does he really want us to answer?
Is there a particular answer he's looking for?
What if I say something wrong?
Or perhaps they're simply doing exactly what you asked them to do.
They're thinking.
Bible Discussion Questions Need Time to Do Their Work
When we ask real Bible discussion questions, we're asking people to do something:
Look at the passage.
Think about what it says.
Connect one idea with another.
Consider what it might mean.
Put a thought into words.
That takes longer than listening to us explain what we've already spent several hours thinking about . . . and that's easy to forget.
After all, we've had all week with the passage. We've read the commentary, looked at cross-references, thought about the lesson while driving somewhere, and maybe even changed our minds twice about what a verse means.
Then we give the class four seconds.
Maybe they just need a little longer.
Jesus Asked Questions That Required an Answer
Jesus frequently used questions in His teaching. In Matthew 16:13, He asked His disciples:
“Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
They answered.
Then Jesus made the question personal:
“But who do you say that I am?” (Matthew 16:15)
That question required something from them.
They couldn't simply listen to Jesus explain who He was. They had to consider what they believed and put it into words.
Peter answered:
“You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”
The passage doesn't tell us how long Peter took to answer. So we shouldn't turn this into a lesson about Jesus' technique or how long He waited.
But it does show us something important about questions. Sometimes asking people to put what they believe into words accomplishes something that simply telling them does not.
Of course, our questions don't carry the authority of Jesus' questions. But if we're going to ask people to look at Scripture, think about it, and put their thoughts into words, we need to give them enough room to do it.
Give Them Permission to Think
Sometimes it's good to give the class advance warning:
“I'm going to ask you a question, and I'm going to give you a few seconds to think before anybody answers.”
That takes some of the awkwardness out of the silence.
Nobody has to rush to fill it. You've already told them that thinking time is part of the plan.
Then actually give them those few seconds.
Don't apologize for the silence.
Don't immediately rephrase the question.
Don't start dropping hints.
And don't answer it yourself.
Look comfortable, even if you aren't.
You may be surprised what happens when people realize you genuinely intend to wait for them.
Someone who rarely speaks may look up and offer a tentative thought.
Another person may build on it.
Someone else may see something in the passage you hadn't considered.
And now you're no longer trying to manufacture a discussion.
You're having one.
Not Every Silence Is Productive
Of course, sometimes nobody answers because the question really wasn't very good. (It happens to the best of us!)
Maybe it was confusing.
Maybe it required information the class didn't have.
Maybe it was so broad that nobody knew where to begin.
Maybe you thought you were asking an open-ended question, but there really was one particular answer in your head and everybody was trying to figure out what it was. Sometimes the problem really is the question. If that's what you're wrestling with, I've put together a more complete guide to preparing Bible questions that give adults something worth thinking about
So don't assume every silence means profound thinking is taking place.
But don't diagnose the question too quickly either. A few seconds of silence isn't enough evidence.
If you've waited and people still seem genuinely confused, then help them.
You might say:
“Let me ask that a different way.”
Or give them somewhere specific to look:
“Look again at verse 16. What do you notice about the way he responds?”
That's different from panicking at the first sign of silence.
You're not rescuing the class from having to think.
You're helping them know what to think about.
Your Class May Be Learning Something Besides the Passage
Especially if you're introducing discussion to a class accustomed to lecture, something else is happening during those first few weeks.
They're learning what you mean when you ask a question.
They're learning that you aren't necessarily looking for the answer printed in the teacher's book.
There's an old Sunday School story that makes the point. A teacher asks the children:
“I'm warm. I lick your face. I love you no matter what. And sometimes I bark. Who am I?”
One little boy thinks about it and finally says:
“Well, it sounds like a puppy. But this is church, so I'm gonna say Jesus.”
Sometimes the real question isn't, “What do you think?” It's, “What answer does the teacher want?”
Our adults can learn that lesson, too.
They're learning whether you're willing to hear a thought that isn't worded exactly the way you would have said it.
They're also learning what happens after they answer.
Does the teacher listen?
Does he immediately correct the wording?
Does he use the answer to get back to what he planned to say anyway?
Or does their answer actually have some influence on where the conversation goes next?
They're learning whether you're going to embarrass them if an answer isn't quite right.
And they're learning that when you ask what they think, you're actually going to wait long enough to hear it.
That kind of trust probably won't develop because you announce one Sunday morning that you're going to start having more discussion.
It develops when people discover, question after question, that you really mean it.
This Week's One Change
The next time you ask a good discussion question, don't measure its success by what happens in the first five seconds.
Ask it.
Then wait.
Let people look at the passage.
Let them think.
Let the silence feel a little uncomfortable.
If they need help after they've actually had time to think, help them.
But don't do their thinking for them simply because the room got quiet.
Because if you ask people to think, you have to give them time to think.
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