For practical guidance on building a culture of generosity, see our church giving culture guide.

For a biblical framework for handling conflict well, see our church conflict resolution guide.

By Brent Lacy

The hardest part of leading a small group is often not the teaching. It is the discussion.

A good discussion question opens people up. It invites honesty. It creates the kind of conversation that people think about on the drive home and bring up at dinner the next day.

A bad discussion question produces one-word answers and awkward silence.

Here are 50 questions that work, organized by topic so you can find what you need quickly.

What Makes a Good Discussion Question

Before the questions, a quick note on what makes them work.

Good discussion questions are open-ended, they cannot be answered with yes or no. They invite personal reflection, not just information recall. They are specific enough to focus the conversation but broad enough to allow different answers. And they are honest, they acknowledge that life is complicated and faith is sometimes hard.

Faith and Spiritual Growth (10 Questions)

1. What is one thing God has been teaching you recently that you did not expect?
2. Describe a season of your life when your faith felt most alive. What was different about that time?
3. What spiritual discipline has been most meaningful to you, and why?
4. When has God felt most distant to you? How did you navigate that?
5. What is one area of your faith where you have more questions than answers right now?
6. How has your understanding of God changed over the past five years?
7. What does it look like for you to “seek first the kingdom of God” in your daily life?
8. What is one thing you believe about God that you find genuinely difficult to live out?
9. When have you experienced God’s presence most clearly outside of a church service?
10. What would it look like for you to take your faith one step deeper in the next 90 days?

Prayer (8 Questions)

1. How would you describe your prayer life right now, honest answer?
2. What is the hardest thing about prayer for you personally?
3. Has God ever answered a prayer in a way that surprised you? What happened?
4. What do you do when you pray and nothing seems to happen?
5. How do you pray for people you are angry with or have been hurt by?
6. What would change in your life if you prayed for one hour every day for a month?
7. What is one thing you have been afraid to ask God for? Why?
8. How do you know when God is answering a prayer versus when circumstances are just working out?

Community and Relationships (8 Questions)

1. What does genuine Christian community look like to you, and how close is this group to that?
2. Who in your life knows you well enough to tell you when you are wrong? How did that relationship develop?
3. What makes it hard for you to be honest in a group setting?
4. How do you handle conflict with someone you care about?
5. What is one relationship in your life that needs more investment right now?
6. When have you experienced the church at its best in terms of community?
7. What does it mean to “bear one another’s burdens” in a practical sense?
8. What would you want this group to know about you that most people do not know?

Money and Generosity (6 Questions)

1. How has your relationship with money changed since you became a Christian?
2. What is the most generous thing someone has done for you? How did it affect you?
3. What is the hardest part of giving generously for you personally?
4. How do you decide how much to give to the church and to other causes?
5. What would it look like for you to hold your possessions more loosely?
6. When have you given something away and felt genuinely free afterward?

Family and Marriage (6 Questions)

1. What is one thing your family of origin taught you about faith, good or bad?
2. How do you keep your marriage spiritually connected, not just functionally running?
3. What is the hardest part of parenting from a faith perspective?
4. How do you handle it when your family members have different levels of faith commitment?
5. What does it look like to lead your family spiritually when you do not feel spiritually strong yourself?
6. What is one thing you wish someone had told you before you got married or had children?

Work and Calling (6 Questions)

1. How does your faith show up in your workplace? What does that look like practically?
2. Do you feel called to your current work, or is it just a job? How do you think about that?
3. When have you had to choose between what was right and what was professionally advantageous?
4. How do you maintain integrity in a workplace that does not share your values?
5. What would it look like to see your work as a form of ministry?
6. What is one way you could serve someone at work this week in a way that reflects your faith?

Doubt and Hard Questions (6 Questions)

1. What is one question about God or faith that you have never fully resolved?
2. How do you respond when someone asks you a question about Christianity that you cannot answer?
3. Has suffering ever caused you to doubt God? How did you work through that?
4. What do you do with the parts of the Bible that are hard to understand or accept?
5. How do you hold faith and doubt at the same time?
6. What would you say to someone who has walked away from faith because of pain or disappointment?

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