EXPLORING THE BIG QUESTIONS TOGETHER

A Facilitator's Guide to Spirit-Led, Scripture-Fed Conversation

√Exploring_the_Big_Questions_Together_Facilitators_Guide.docx

Reimagine.Network

12 Big Questions • 12 Exploration Journals • 1 Facilitator's Guide

The Big Questions examine the explorer before the explorer examines ministry.

THE FACILITATOR'S CALLING

You are not the answer-person. You are a fellow explorer who helps people ask, listen, discern, discuss, and respond as Jesus Christ leads through Scripture and the Holy Spirit.

Why This Guide?

The 12 Big Questions are designed first for personal exploration. Each online conversation has a downloadable Exploration Journal so an individual can slow down, pray, write, discern, and act.

But the same questions can become powerful conversations for small groups, ministry teams, leadership teams, classes, cohorts, retreats, planning groups, and other gatherings.

This one Facilitator's Guide is the companion for all 12 Big Questions. It does not give you twelve sets of answers. It helps you cultivate the kind of environment in which people can explore every Big Question together.

The Goal

Formation—not completion.

A successful gathering is not one in which you finished every page. It is one in which people listened to Scripture, depended upon the Holy Spirit, examined themselves honestly, heard one another carefully, and identified a faithful response to Jesus Christ.

YOUR JOB IS NOT TO FINISH THE MATERIAL

Do not measure the gathering by how many questions you covered. If one question opens an honest, Scripture-shaped, Spirit-led conversation, stay with it. The material serves formation; formation does not serve the material.

The Culture We Are Cultivating

We do not talk at people. We walk with them.
We do not merely present information. We accompany people as they discover, listen to, and respond to God's truth.
Questions invite discovery.
Conversation cultivates formation.
Facilitators guide rather than control.
Scripture shapes the conversation.
Prayer precedes and accompanies discernment.
Jesus Christ remains the center.
The Holy Spirit is our Guide.
Transformation—not completion—is the goal.

Before You Facilitate: PREPARE

Explore before you facilitate.

Work through the Big Question personally before asking others to do so. You do not need to arrive with polished answers, but you should arrive having allowed the question and Scripture to examine you.

Read the online Big Question and, when possible, work through its Exploration Journal.
Read the anchor Scripture in context—not merely the quoted verse or selected lines. Allow the Spirit to connect your search/study to additional biblical references.
Pray for the people who will gather and for your own posture as facilitator.
Notice where the question challenged, encouraged, confused, or unsettled you.
Choose a few high-value prompts. Do not plan to cover everything.
Prepare to follow the conversation rather than force the conversation to follow your outline.

“Facilitate from the front • side • back.”

WELCOME: Create an Explorer Culture

At the beginning, establish what kind of conversation this will be. People do not need to arrive as experts. They do need to arrive (and continue to grow) as explorers.

You might say:

A SIMPLE OPENING

We are not here to win arguments or prove that we already have the right answers. We are here to explore an uncommon question together, listen to Scripture, invite the Holy Spirit to guide us, listen carefully to one another, and respond faithfully to Jesus Christ.

READ: Let Scripture Speak First

Begin with the anchor Scripture for the Big Question. Resist the temptation to explain it immediately.

Read slowly.
If helpful, read the passage more than once or in more than one translation.
Ask what participants notice before asking what they think it means.
Keep bringing the conversation back to the text when opinions begin to outrun Scripture.
Ask: What does this reveal about Jesus Christ? What does it reveal about us?

PLEAD: Invite the Holy Spirit

Prayer is not a ceremonial opening before the real discussion begins. Prayer is part of the exploration.

Invite the Holy Spirit to renew minds, reveal assumptions, illuminate Scripture, expose resistance, deepen love for Christ, and guide the group's response.

PRAY. NOW!

Holy Spirit, help us see what we would otherwise miss. Use Scripture to renew our thinking. Give us humility to listen, courage to reconsider, and faith to respond wherever Jesus Christ leads.

ASK: Facilitate with Questions

Your most useful tool is often another good question.

When someone answers, resist the urge to immediately evaluate, correct, improve, or summarize. Probe.

What leads you to that conclusion?
Where do you see that in the Scripture we read?
Can you say more about that?
How might someone else see this differently?
What assumption might be underneath our response?
What does this show us about Jesus Christ?
What might we need to rethink?
What might obedience look like?

LISTEN: Make Room for Discovery

Listen in three directions:

Listen to Scripture — What is the text actually saying?
Listen to the Holy Spirit — What seems to require attention, repentance, courage, or response?
Listen to one another — What might God help us see through another person's perspective or experience?

Silence is not failure. Do not rescue the group from every quiet moment. Sometimes people need time to think, pray, or find words.

When the Conversation Gets Interesting...

When someone dominates

Thank them, then widen the circle: “Let's hear from someone who hasn't spoken yet.” Avoid shaming the person.

When nobody speaks

Wait. Rephrase the question. Invite people to write for a minute before answering. Ask a more concrete question rather than filling the silence yourself.

When people disagree

Do not rush to eliminate disagreement. Slow it down. Ask each person to explain what they are seeing and where they see it in Scripture. Seek understanding before resolution.

When the discussion wanders

Ask whether the tangent is helping the group pursue the Big Question. If not, acknowledge it and return: “That's worth exploring another time. How does it connect with the question before us?”

When a difficult theological question surfaces

You do not need an instant answer. Say so. Identify what Scripture clearly says, distinguish that from interpretation or opinion, and note what may require further study.

When someone becomes vulnerable

Do not turn their disclosure into a lesson. Listen. Thank them for trusting the group. Protect confidentiality and respond with appropriate prayer and care.

When the group discovers something important

Stay there. This is precisely why you are not required to finish the material.

HEED: What Requires a Response?

Move the group from insight toward discernment.

What are we hearing that we need to take seriously?
What might Jesus Christ be inviting us to believe, become, or live out?
Is there something we need to confess, reconsider, recover, begin, stop, or repair?
What is one response—not ten—that deserves our attention?

SEED: Plant the Discovery

Formation multiplies through conversation. Ask how the discovery should be carried beyond this gathering.

Who else needs to be invited into this conversation?
Where might this question need to be raised in our relationships, team, church, organization, or community?
What idea or practice should we begin planting now?
What do we want to keep praying about before acting?

PROCEED: Take a Faithful Next Step

Do not end with an interesting discussion. Help each participant identify a next faithful response.

ONE NEXT STEP

Ask each person to complete this sentence: “Because of what I am seeing and hearing, my next faithful step is…”

Ask teams/groups to complete this sentence: “Because of what we are seeing and hearing, our next faithful step is…”

When appropriate, ask: Who will do what? By when? How will we know whether we followed through? When will we revisit what we discerned?

A Simple Gathering Rhythm

Use this as a flexible pattern—not a timetable you must obey.

WELCOME — Re-establish the explorer culture.
PRAY — Invite the Holy Spirit to guide the gathering.
READ — Read the anchor Scripture.
NOTICE — What stands out? What surprises or challenges us?
EXPLORE — Use selected prompts from the Big Question/Exploration Journal.
LISTEN — Slow down where the conversation becomes significant.
HEED — What are we being invited to take seriously?
SEED — Who or what needs to be included next?
PROCEED — Name one faithful next step.
PRAY — Offer what you have discovered and decided back to God.

Using the Exploration Journals in a Group

The Exploration Journal is not homework that everyone must complete before attending. It is a tool for slowing down and making the conversation personal.

Invite participants to download the journal before the gathering.
Use short periods of silent writing before discussing high-value questions.
Do not require participants to read everything they wrote aloud.
Encourage people to record insights, questions, prayers, and next steps.
If the group continues through multiple Big Questions, invite participants to keep their journals as a record of the journey.

Individual First. Then Together.

Whenever possible, encourage facilitators and participants to let the Big Question examine them personally before turning immediately to what their church, ministry, leader, or organization should change.

THE PERSONAL-FIRST RULE

Don't begin by asking, “Which question does our ministry need?” Begin by asking, “Which question do I need?” The Big Questions examine the explorer before the explorer examines ministry.

From Big Question to Ministry Hub

A Big Question begins with the explorer. A Ministry Hub helps explorers carry their discoveries into ministry.

Do not hurry that transition. When the group is ready, follow the NEXT link from the Big Question into the related Ministry Hub and ask how personal formation should reshape messages, ministries, relationships, structures, strategies, and mission.

What a Facilitator Is—and Is Not

A Facilitator IS...	A Facilitator IS NOT...
a fellow explorer	the person with all the answers
a question-asker	a lecturer
a careful listener	the conversation controller
a guardian of Scripture-shaped conversation	the enforcer of one person's opinions
a cultivator of participation	the dominant voice
a guide toward response	a taskmaster trying to finish pages

Before You Close

Ask yourself:

Did Scripture shape our conversation?
Did we consciously depend upon the Holy Spirit?
Did Jesus Christ remain at the center?
Did people have room to think, question, listen, and speak?
Did we examine ourselves before diagnosing others?
Did we identify a faithful response?
Is there a conversation we need to continue?

At your next gathering, begin by asking what happened when participants acted on—or continued praying about—their previous next step.

Carry This With You

Ask uncommon questions.

Invite dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Let Scripture shape the conversation.

Trust God to transform people from the inside out.

You do not have to manufacture transformation.

Your calling is to cultivate an environment in which explorers can encounter Jesus Christ through Scripture, listen for the Holy Spirit, learn from one another, and respond faithfully.

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