The Power of Questions

In my last post I touched on the issue of having different kinds of conversations.  So how do we engage in these different kinds of conversations? I believe it really depends upon the questions we are asking about themselves on their journey (called life), their hobbies and interests, their experiences, their dreams, hopes and fears, their disappointments and achievements

Questions like…

• What was it about that experience that was so meaningful to you?
• What did you learn from that experience?
• If you could do that or face that experience again, what would you have changed or kept the same?
• That obviously touched you deeply.  What gave it so much impact for you?
• How has it changed your life since then?
• What do you most like about yourself?
• Tell me about the happiest time of your life?
• When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up?
• Do you like who you’ve become?
• What makes a person good/trustworthy?
• Do you generally look forward to or dread tomorrow?  Why?
• How do you hope to be remembered?
• Who do you know who has made the world a better place?  Why do you say that?
• How are you making the world a better place?

You don’t ask these questions right away when you meet someone or all at once.  But as you get to know someone, they often appreciate our curiosity and engagement with them in sharing their experiences and life stories.

The reality is that most people don’t want to go beneath the surface – they just don’t know how.

Imagine what a difference it would make in our conversations and communities if we dared to ask the right questions and engage people where they have been and where they are at.  There is nothing more relevant that being real and having someone open up to you where they are at on their spiritual journey.  Now that is true evangelism!!!