Icebreaker questions are super important for building community in Bible studies and other groups. I’ve learned over the years that these simple questions can really help people open up and connect with one another. Instead of jumping right into a lesson, taking a moment to ask something light, like favorite birthday cakes or breakfast foods, can reveal a lot about someone’s background and experiences. It’s all about creating a space where everyone feels valued and included. So, let's dive into why icebreakers matter and how we can use them effectively to enhance our group interactions.

Takeaways:

1. Icebreaker questions are essential for creating community in Bible study groups, so don't skip them.
2. Asking simple questions can reveal deep insights about people's lives and backgrounds over time.
3. Avoid asking how long someone has been attending the church, as it can make new people feel unwelcome.
4. Food-related icebreaker questions often lead to surprising and meaningful revelations about group members.
5. Icebreakers not only loosen conversation but also help everyone learn from each other's experiences and stories.
6. Using icebreaker questions shows love and care for your group, creating a more connected atmosphere.

Links referenced in this episode:

1. www.bible805.com
2. collect@churchleaders.com

Welcome to the Ministry Miscellany Podcast A collection of tools, strategy and challenges for Bible Teachers from me, Yvon Prehn, someone who's been teaching the Bible ever since As a third grader, I started to teach the kindergartners at my church about Jesus. I've never quit doing that, and along the way I've picked up some practices, strategies, and resources that might be useful to you.

Our topic for today is episode number eight, Practical Tip the Essential Importance of Icebreaker Questions

Icebreaker questions are those questions we ask at the beginning of studies to get people talking. Some ministry leaders consider them a waste of time and want to jump right into a study or lesson.

But from decades of ministry, I think they're essential. Now here's why and some ways to use them. We all want, or we say we want to create community in our various groups, Bible studies, etc.

And obviously the way to create community is for people to get to know each other. But that isn't always easy.

It can take a long time to find out about someone's family of origin and the amount and ways of caring that were expressed in the family as they were growing up. Or you can just ask a simple icebreaker question. For example, what was your favorite kind of birthday cake when you were growing up?

I did that and found that a lady in the group who had identified herself as coming from a well off military family had never had a birthday party. They never gave her one--that wasn't important in their family.

Another person's father was at the church and was a really quiet shy man. But I found out that he would put on full scale movie set recreations for her birthday.

And then there was another one who had a sibling who always got extravagant birthday parties and he didn't get any. Now granted, the sibling's birthday was in August. They lived in a four season state.

August, the sun was shining and they would have great birthdays in the park and all that. His was the day after Christmas when they were usually snowed in.

Now those might have been the facts of life when he was growing up, but his birthday was ignored. And it was amazing how even as an adult you could tell in his voice it still hurt.

Or There was a time I asked a group what their favorite breakfast food was. A newcomer in the group answered enthusiastically, beer and pizza.

Now I could tell you many more stories, but the point is you get to know things about your people you never imagined.

Now let me give you one warning about what not to ask. Please skip this if you're Thinking about asking it.

Don't ask people how long they've been going to the church.

The reason is, when you think about it, all it does is makes the old timers feel kind of proud and that somehow attendance means something significant. But the new people, they feel somehow that they don't really count as much. When do they get where they can kind of smile in that sort of smug way?

Is there an unstated time goal? Does seniority matter? How many years constitute tenure? When will my voice matter?

I mean, all these kinds of things can be going through people's minds. For each of us, a personal review of the parable of the workers hired at different times a day, but paid the same might be in order here.

And after you look at that, just don't ask that question anymore. Moving right along, you can learn a tremendous amount about people by asking very simple questions with a new group.

I always start out with things like where were you born? It's so simple, but it's so informative.

Or ...What's your favorite dish at Thanksgiving?

You ask that you'll learn about a lot more than the food

What's your favorite flavor of ice cream? And now you're probably thinking she asks a lot of food related questions and I do. Again, they seem simple, but they can reveal so much.

Last time I asked the ice cream question, a couple in the group who were known for homeschooling and very simple lifestyle. They didn't flaunt it or anything like that, but they were just, you know, simple, plain, you know, they didn't make a big deal out of things.

But they announced with the ice cream question that they would only eat ice cream from a very high end creamery that was in a town near ours. I would have never guessed that about them.

Simple quick answer questions like these work well for a larger group. Fifteen, even close to 20 people can answer really quickly when you're starting out with a group.

And again, people get to give their voice their name, they get to say something. It really does break the ice.

Now more in depth questions can be asked in smaller groups with sort of follow up ones built in things like where's your favorite place to vacation and why? What special things did your family do on whatever holiday happens to be coming up and how do you feel about that?

Who had the greatest influence in your life and and in what ways? Now, although the individual questions are very important, the cumulative effect of Icebreakers is tremendous.

Not only do these work to loosen up conversation at the events, they're used at but over time, you and the other members of the group will learn a tremendous amount about each person, their childhood, what they truly like, what hurts them, what they still remember. Preferences. All kinds of things.

It's really odd how this works out, and I'm not sure why, but people will reveal things in an icebreaker question that they never share, one on one. And I probably wouldn't ask them about it in one on one conversation, but you learn so much from them.

Now a few tips on where to get icebreaker questions.

Just Google them, do an Internet search and you'll get a lot more inventive ones than what I've suggested when I did that though recently I found a great collection at www.churchleaders.com I'll have the exact link on the website version of this podcast. By the way, for this podcast I will put a copy of it each time with the text on the www.bible805.com website.

So if you want the text and you want the podcast and you want any associated things, you can just go there.

Practicing the Way Ministry Group has a wonderful box of what they call table conversations I've gotten. They're little cards that people can pick out and ask the question on the cards.

In addition to being great icebreakers, they're really good for conversation starters, things like potlucks.

They're a way to go deeper into conversation to perhaps turn the discussion and the thoughts of the group to something more edifying than just regular chit chat or doom and gloom about the latest news or trivia about their latest vacations. Not that any of those things are evil or whatever.

And this includes ones on my through the bible and the Bible 805 podcast. Both of those.

Now, one more encouragement of humility is to always use icebreaker questions. The reason I say it's an encouragement of humility is we might think that the content of our lesson is so important that they need every minute of our brilliance. But think about it.

When people share in the icebreaker about themselves, what they reveal might be the most valuable lessons from the heart that all of you will learn from your time together.

One last thing, Icebreakers provide ways to love your people.

Remember the lady whose family never gave her one, and the young man with his too Close to Christmas Birthday?

Celebrations were held for each of them--on their birthdays.

I trust you found the content in this episode of Ministry Miscellaney useful.

For links to any resources mentioned and lots of free material to help you know, trust, apply and teach the Bible, go to www.bible805.com Let me close now with a reminder from the book of Daniel 12:3 where it says, those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the heavens, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever. That's you, someone who leads many to righteousness.

And in doing that, may you be ever growing in your reliance on the power of the Holy Spirit, in the deepening of your friendship with Jesus, and in your trust in the goodness of God the Father, never forgetting in all the hard work you do that you have a glorious heritage where you will shine like the stars forever and ever. Amen.