Skill Practice 4

Ask Inspired Questions

Missionaries often ask questions to those they are teaching. Asking good questions can help missionaries “understand people’s interests, concerns, and questions. Good questions can invite the Spirit and help people learn” (Preach My Gospel [2023], 190).

Discussion leader: Strive to be brief in the “Define” and “Demonstrate” sections so learners have plenty of time for practice.

Define

Discussion leader: Share the following instructions to introduce the topic of asking questions:

Read the paragraphs and table under the heading “Ask Questions” in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel (pages 190–91). Look for the role good questions play in sharing the gospel.

• Why is it important for missionaries to ask effective questions in their teaching?

Discussion leader: Explain that some types of questions are more effective than others. Share the following instructions to help class members learn guidelines for asking effective questions:

Read the first seven bullet points under “Avoid Ineffective or Excessive Questions” (Preach My Gospel, 191). Look for guidelines that can help you learn to ask effective questions.

Demonstrate

Discussion leader: Show learners a few examples of how to change less effective questions to be more effective. Consider using the examples in the following table. For more examples, see the list of less effective questions on pages 192–93 of Preach My Gospel.

Less effective question	More effective question
Who was the first prophet? (The person might not know the answer	How would it affect your life if you knew God called prophets today? (Asks for the person’s own thoughts and feelings.)
How will keeping our bodies pure help us have the Spirit and show that we are willing to follow a prophet of God? (There is more than one idea.)	How do you think keeping our bodies pure could influence our relationship with God? (Focuses on one idea.)

Practice

Discussion leader: Learners could work with partners to complete the following activity.

Read the other examples from the list of less effective questions in chapter 10 of Preach My Gospel (pages 192–93). Choose two or three of these questions and work together to create more effective questions.

Discussion leader: After class members finish, invite a few to share examples of the more effective questions they created.

If time allows, you could invite learners to repeat this practice activity with other questions from the list of less effective questions in Preach My Gospel.

Apply

Discussion leader: Consider displaying the following to help learners think about how they can apply this skill:

Think about how you could apply what you have learned about asking effective questions during the next week or two. For example, you could:

• Search for some effective questions in a few lessons from Come, Follow Me.

• If you are teaching a lesson soon, prepare some effective questions you could ask as you teach.