The What and Why of Q&A Sunday

This past Sunday, we finished up a 40 week series through the book of Genesis. Following the series, we do what we call Q&A Sunday. After mentioning it on social media, I talked with a few pastors who were interested in what Q&A Sundays were, why we did them, and how we do them. I realize there are other pastors of churches big and small who have done something similar. For us, doing these Q&A Sundays was not about joining a trend but meeting a tremendous need within our church family.

Let me back up for a moment. When I first began preaching on a weekly basis back in 2011, I approached the leaders of our church with the conviction the best way to learn God’s Word and disciple our people was going to be through expository sermons through books of the Bible (clarification: this is not our only method of discipleship!). Another core conviction of our church was to reach people who have either never been to church or have been out of church for some time. In other words, we wanted to reach people who would become brand new Christians and possibly brand new to the Bible (although we settle for anyone who would hear and receive the Gospel). Within the year, our faithful few church members began to reach people who did not grow up in church or have much experience with the Bible.

Call me crazy...but we prayed and decided we would go through the book of Job in our first major series. The first Sunday, I asked the congregation how many had heard the story of Job before. Out of about 80 people, maybe 1/4 of the people raised their hands. This was great for a few reasons, but primarily because the narrative would be free to unfold itself. The first Sunday (i.e. the good life) went well and everyone loved it. The second Sunday (i.e. the suffering) not so much. By the end of the series, we had an influx of questions from new believers about the book of Job. It became apparent we needed something to about it. Thus, Q&A Sunday was born (atleast for us).

Q&A Sunday is an opportunity for our church family (and guest) to ask any question related to the book itself in regard to doctrine or application. We have now done Q&A Sundays through Job, Titus, Proverbs, the Ten Commandments, Mark, Esther, Galatians, the Lord’s Example Prayer for Us (Matthew 6), and now Genesis. I can attest it has proven tremendously helpful in serving those in our church family, serving my own soul, and even some random guests who ask very awkward questions and never return. In my next post, I will explain how we do Q&A Sundays, some things we’ve learned along the way, and I may share some of those awkward questions.