Asking the Right Questions

Abiding in Hope

by

Iowa Annual Conference | May 8, 2025

Every fall, when Confirmation begins, I start our first session with our students the same way:

 “Ask me anything.”

I tell the students they can ask any question they have about God, the Bible, theology, or the Church. I remind them there are no stupid questions—because more than likely, someone else in the room is wondering the same thing. I make a big, long list of their questions that we will try our best to answer — or at least explore — over the course of the year.

And every year, the questions come.

Some are lighthearted:

  • Why do you wear that long scarf over your robe on Sunday?
  • Did Jesus have a last name?
  • Have you read the whole Bible?
  • Why is church so boring?

Some are practical:

  • Why does the church need money?
  • How do you decide what songs we sing?
  • Why aren’t we doing more to reach young people?
  • How do you even start reading the Bible?

And some are deeply theological:

  • What actually makes something a sin?
  • Did everything in the Bible actually truly happen?
  • What’s the difference between Catholic and Methodist?
  • How am I supposed to pray if I don’t know what to say?
  • Why do bad things happen if God is in control? 

Every year, I am so impressed by the questions they ask and the places they want their faith to go.  Because the truth of it is this: these questions aren’t asked to show off or to test the limits of our faith. They’re asked because young people are paying attention. They’re curious. They want to know if what we teach has anything to do with real life. And they’re braver than most adults I know when it comes to admitting what they don’t understand.

That, I think, is what hope looks like in the Church.

Hope doesn’t always come dressed in confidence or certainty. Sometimes it comes wrapped in the voice of a 13-year-old wondering if it’s okay to disagree with something Paul wrote. Sometimes it looks like an eighth grader asking why communion matters. Sometimes it’s just someone being honest enough to say, “I don’t get it.”

We talk a lot about wanting more young people in church — and rightly so. But maybe what the church needs even more than youth attendance is youth faithfulness — the kind that shows up with a backpack full of questions and an open heart. Maybe we, who have been around the Christian block a few times, need to recover the courage to wonder.

Because somewhere along the way, many of us learned to stop asking. We assumed we were supposed to already know. Or we were afraid of being judged. Or we settled for clichés when we could have reached for mystery. But what if spiritual maturity isn't about having more answers—just better questions?

The questions confirmands ask are not a threat to faith. They are faith. And if we are wise, we’ll listen more than we lecture. Because in those questions — the silly ones, the sacred ones, and everything in between — is a sign that the Spirit is still stirring. And that’s a hope worth latching onto.

The Rev. Brian E. Williams serves as pastor of First United Methodist Church in Indianola, Iowa. "Abiding in Hope" is a spiritual support series written by volunteers in the Iowa Annual Conference of The United Methodist Church, Subscribe to Abiding in Hope