Small Church Communities
Main Article – Part 4 of 4

Paladin Materials

Contents

• Materials We Have Tried
• The Best Materials Available!
• Paladin Discussion Questions
• Discussion Series Structure
• Paladin Accessibility
• Moving Forward

Materials We Have Tried

We have investigated various Catholic evangelical materials and other faith-centered materials meant for small groups. Often, the material is not truly focused on promoting meaningful discussions. Bible studies are particularly notorious for close-ended questions—the facts and nothing but the facts—forget relating it to your life! We often found ourselves supplementing the discussion questions with questions of our own. And it’s not only the discussion questions that often disappointed us. Many sources for small group materials were quite limited in quantity, quality, or variety.

We have come across some powerful video series. These are often more impressive than the written materials; however, the focus still wasn’t on the discussion. Indeed, watching a video by nature takes away from the discussion. Not only does the video eat up time meant for a discussion, but also the folks don’t really have time to ponder the material and prepare for the discussion! There are many video series I recommend watching; however, there are none I would recommend for a small church community.

I concede that I have not searched for small group materials for quite some time. Things may have improved. And I gladly admit that even 20 years ago there were some good materials. However, they were seldom the best materials.

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The Best Materials Available!

So where can you find the best materials available? The best Catholic books are the best Catholic materials. Period. Of course, these don’t typically come with discussion questions. And even when they do, typically there are too few or they are otherwise insufficient for our purposes. And of course, one still needs to adapt the book to the discussion series format and timeframe. This is where we come in.

Our job isn’t all that tough. We basically create discussion questions for important books and develop a plan for covering the material in 8-10 meetings. Rarely, a book will come with adequate discussion questions; then we only need to make a brief guide on breaking up the material and adapting it to the small church community discussions. So far, only 60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple by Fr. John Bartunek has met our requirements for this.

Our list of discussion series is steadily growing. And we hope that new group leaders will tackle making their own discussion series according to our approach and donating them to our website. We are hoping to build a co-op, though we can keep you supplied with plenty of discussion series in the meantime. 

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Paladin Discussion Questions

We formulate our questions to inspire contemplation and discussion. We create open-ended questions, as much as possible, as this promotes vistas of contemplation and discussion that closed-ended questions never could. Open-ended questions are more subjective and personal—broader and opinion-based. They require us to evaluate our own views and experiences in light of the current topic. They ask us about our thoughts and experiences—about our opinions and speculations.  Closed-ended questions are narrow in focus and usually answered with a single word or by choosing from multiple-choice options. Sometimes they simply seek a yes or no answer. Even when we occasionally ask a yes or no question, we do so as part of a group of questions seeking a very open-ended answer. Our goal is to guide you in pondering deeply and then hearing from you—hearing your thoughts, experiences, opinions, speculations, and feelings.

I have seen study guides written for books without a single open-ended question. The book was great; however, the study guide focused on the regurgitation of facts rather than relating those facts to people’s lives. One would be better off discussing the book without any questions at all.

Our discussion series usually have 5-6 groups of questions per evening. Each group typically has 3-5 questions. Each question group is tackled as a single journaling cue or as a single discussion starter. Your reply is never meant to individually answer each question, but rather to share your thoughts based on the series of questions as a whole. You might journal on (or discuss) the general topic in considerable detail while only answering one of the questions—or even none of them. The series of questions are always meant to promote meaningful contemplation more than to test comprehension. And, of course, the answers may come directly from your personal experiences or what you perceive as the common experience, or simply your own logic. All this will benefit you most if you journal on the questions and then discuss them with others. This is how Paladins SCCs have ordinary people helping each other connect everyday life to their faith.

These groups of questions are normally related to one another. Often, they build on each other. And even when these are close-ended questions, they are nonetheless food for thought—inspiration. Even a somewhat close-ended question can be an invitation for a very deep and personal consideration.

For example, rather than simply ask what it means to “enter through the narrow gate,” we would ask a series of personal questions connected to indeed entering the narrow gate:

How willing are you to enter through the narrow gate? What in your life and attitude needs to change first? What is holding you back? Do you truly understand how eager God is to accomplish this wonderful work within you?

These questions get you thinking—get you pondering your life and your walk with Jesus. Your journaling and your sharing on these questions may indeed address only a single question, and even that might only be in part or indirectly. However, the group of questions offers lots of food for thought—for applying the material to your life.

Journaling at least 2-4 sentences for each question group will draw you into the deep spiritual waters. You may read from your journaling during the discussion, or you may simply glance at it as notes for the discussion. Even when you don’t consult your journal during the discussion, you will nonetheless have a great deal more to draw from during the discussion because of this thoughtful journaling. You are cheating yourself and your group if you skimp on thoughtful journaling.

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Discussion Series Structure

A Paladin discussion series is more than groups of mostly open-ended questions. A Paladin discussion series also adapts the book to the discussion series format and timeframe. We determine how to divide up the book into 8-10 meetings and create the groups of questions accordingly. We aim to cover 150-200 pages per series. We also include any relevant handouts or mention any related considerations.

Sometimes adapting a book is not straightforward. We might want to cover a chapter per meeting, but seldom are there 8-10 chapters in a book. Sometimes the chapters are very short, and we simply divvy up the chapters according to how many meetings we want. Sometimes the chapters are long and over 10 chapters. If the book is 12 or 13 chapters long, we will probably double up on the chapters for 2-3 meetings. If there are more large chapters, we may consider breaking the book into two discussion series. If we have a 300 plus page book, we will certainly consider this. Indeed, it is very unlikely that we would consider a 300 plus page book for a single discussion series.

Some great books simply don’t lend themselves to discussion groups for various reasons. Some devotional books will work for small groups; some will not. Some won’t nicely fit into two or even three discussion series. Some fact-driven books may not be particularly suitable for open-ended questions; a discussion series needs many open-ended questions. We must be flexible in adapting books, yet we must also know when to admit the book just isn’t a good fit for our purposes.

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Paladin Accessibility

We need to make both the materials and the workload accessible to most people. We need to choose reader-friendly books and cover them at a slow pace. Our goal is to have inspiring and challenging discussions in which we help each other connect our faith to our daily lives; our goal is not to cover many volumes of complex prose! We must not unduly burden our members. Folks have busy lives, and many are not inclined to struggle through long, difficult books. We need to meet folks where they are. The deep truths will come out in the discussions, often helped along by the disciples in the group.

Some of us tend to tackle too much in our goal to aim high. I might be tempted to somehow cover a 300 plus page book within 10 meetings rather than splitting it in two, or I might be tempted to extend the number of meetings to make it work. I might be particularly persuaded to do this when the book doesn’t neatly split into two discussion series. However, in the end, this isn’t aiming high at all. We need to aim high regarding the quality of the discussions and fellowship, not the bulk of material covered. We need to challenge folks through the content, the discussions, and self-driven goals. We do not need to challenge people with a lot of homework. Paladins SCCs are formed to meet people where they are and support them for the long run—for the entire journey to God.

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Creating a Study Series

Obviously, leaders may create their own discussion series. We hope you will submit such a discussion series for broader use. The careful selection of a book and the thoughtful crafting of “Questions to Contemplate” are crucial to creating a quality discussion series. Please use the following guidelines.

Choosing a Book

• Material must be compatible with the magisterium of the Catholic Church.
  • We do not use any materials that St. John Paul II or Pope Benedict would have objected to.
  • Non-Catholic authors are fine, assuming the above is true.
• The reading difficulty and style should be accessible to the average parishioner.
• No more than a very basic understanding of Church teaching should be assumed.
• Ask the group to preview books under consideration at Amazon.com:
  • Ask them to study the description, sample material, table of contents, etc.
  • Ask them to rate the book on accessibility, style, interest, importance, and overall suitability.

Creating Questions to Contemplate

• Use Open-ended questions. Most questions should be open-ended—courting personal experience, speculation, and application rather than looking for a single objective answer!
  • Sometimes close-ended questions are necessary to establish an important idea or to introduce a deeper line of questioning. Close-ended questions should be followed with at least two open-ended questions.
• Avoid yes or no questions unless setting up something deeper.
  • Occasionally a yes or no question is too important not to ask!
  • Sometimes a yes or no question is more of a prompt to set up the question(s) that follow it or to set up a line of thought leading into deeper thought!
• Only 2-4 questions per group of questions—5 at the most!
  • Sometimes you might have 5 questions if one or more is brief and/or directly connected to or setting up another question(s).
  • There may be other circumstances to use more questions. Try to avoid as much as possible.
• Very general questions are better than very specific questions.
• Questions must not fish for answers. Fishing for an answer is trying to get information from someone indirectly, often by asking leading questions. Do not use the questions to direct the conversation toward specific topics and ideas that are not already apparent in the reading. You may bring up such related topics on your own during the discussion.
• Use questions that draw from personal experiences when you can.
  • Sometimes this is easier than other times; folks will draw from personal experiences whether the question asks them to or not. Sometimes it does not feel fitting to make this explicit in the questions.
• Challenge but don’t over challenge!
• Question group must not rehash same points as previous question group in same session.
• Questions must work to progress overall discussion.
• Leader should reevaluate questions after first use with group and adjust as necessary.
• Leader should not submit study series for broader use until complete trial run and adjustments are completed.

Moving Forward

There are many great books and great topics to cover. We encourage you to hit them all! However, there are four formational topics we must cover and should cover in order:

1. Encountering Jesus

• Recommend Rediscovering Jesus by Matthew Kelly

2. Becoming a Living, Growing Disciple

• Recommend Our Forgotten Journey to God by VW Malzahn
• Recommend 60 Days to Becoming a Missionary Disciple by Fr. John Bartunek

3. Evangelizing and Serving

• Recommend The Contagious Catholic: The Art of Practical Evangelization by Marcel LeJeune

You may certainly have other study series between those mentioned above. You might dive into apologetics or the gospel before moving on to the second or third series mentioned above.

Obviously, as new members are added, they will have missed out on some of these foundational topics. The leader should keep track of such matters and seek to help these new members cover these as well. The topic of becoming a living, growing disciple should actually permeate everything the group does and should be covered in other study series. The leader should keep the Discipleship Benchmarks described in part one; especially make sure folks are instructed on creating a rule of life.

Remember there is greater depth to everything we learn. We cannot simply read the gospels once and announce we understand them—that we’re done with them. Obviously, every time we prayerfully read them, we will discover something helpful, something additional, and something deeper. Likewise, all the spiritual subjects of our Christian faith have many great depths to plumb. Your group won’t cover only one book on discipleship, or prayer, or virtue, or apologetics—you will cover multiple books. And, if your group changes membership enough over the years, you might even repeat a discussion series. You should particularly make sure new members eventually work their way through the four formational topics mentioned above. I promise you will still get a lot out of it a second time.

Of course, more important than either the book or the study guide is how the group approaches them. Members need to come prepared and feel comfortable. All those other guidelines we have discussed are important as well. While no group and no meeting are ever perfect, we need to work at what we can do to make them as good as we can. And, as with our journey, the Lord will do the rest.

Interested in becoming a Paladins SCC Leader?

Browse Available Discussion Series + Paladin Download Page

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