Questions to Ask Friends or Acquaintances

I would talk about myself all the time if given the chance. It's vanity, and I hate it. One way that I fight that is to ask good questions of other people. I ask questions at our family meals. I try to think in advance of questions to ask friends when we get coffee or acquaintances when I go out to a lunch for pastors. I like to think of questions to ask at our dinner table or when I am meeting with friends or new acquaintances.

I want them to be really good questions and not goofy youth group icebreakers.

Here are a few that spark good conversations:

• What are you excited about? This could be about work or family or hobbies. 
• What are you working on? What problem are you working on?
• What from your previous career makes you better at your current job? I asked a new friend who had been a newspaper editor how his time as a journalist made him a better pastor. That sparked a great conversation and  he told some interesting stories.
• What are you learning or enjoying about Christ? It would be a shame if we talked about everything else but not Jesus. 

Do you have an questions that spark good conversations?