Questions to Ask Youth About Easter
Questions to ask youth about Easter, for a youth pastor, Sunday school teacher or small group leader working with teenagers in the weeks around it. They run in the order a lesson or a short series does: icebreakers about how each family keeps the day, Holy Week, the cross, the resurrection, doubt and what difference any of it makes, and questions to close with.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
Icebreakers
What does Easter weekend look like at your house, from Friday to Sunday night?
Why ask it
Ask for the whole weekend and you get a schedule; ask "what do you do for Easter?" and you get "church, I guess." You find out who has a big family lunch, who works a shift and who is only at a service because of this group, which tells you how much the later questions can assume.
What is the best thing in an Easter basket, and what always gets left at the bottom?
Why ask it
Everyone has an opinion about candy, so use it to get every voice heard once in the first two minutes. Not every family does baskets: let "we never had those" count as an answer and ask what they had instead.
Leave out the candy and the egg hunt: what is Easter actually about, in your own words?
Why ask it
Ask it in the first week and write a few answers down without correcting any. A fluent "he died for our sins" and a shrug are both baselines. Ask again after Easter and read the two sets side by side: the change to hope for is plainer words, not more of them.
What is your earliest Easter memory?
Why ask it
An itchy outfit, an egg hunt lost to a cousin, a very long service: the memories are small and usually funny. The detail to notice is whether church appears in the memory at all, because that is how much of the story you will need to tell from the beginning.
Which gets more attention at your house, Christmas or Easter, and why do you think that is?
Why ask it
Expect Christmas to win on presents and time off, and do not argue. At the end of the lesson, ask which of the two days the church could least do without, and see whether anyone has changed sides.
Eggs, rabbits, lambs, lilies: which Easter symbol makes sense to you, and which makes none?
Why ask it
Somebody will ask where the rabbit came from. Say the history is tangled and you would have to look it up, then turn to the pictures the story itself hands you: a lamb, bread and a cup, a stone rolled away.
Has your family ever given something up for Lent, and did anyone make it to the end?
Why ask it
Not every church keeps Lent, so "what is Lent?" is a fair reply and a chance for someone else in the group to explain. The stories of giving in by day four are the fun part. Ask what the point was meant to be only once the laughing is done.
What part of the Easter service do you look forward to, and what part do you just sit through?
Why ask it
You asked for a review, so take it like one. A sunrise service, the loud songs and breakfast afterward tend to win. If the sermon is the part they sit through, do not defend it; ask what they would want said instead.
Holy Week
On Palm Sunday a crowd cheered Jesus into Jerusalem. What do you think they were hoping he would do?
Why ask it
The answer to steer toward is a king who would drive the Romans out; give that background in a sentence if nobody has it. Then ask what he rode in on, and what kind of king chooses a donkey.
Early that week Jesus turned over the traders' tables in the temple. What would make you that angry?
Why ask it
Teenagers who know only the gentle Jesus are often startled by this scene. Strong answers name something done to other people, such as cheating or shutting someone out. If every answer is a personal slight, send them back to the story to ask who was losing out in that courtyard.
At his last meal with his friends, Jesus passed around bread and a cup and said, "Do this in remembrance of me." What do you think he wanted them to remember?
Why ask it
A teenager can take communion for years without once being asked what it is for. Churches differ on what happens at that table and even on what to call it, so check with your pastor how yours teaches it, and let a visitor's "we don't do that at my church" stand.
At the last supper Jesus washed his friends' feet. What is the job nobody in this room would volunteer for?
Why ask it
Cleaning the bathrooms after camp is a typical answer. Once they have named theirs, mention that John's account has Judas still at the table when the basin comes around, and let them work out what that adds.
In the garden Jesus asked his friends to stay awake with him, and they fell asleep. Why do you think they did?
Why ask it
"They were tired" comes first, and Luke adds that they were worn out with grief. Follow with a time they let a friend down simply by not showing up, which is nearer to their lives than betrayal is.
Jesus prayed for another way and then said, "not my will." What do you make of him asking at all?
Why ask it
Some will be unsettled that he did not want to go, and that reaction is the one to work with. A teenager who thinks only polite prayers are allowed can be shown this one.
Judas sold Jesus out and Peter pretended not to know him. Which of the two do you understand better?
Why ask it
Peter is the usual choice, because acting as if you do not know someone is a thing they have done in a school hallway. Do not hurry to how differently the two stories end. Let the room stay a minute with how ordinary the denial was.
When have you kept quiet about your faith, or about a friend, because of who was listening?
Why ask it
Go first with a small example of your own, or nobody will answer. It is a confession question, so do not go around the circle, and thank whoever speaks without tidying their story into a moral.
Pilate said he found no case against Jesus and handed him over anyway. When is it hardest to do the right thing with a crowd watching?
Why ask it
Mark says he did it to satisfy the crowd, and a teenager knows that pull from a group chat or a lunch table. Ask for the small version, the joke they laughed along with or the person they did not defend, and stop it from becoming a list of what other people did.
The cross
Why do you think it is called Good Friday?
Why ask it
Let them argue for the name before anyone explains it. "Good for us, bad for him" is the start of a real conversation. People give more than one account of where the name came from, so there is no need to settle the history to have the discussion.
If someone asked you why Jesus had to die, what would you tell them?
Why ask it
This is the center of the lesson, and the first answers are often sentences learned whole. Take each phrase and ask, kindly, "meaning what?" Churches explain the cross with different emphases, so ask your pastor how yours teaches it before you lead this one.
Jesus said "Father, forgive them" while it was still happening. Who would be hardest for you to say that about?
Why ask it
No names out loud: say so before anyone answers, or make it a question for paper. A teenager who has been badly hurt can hear this as an instruction to act as if nothing happened, so say plainly that forgiving someone does not mean staying quiet or staying near them.
On the cross Jesus cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Have you ever felt that God was not there?
Why ask it
The words are the first line of Psalm 22, which is worth reading aloud afterward. Skip the show of hands and let whoever wants to speak do so. Receive each answer without fixing it, and make a note of anyone whose answer sounds as if it is about this month.
Who at the cross do you notice most: the soldiers, the two criminals, the women, the crowd, or the friends who ran?
Why ask it
A menu lets a quiet teenager point at someone. Ask what that person could see from where they stood. The criminal who asks to be remembered and the officer in charge of the execution both make good second questions.
A cross was a way of executing people. Why do you think Christians wear one around their necks?
Why ask it
It makes a familiar object strange again. When someone says it is just jewelry, agree that it often is, then ask what would have to be true for the sign of the worst day to become something a person chooses to wear.
What do you think Saturday was like for the people who loved him?
Why ask it
The day in between gets skipped, and it is the one most like ordinary life: something has gone badly wrong and nothing has been explained. A teenager in a hard stretch may have more to say here than about Friday or Sunday, so give it room.
Resurrection
The first people at the empty tomb were women, and the disciples did not believe them. Why do you think the story is told that way?
Why ask it
Luke says their report sounded like nonsense to the men who heard it. Ask who gets disbelieved in their own world, at school or at home, and what it says that these were the people trusted with the news.
Do you think the resurrection really happened, or is it more a story with a meaning?
Why ask it
Keep any preferred answer out of your voice. You will hear yes, no and "I want to," and all three have to be sayable in this room. A group where every hand goes up at once has usually worked out what the adult is hoping for.
Mary Magdalene did not recognize Jesus until he said her name. What do you make of that?
Why ask it
In John's telling she takes him for the gardener. Teenagers tend to land on being known by name, which is an opening for the one who feels invisible. Ask who says their name in a way that makes them feel known.
The risen Jesus still had his scars. Why do you think they were not gone?
Why ask it
One for a thoughtful group, and it rewards a long silence. Listen for the idea that what happened to him was kept and not erased. Leave it as a point about him: a teenager with hurts of their own will make the connection without being pointed at.
Two disciples walked for miles with Jesus on the road to Emmaus without knowing him. Has God ever been easier to see looking back?
Why ask it
Luke has them recognize him when he breaks the bread. Good answers are small and after the fact: a move that worked out, a person who turned up at the right time. Steer away from "everything happens for a reason," which is hard on anyone living through something that has none.
On the beach, the risen Jesus asked Peter three times, "Do you love me?" Why do you think he asked three times?
Why ask it
Many readers hear the three questions as an answer to Peter's three denials, though John leaves that link for the reader to make. Ask how Peter felt by the third, and what it says that a friend who had failed so publicly was handed a job and not a lecture.
What changed the disciples from hiding behind a locked door to speaking in public?
Why ask it
This is a history question as much as a faith one, and the skeptics in the group like it for that. Let them offer explanations, including ones you do not hold, and ask which explanation accounts for the most.
If the resurrection is true, what is the first thing that changes?
Why ask it
"We go to heaven" comes first. Push past it with "and on Monday?" The fuller answers are about being less afraid of death, about failure not being final, and about how they treat the person nobody sits with.
Doubt and meaning
Thomas said he would not believe until he had seen the wounds himself. Is he a bad example or an honest one?
Why ask it
Take a vote before anyone explains. Then point out that in John's account Thomas was still with the others a week later, and that Jesus came and showed him. The first detail is your case for doubting inside the group and not away from it.
What part of the Easter story is hardest for you to believe?
Why ask it
Write the answers on a board and reply to none of them. A list in the leader's handwriting tells the group these are allowed. Choose one to bring back next week, after you have done some reading.
Matthew says that when the disciples saw the risen Jesus, "some doubted." Does it surprise you that this is in there?
Why ask it
It sits in the last paragraph of his Gospel, a few lines from the end. Teenagers who assume doubt rules them out are often relieved to find it written into the account, and you need to add very little.
What do your friends who do not go to church think Easter is, and what do you say when it comes up?
Why ask it
Chocolate, a day off and "I just don't bring it up" are honest answers. Resist turning it into an assignment to speak up by Friday. Ask what they wish they could say, which is a truer measure of where they are.
Has there been a time when you prayed for something to be put right and it was not?
Why ask it
Talk of victory lands badly on a teenager whose grandparent died anyway or whose parents separated. Let each story stand without supplying a reason for it. If something current and serious comes out, follow up in private, and pass anything that suggests a young person is at risk to whoever your church names for safeguarding.
Does Easter feel like something that happened long ago, or something to do with your life now?
Why ask it
A plain "long ago" is worth more than a polite "now." Ask what would have to be different for it to feel current. Listen for whether the gap is belief, or only that nobody has ever connected it to their week.
Where in your life right now would you most want a new start?
Why ask it
Resurrection as a doctrine is abstract at fifteen; a friendship that ended or a reputation they cannot shake is not. Keep answers short and optional. The reply to worry about is "nothing can be fixed," said flatly: find that person afterward.
What scares you about death, if anything, and does Easter touch that?
Why ask it
Only for a group that knows each other, and not in a week when someone present is grieving unless you have spoken to them first. Plenty of teenagers have thought about this and never been asked. "I don't know what I believe happens" is a fine place to stop.
Closing
Which person in the Easter story are you most like this year?
Why ask it
One word each, with passing allowed: Peter, Thomas, Mary, someone in the crowd, someone asleep in the garden. It is the quickest read you will get on where each of them stands, so write the answers down once the room has emptied.
What is one thing about Easter you see differently than you did an hour ago?
Why ask it
"Differently" does not require anyone to have been convinced of anything, which keeps the skeptics answering. If nothing comes, accept "nothing yet" and ask what they are still chewing on.
What question about Easter are you still carrying?
Why ask it
Hand out cards and collect them unsigned. The stack is your plan for the next session, and reading two of them aloud the following week shows the cards were read.
Is there someone you would want to bring on Easter Sunday, and what would make it easy to ask them?
Why ask it
Keep the first half optional: some have nobody they would dare ask, and some come from homes where church is a sore subject. The second half is practical feedback for you, such as sitting together, a breakfast first, or a service they can describe in one text.
Who will find this Easter hard, and what is one thing this group could do for them before Sunday?
Why ask it
Someone newly bereaved, a family split across two houses, a neighbor alone. Settle on one thing small enough to finish, a card or a plate of food, and do it together so that it happens.
If you wrote a one-line prayer for this week, what would it say?
Why ask it
Say first that one line means one line: a teenager who has never prayed aloud can manage six words. Go around once, let "pass" count, and finish with a line of your own and not a summary of theirs.
What do you want to remember from this Easter when the next one comes around?
Why ask it
Put it on a card addressed to themselves and keep the cards in an envelope until next spring. It only works if the cards are handed back, so set yourself a reminder somewhere you will see it.
Leading an Easter conversation with teenagers
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Planning the weeks around Easter
One group of questions per session
A series of three or four weeks holds the page comfortably: Icebreakers and Holy Week first, The cross in the week before Easter, Resurrection on the day or just after it, and Doubt and meaning once the day has passed. Open every session with one icebreaker and end it with one Closing question, whatever comes in between.
If you have a single session
Pick six: two Icebreakers, one from Holy Week, one from The cross, one from Resurrection and one Closing question. Decide beforehand which question the hour has to reach, and cut from the front if time runs short.
Read the accounts first
The four Gospels tell the week with different details, and the notes here say which account a detail comes from where it matters. Read the passage behind each question you plan to ask, in the translation your group uses, so that "where does it say that?" has an answer.
Ask how your church handles it
Churches differ on Lent, on how Holy Week is marked and on the words used to explain the cross. Ask your pastor, or whoever oversees the youth ministry, how your church teaches these and what it expects of a leader before a lesson on the death of Jesus. Parents of younger teens sometimes want to know in advance.
Reading the room
Know who is in it
A youth group at Easter holds teenagers raised on the story, some who came with a friend last month, and some who are there because a parent drove them. The Icebreakers show you the mix. Explain names and events as you go, who Peter is, what Passover was, without asking who needs it.
Younger and older teens
Younger teens, eleven to thirteen or so, usually do best with the story questions: what the crowd was hoping for, who they notice at the cross, what Saturday was like. The questions about evidence, doubt and death ask more, and suit an older group that knows each other. In a mixed group, split by age for the second half.
Grief changes the lesson
Talk of death and of life after it lands differently on a teenager who has buried someone this year. If you know of a loss, speak to that person before the session, tell them what is coming, and let them choose whether to be in the room for it.
Small groups for the personal questions
Questions about letting a friend down, forgiving someone or feeling that God was absent go better in small groups, each with an adult who listens. Ask what your church's policy says about how many adults sit with a group. Say at the start that anyone can pass, and that anything suggesting a young person is being harmed or is at risk goes to the person your church names for safeguarding or child protection, so nobody is promised a secret you cannot keep.
What to do with the answers
Do not grade
Say "thank you" after a doubtful answer and after a devout one, in the same tone. Teenagers watch for which answers please the adult, and once they have worked it out you will hear nothing else.
Ask "meaning what?"
Easter comes with a stock vocabulary: saved, sins, sacrifice, risen. When a phrase arrives ready-made, ask what it means in words a friend at school would use, and give them time to hunt for those words. The hunting is the lesson.
Say when you do not know
Questions about the evidence for the resurrection, the differences between the Gospel accounts and why God allows suffering will come up. Promise to read and come back, then do it. A leader who returns a week later with something considered teaches more than one who improvises on the night.
Leave some sessions unresolved
Not every session has to arrive at Sunday. A lesson on Friday or on Saturday can end there, with the question open, and be picked up the following week.
What tends to go wrong
The candy takes over
The Icebreakers are meant for five minutes. A session that never leaves baskets and egg hunts was easy to run and gave nobody anything to take home.
Graphic detail
The crucifixion can be described truthfully without dwelling on the physical suffering. Lingering on it to get a reaction is a kind of pressure, and a room of teenagers may include some who have seen real violence.
Pushing for a decision
These questions are for finding out what teenagers think. If your church invites a response at Easter, ask how and when it wants that done, and keep it apart from a discussion in which people were told they could speak freely.
Forgetting what was said
Write down the questions from the cards, the names mentioned for prayer and the thing the group said it would do. Bring one of them back the next week.