Discussion question your group will work through:
1.Platt begins by describing a moment of conviction when he compared the demands of Jesus in the Gospels with the easy, low-cost Christianity common in American churches. When did you first sense — if ever — that something might be missing from the version of Christianity you were raised with or first encountered?
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About This Study Guide
David Platt's Radical: Taking Back Your Faith from the American Dream is a passionate, uncomfortable, and ultimately liberating call to reconsider what it means to follow Jesus in a culture saturated with comfort, consumerism, and self-advancement. Platt argues that American Christianity has, often without realizing it, reshaped the gospel to fit the values of the American Dream — a gospel of health, wealth, personal happiness, and minimal sacrifice. Drawing on the actual words of Jesus, Platt invites readers to compare what Jesus said discipleship would cost with what we typically ask of ourselves, and then to have the courage to close that gap. The book is not a guilt trip; it is an invitation into something far more exciting and far more costly than the comfortable Christianity many of us have settled for.
This study guide is designed for small groups or individual use over nine weeks — one week per chapter, plus a final Review & Reflection week. The rhythm each week is simple: read the assigned chapter before you meet (or before you sit down alone with this guide), then work through the questions prayerfully and honestly. Some questions are comprehension-based, helping you grasp Platt's argument clearly. Others press you toward personal application — asking you to look at your own life with fresh eyes. And some invite theological reflection, connecting Platt's challenge to the broader story of the gospel. Journaling your responses before discussing them with others will deepen both your honesty and your growth.
By the end of this guide, you will have wrestled seriously with questions most American Christians rarely ask: Am I following the Jesus of the Bible or a Jesus shaped by my culture? What am I actually willing to give up? What would change in my life — my spending, my time, my prayers, my career — if I took the Great Commission as personally as Jesus intended? Platt closes the book with "The Radical Experiment," a one-year challenge he invites every reader to take. Our hope is that this guide prepares your heart to say yes to that experiment, and to mean it.
10-Week Schedule
- Week 1Introduction — Someone Worth Losing Everything For7 questions
- Week 2Chapter 1 — Someone Worth Losing Everything For8 questions
- Week 3Chapter 2 — Too Hungry for Words8 questions
- Week 4Chapter 3 — The Magnitude of the Task8 questions
- Week 5Chapter 4 — The Great Why of God8 questions
- Week 6Chapter 5 — The Multiplying Community8 questions
- Week 7Chapter 6 — How Much Is Enough?8 questions
- Week 8Chapter 7 — There Is No Plan B8 questions
- Week 9Chapter 8 — Living When Dying Is Gain8 questions
- Week 10Review & Reflection — The Radical Experiment8 questions
Week 1: Introduction — Someone Worth Losing Everything For
Free sampleRead the Introduction of Radical by David Platt. Key passage: Matthew 13:44–46 (the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price).
1.Platt begins by describing a moment of conviction when he compared the demands of Jesus in the Gospels with the easy, low-cost Christianity common in American churches. When did you first sense — if ever — that something might be missing from the version of Christianity you were raised with or first encountered?
2.He uses the parables of the hidden treasure and the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:44–46) to frame the book's thesis: that Jesus is worth losing everything for, and that our lives should reflect that conviction. In your own words, what is the point of those parables, and why do you think Platt chose them as his launching pad?
3.Platt makes a distinction early on between "the Jesus of the Bible" and "the Jesus of the American Dream." What does he mean by that distinction? Where do you see evidence of a culturally reshaped Jesus in the churches or Christian media you are most familiar with?
4.He describes his own sense of unease as a young pastor — realizing that what he was building looked more like a successful American organization than a New Testament church. What metrics does American Christianity tend to use for "success," and how do those compare to the metrics Jesus used?
5.Platt's title word is "radical" — meaning back to the root, not merely extreme. What is the root he wants to return to? Does that reframing of the word change how you feel about the book's invitation?
a.Is "radical" discipleship meant to be exceptional — for missionaries and pastors only — or is it Platt's expectation for every follower of Jesus?
b.What would have to change in your current understanding of discipleship to accept that it is meant for every believer?
6.The introduction sets up a tension between comfort and calling. Where do you feel that tension most acutely in your own life right now — financially, vocationally, relationally, or spiritually?
7.Platt invites readers to approach the book with an open heart, willing to be changed. What is one assumption about the Christian life you are willing to hold loosely as you work through these chapters?
Week 2: Chapter 1 — Someone Worth Losing Everything For
Read Chapter 1 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Luke 9:23–25; Matthew 10:37–39.
1.Platt opens with a vivid account of meeting underground church Christians in Asia — believers who risked imprisonment and death simply for gathering in Jesus's name. How did that contrast affect you as you read it? What emotions did it stir?
Week 3: Chapter 2 — Too Hungry for Words
Read Chapter 2 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Matthew 28:18–20; Romans 10:14–15.
1.Platt opens this chapter with a description of the "lostness" of the world — enormous populations living and dying without any access to the gospel. Before reading this chapter, how often did you think about the roughly two billion people who are considered "unreached"? What, if anything, kept that reality at a distance for you?
Week 4: Chapter 3 — The Magnitude of the Task
Read Chapter 3 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Revelation 7:9–10; Matthew 24:14.
1.Platt opens with the vision of Revelation 7:9 — a countless multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language worshiping before the throne. How does reading the Great Commission in light of that final vision change its feel? Does seeing the destination make the journey feel more urgent, more worthwhile, or both?
Week 5: Chapter 4 — The Great Why of God
Read Chapter 4 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Ezekiel 20; Isaiah 43:6–7; John 17:1–5.
1.Platt argues in this chapter that God's ultimate motivation in all of history — including salvation and mission — is His own glory. This is sometimes called "God-centeredness" or "doxological" theology. Before engaging the argument, what is your initial gut reaction to the idea that God does everything primarily for His own glory? Does it feel right, strange, or even off-putting?
Week 6: Chapter 5 — The Multiplying Community
Read Chapter 5 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Acts 2:42–47; 2 Timothy 2:2.
1.Platt opens this chapter by describing the early church in Acts 2 — a community marked by teaching, fellowship, breaking of bread, and prayer, where everything was shared and people were added daily. How does that picture compare to your experience of local church community? What is missing, and what might account for the gap?
Week 7: Chapter 6 — How Much Is Enough?
Read Chapter 6 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Luke 12:13–34; 1 Timothy 6:6–10, 17–19; Matthew 6:19–24.
1.Platt opens with the observation that Jesus talked about money more than almost any other subject — and that American Christians are among the wealthiest people in the history of the world. Given both of those facts, why do you think money remains one of the most avoided topics in most churches?
Week 8: Chapter 7 — There Is No Plan B
Read Chapter 7 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Acts 1:8; John 20:21; Romans 10:13–15.
1.Platt's title for this chapter is bold: "There Is No Plan B." What does he mean by that? How does the weight of that claim — that God has chosen to work exclusively through His people to reach the nations — land on you?
Week 9: Chapter 8 — Living When Dying Is Gain
Read Chapter 8 of Radical by David Platt. Key passages: Philippians 1:21; Matthew 10:28–31; John 12:24–25.
1.Platt uses Paul's statement in Philippians 1:21 — "For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain" — as the hinge of this chapter. In your honest experience, do you believe death is "gain"? What would have to be true about your faith for you to genuinely believe that?
Week 10: Review & Reflection — The Radical Experiment
Re-read the Conclusion and the description of The Radical Experiment from Radical by David Platt. Review your notes and journal entries from the previous nine weeks.
1.Looking back across the entire book, which chapter or idea hit you hardest? What made it land with such force — was it something new you learned, something you already knew but had been avoiding, or something that confirmed a growing conviction?
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The complete guide includes 79 discussion questions across 10 weeks — an average of 8 questions per week, designed for group conversation.
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