14-Week Study & Discussion Guide

The Insanity of God

by Nik Ripken·99 discussion questions

Lead your group with the discussion already prepared: a reading plan, thoughtful questions, and printable handouts for everyone.

Last updated August 16, 2026

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Week 1 — FreeRead the Prologue and Introduction of The Insanity of God. Key passage: Acts 9:15-16 (Paul told he will suffer for Christ's name).

Discussion question your group will work through:

1.Nik opens the book by raising the question of whether faith can survive in places of brutal persecution. Before reading any further, how would you have answered that question from your own experience and assumptions?

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About This Study Guide

At a glance: this is a 14-week study and discussion guide for The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken, with 99 questions organized by reading assignment. Week 1 is free to read, with no card required.

The Insanity of God by Nik Ripken is the true story of a missionary couple's descent into some of the darkest corners of the world — and their unexpected discovery that the suffering church is not dying, but thriving. After devastating personal loss and years of exhausting ministry in war-torn Somalia, Nik Ripken found himself spiritually broken and full of questions: Can faith survive in places where following Jesus can cost you everything? Is God sufficient — not just in theory, but in the places where bullets fly and bodies pile up? The book follows Nik's remarkable journey through more than 70 countries, sitting with persecuted believers whose stories dismantled his doubts and rebuilt his theology from the ground up. The central thesis is both simple and shattering: God is not only present in the worst places on earth — He is most visible there, and the church He builds cannot be stopped by any human power.

This study guide is designed for small groups or individual study over fourteen weeks — one week per section of the book, plus a final week for review and reflection. The suggested rhythm is: read the assigned chapter(s) before your group meets, journal your responses to one or two questions in advance, and then discuss together, pray, and close with the provided prayer. You do not need theological training to benefit from this guide — you need only a willingness to be honest about your own faith and to listen carefully to the voices of believers who have paid a far higher price for the gospel than most of us will ever be asked to pay.

By the end of this study, you will likely find your assumptions about suffering, safety, and the sufficiency of God turned inside out. You may discover that the question is not whether God can be trusted in hard places — but whether you have ever truly trusted Him at all. Expect to be challenged, humbled, and ultimately filled with a hope that is tougher and more durable than anything comfort can produce.

Week 1: Introduction — Daring to Ask the Hard Questions

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Read the Prologue and Introduction of The Insanity of God. Key passage: Acts 9:15-16 (Paul told he will suffer for Christ's name).

Before the stories begin, Nik Ripken invites us to sit with a question most of us have never had the courage to ask honestly: Is God really enough when everything falls apart?

2.The title, *The Insanity of God*, is deliberately provocative. What do you think Nik means by it — and what does it suggest about how the world views the way God works?

3.Nik describes himself and his wife Ruth as ordinary people who simply said yes to an extraordinary calling. How do you think ordinary faith can be the starting point for something that looks, from the outside, like insanity?

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14-Week Schedule

Week 2: Part One — Answering the Call (Somalia and the Seed of Doubt)

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Read Part One of The Insanity of God (the Ripkens' call to and arrival in Somalia). Key passage: Isaiah 6:8; Luke 9:23-24.

1.Nik describes how he and Ruth responded to what they felt was a clear call to serve in one of the most dangerous, least-reached places on earth. What does their willingness to go reveal about how they understood the call of God at that stage in their lives?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 3: Part Two — Loss and Breaking (The Death of Andrew)

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Read Part Two of The Insanity of God (the death of the Ripkens' son, Andrew, and its aftermath). Key passage: Psalm 22:1-2; Romans 8:28.

1.Nik and Ruth lose their son Andrew to an illness that, in almost any other setting, would have been treatable. How does the location of Andrew's death — on the mission field, in obedience to God's call — make the grief more complicated, not less?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 4: Part Three — The Search Begins (Traveling Toward the Persecuted)

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Read Part Three of The Insanity of God (Nik begins his global research journey). Key passage: Matthew 16:18; Hebrews 11:32-38.

1.Nik makes a deliberate choice to *go and listen* rather than simply reading about persecution from a distance. What does this posture of listening — especially across cultural, linguistic, and experiential chasms — require of a person?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 5: Part Four — Voices from the Former Soviet Union

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Read Part Four of The Insanity of God (stories from persecuted believers in the former Soviet Union, including Dmitri). Key passage: Daniel 3:16-18; Acts 5:41.

1.Dmitri was imprisoned for his faith for seventeen years, during which time he sang a hymn of praise to God each morning in his cell. How does this single image confront your assumptions about what sustains a person in prolonged suffering?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 6: Part Five — Voices from China

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Read Part Five of The Insanity of God (stories from the underground church in China). Key passage: John 12:24; Revelation 2:10.

1.Nik discovers that the Chinese house church, which was brutally suppressed for decades, grew to tens of millions of believers during the very years of its persecution. How does this reality reshape the typical Western narrative about what the church needs in order to grow?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 7: Part Six — Voices from the Muslim World

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Read Part Six of The Insanity of God (stories from persecuted believers in Muslim-majority contexts). Key passage: Matthew 10:28; Acts 7:54-60.

1.Many of the Muslim-background believers Nik interviews came to faith through dreams and visions of Jesus — without any missionary contact. How does this challenge or expand your understanding of how God pursues people He wants to save?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 8: Part Seven — What the Persecuted Church Taught Nik About Jesus

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Read Part Seven of The Insanity of God (Nik begins to synthesize what he has learned). Key passage: Philippians 3:10-11; 2 Corinthians 1:8-10.

1.Paul writes in Philippians 3:10 that he wants to know 'the fellowship of sharing in [Christ's] sufferings.' Nik's journey suggests that the persecuted church may understand this phrase in a way that comfortable Christians simply cannot. What do you think 'fellowship with Christ' in suffering actually means — experientially, not just theologically?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 9: Part Eight — The Western Church Looks in the Mirror

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Read Part Eight of The Insanity of God (Nik reflects on what the persecuted church reveals about Western Christianity). Key passage: Revelation 3:14-22; Luke 12:48.

1.Jesus' letter to the church at Laodicea in Revelation 3 is addressed to a congregation that is 'rich, wealthy, and in need of nothing' — and yet Jesus describes them as 'wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.' How does this ancient letter speak to the state of the Western church today?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 10: Part Nine — Can Faith Survive in Hard Places? (The Answer Begins)

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Read Part Nine of The Insanity of God (Nik's findings begin to converge around a clear answer to his central question). Key passage: Romans 8:35-39; John 16:33.

1.Nik's central question — 'Can faith survive in the worst places on earth?' — has now been answered by hundreds of testimonies. In your own words, what answer does the evidence of the persecuted church give to that question?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 11: Part Ten — What the Persecuted Church Wants the Western Church to Know

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Read Part Ten of The Insanity of God (direct messages from persecuted believers to the global church). Key passage: 1 Corinthians 12:26; Hebrews 13:3.

1.1 Corinthians 12:26 says that 'if one part suffers, every part suffers with it.' Hebrews 13:3 urges believers to 'remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners.' How well do you think the Western church currently embodies these commands — and what would it look like to take them more seriously?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 12: Part Eleven — Returning to Somalia (Full Circle)

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Read Part Eleven of The Insanity of God (Nik's eventual return to and continued engagement with Somalia and East Africa). Key passage: Isaiah 55:10-11; 1 Corinthians 15:58.

1.Isaiah 55:10-11 promises that God's Word 'will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.' How does the Ripkens' story in Somalia embody this promise — even when visible fruit was agonizingly slow to appear?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 13: Epilogue — The Insanity of Obedience

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Read the Epilogue and any closing material of The Insanity of God. Key passage: Matthew 28:18-20; Revelation 7:9-10.

1.The title of the epilogue, *The Insanity of Obedience*, carries forward the book's central theme. In what sense is obedience to the Great Commission genuinely 'insane' by the world's standards — and in what sense is it the only truly rational response to the gospel?

+ 6 more questions in the full guide

Week 14: Review & Reflection — What Has Changed?

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No new reading this week. Review your journal entries, underlined passages, and notes from the past thirteen weeks.

1.Looking back across the entire book, which single story, person, or moment was most personally impactful for you — and why do you think that particular image or testimony landed where it did?

+ 7 more questions in the full guide

Book Club Questions More by Nik Ripken Biography & Memoir Faith & Theology Christian Living For Small Groups For Churches For Pastors & Sermon Series Free Question Generator Make a reading schedule for this book

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About the The Insanity of God guide

How many weeks is the The Insanity of God study guide?

This study guide covers The Insanity of God in 14 weeks, with week-by-week discussion questions, reading references, and closing prayers for each session.

How many discussion questions are included?

The complete guide includes 99 discussion questions across 14 weeks — an average of 7 questions per week, designed for group conversation.

Can I use this guide for a book club?

Yes — the questions are written for group discussion and work well for small groups, book clubs, church studies, and couples reading together.

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