What makes a good church icebreaker question?

One that anyone in the room can answer in a sentence without feeling exposed, that tells the group something true about the person, and that doesn’t have a right answer. On a first night keep it light — food, memories, a favorite — and save questions about faith and hard seasons for a group that has been meeting a few weeks. Every question here is marked light, medium or deep for that reason.

How many icebreaker questions are here, and who wrote them?

405 at the moment: 163 light, 152 medium and 90 deep. We wrote them for this page — no lists copied from elsewhere — and 44 of them are about books and reading, which is the natural place to start a book study.

How do I use one in a meeting?

Ask it as people are settling in, go around the circle, and let anyone pass. One question is enough for most nights. For a first meeting, two light ones work well: one funny, one about why they came. Press “Give me 5” for a handful that fit your filters, or copy a single question with the button beside it.

What are the printable cards, and do they cost anything?

Nothing. The 100 cards are dealt from whatever filters you have set, laid out eight to a page with cut lines, and emailed to you as a PDF and as a web page you can print. We ask for your email only to send them; that one email also mentions our study guides once, with whatever first-year code is live, and nothing else follows.

Are these suitable for a youth group, a men’s or women’s group, or a recovery group?

Yes — pick the kind of group in the filter. Each question is tagged for the groups it sits well in: questions about marriage, work or retirement stay out of the youth set, for example, and the recovery set leans on gratitude, hope and honesty without putting anyone on the spot. Small group, Women’s group, Men’s group, Youth group, Couples, Senior adults, Sunday school class, Recovery group, Mixed ages / all-church are all covered.

Do you have seasonal icebreakers?

Yes: Fall kickoff, Advent & Christmas, New Year, Lent, Easter, Summer, Thanksgiving. The seasonal sets are small on purpose — a dozen or so each — so if you set a season and the list runs short, the printable deck tops up with year-round questions of the same kind.

Free for small-group leaders

Church Icebreaker Questions for Small Groups

405 questions we wrote for the first fifteen minutes of a meeting — sorted light, medium and deep, by the kind of group you lead and by season, with 44 that pair naturally with the first night of a book study. Copy one, shuffle for five, or print 100 of them as cards for the table.

Find the right questions

405 questions

How deep?

Light for a first night, medium once people know each other, deep for a group that has been meeting a while.

Kind of group

Season

About

Search the questions

All the questions

405 questions

1.
What’s the last book you finished, and would you hand it to a friend?
LightBooks & reading
2.
Do you write in your books, or is that unthinkable?
LightBooks & reading
3.
Where do you do most of your reading — a chair, the bed, the porch, the car line?
LightBooks & reading
4.
Paper, e-reader or audiobook: what’s your honest preference, and why?
LightBooks & reading
5.
What’s a book you loved as a child and still think about?
LightBooks & reading
6.
Do you finish every book you start, or do you give yourself permission to quit?
LightBooks & reading
7.
What’s on your nightstand right now?
LightBooks & reading
8.
Who is the biggest reader in your family, and what do they read?
LightBooks & reading
9.
Have you ever stayed up far too late because you couldn’t put a book down? Which one?
LightBooks & reading
10.
What’s a book you own but have never actually read?
LightBooks & reading
11.
Do you read one book at a time or several at once?
LightBooks & reading
12.
What kind of book do you reach for on vacation?
LightBooks & reading
13.
Is there a book you’ve read more than twice?
LightBooks & reading
14.
Bookstore or library — where would you rather spend a rainy Saturday?
LightBooks & reading
15.
What’s the best book someone has ever given you as a gift?
LightBooks & reading
16.
When you pick up a new book, do you read the back cover first, the first page, or (be honest) the last page?
LightBooks & reading
17.
What’s a book that changed how you think about something?
MediumBooks & reading
18.
What’s a book you’d want every new Christian to read in their first year?
MediumBooks & reading
19.
Is there a book that came into your life at exactly the right moment?
MediumBooks & reading
20.
What do you hope to get out of studying a book together rather than reading it alone?
MediumBooks & reading
21.
What’s a book that helped you through a hard season?
MediumBooks & reading
22.
Have you ever strongly disagreed with a book everyone else seemed to love?
MediumBooks & reading
23.
What’s a book you’d hand to someone who is curious about faith but not sure yet?
MediumBooks & reading
24.
If you could sit down for coffee with the author of one book, who would it be and what would you ask?
MediumBooks & reading
25.
What was the first book that made you cry, or at least come close?
MediumBooks & reading
26.
What’s a book you were assigned in school that you actually came to love?
MediumBooks & reading
27.
What makes you trust an author?
MediumBooks & reading
28.
Have you ever finished a book and immediately started it again?
MediumBooks & reading
29.
What’s the best book you’ve read this year so far?
MediumBooks & reading
30.
When a book challenges you, are you more likely to push through or set it down for a while?
MediumBooks & reading
31.
What’s a book you’re a little embarrassed to admit you loved?
MediumBooks & reading
32.
Who taught you to love reading, or did you come to it on your own?
MediumBooks & reading
33.
What’s a book you’d want to reread when you’re eighty?
MediumBooks & reading
34.
Is there a book you’ve recommended so often your friends are tired of hearing about it?
MediumBooks & reading
35.
What’s a book that felt like it was written just for you, and why?
DeepBooks & reading
36.
Which book, apart from the Bible, has shaped your faith the most?
DeepBooks & reading
37.
Has a book ever changed a decision you made?
DeepBooks & reading
38.
What’s a book that made you kinder?
DeepBooks & reading
39.
What kind of book do you avoid, and what might that avoidance say about you?
DeepBooks & reading
40.
If your life so far were a book, what would this chapter be called?
DeepBooks & reading
41.
Is there a book you read at just the right age that would have meant something different at another age?
DeepBooks & reading
42.
Have you ever finished a book and felt like you knew God a little better?
DeepBooks & reading
43.
What do you hope is true about you by the time we finish this book together?
DeepBooks & reading
44.
What’s a book you wish you had read years earlier than you did?
DeepBooks & reading
45.
What’s your go-to comfort food after a long week?
LightJust for fun
46.
If you could have any animal as a perfectly behaved pet, what would you pick?
LightJust for fun
47.
What’s the best thing you’ve eaten this month?
LightJust for fun
48.
Morning person or night owl — and has that changed over the years?
LightJust for fun
49.
What’s a small thing that instantly improves your day?
LightJust for fun
50.
If you had to eat one meal every day for a year, what would it be?
LightJust for fun
51.
What’s the most useless talent you have?
LightJust for fun
52.
What’s a chore you secretly enjoy?
LightJust for fun
53.
What’s a smell that takes you straight back to childhood?
LightJust for fun
54.
Sweet or salty when you’re snacking?
LightJust for fun
55.
What’s the best road trip you’ve ever taken?
LightJust for fun
56.
If our group had a team mascot, what should it be?
LightJust for fun
57.
What’s a song you know every word to, whether or not you’d admit it?
LightJust for fun
58.
What’s a movie you can watch over and over?
LightJust for fun
59.
If you could instantly be great at one instrument, which would you choose?
LightJust for fun
60.
What’s the best gift you’ve ever given someone?
LightJust for fun
61.
Coffee, tea, or something else entirely?
LightJust for fun
62.
What’s a food you refused to eat as a kid but love now?
LightJust for fun
63.
Would you rather cook the meal or clean up afterward?
LightJust for fun
64.
What’s the farthest from home you’ve ever been?
LightJust for fun
65.
What’s a game your family always plays when everyone is together?
LightJust for fun
66.
What’s the last thing that made you laugh out loud?
LightJust for fun
67.
If you could add one hour to every day, what would you do with it?
LightJust for fun
68.
Beach, mountains or a big city — where would you go for a free week?
LightJust for fun
69.
What’s something you’re surprisingly particular about?
LightJust for fun
70.
What’s a hobby you’d try if time and money didn’t matter?
LightJust for fun
71.
What’s the best piece of clothing you own?
LightJust for fun
72.
Do you have a favorite word, or a word you can’t stand?
LightJust for fun
73.
What was your first car, and do you miss it?
LightJust for fun
74.
If you could bring back one discontinued snack, what would it be?
LightJust for fun
75.
Window seat or aisle seat?
LightJust for fun
76.
What’s a small purchase, under twenty dollars, that made your life better?
LightJust for fun
77.
What’s the most beautiful place you’ve ever stood?
LightJust for fun
78.
What’s your unpopular opinion about pizza toppings?
LightJust for fun
79.
After people and pets, what’s the one thing you’d grab from your house in a fire?
LightJust for fun
80.
What did you want to be when you were ten?
LightJust for fun
81.
What’s your favorite thing about the town or neighborhood you live in?
LightJust for fun
82.
If you won a shopping spree at one store, which store would it be?
LightJust for fun
83.
Do you have a lucky number, a favorite color or a date that means something to you?
LightJust for fun
84.
What’s the best thing about the season we’re in right now?
LightJust for fun
85.
What’s a skill you have that would surprise the rest of us?
LightJust for fun
86.
Would you rather be able to fly or be able to breathe underwater?
LightJust for fun
87.
What’s the best meal you’ve ever had at someone else’s table?
LightJust for fun
88.
What’s a TV show you were sad to see end?
LightJust for fun
89.
What’s a family tradition you grew up with that you still keep?
LightMemories
90.
What was your favorite meal your mother or grandmother made?
LightMemories
91.
What did your childhood home smell like?
LightMemories
92.
What’s the first concert, ballgame or big event you remember going to?
LightMemories
93.
What was your first job, and what did it teach you?
LightMemories
94.
What was your favorite subject in school?
LightMemories
95.
Who was your best friend growing up, and are you still in touch?
LightMemories
96.
What was the best birthday you ever had?
LightMemories
97.
What was the first thing you saved up your own money to buy?
LightMemories
98.
What did summer look like when you were a kid?
LightMemories
99.
What’s a piece of technology you remember arriving in your home for the first time?
LightMemories
100.
What was your favorite family vacation growing up?
LightMemories
101.
Who was the first person who believed in you?
MediumMemories
102.
What’s a piece of advice from a parent or grandparent that stuck?
MediumMemories
103.
What’s a decision you made young that turned out better than you expected?
MediumMemories
104.
What’s a hard time you look back on now with gratitude?
MediumMemories
105.
What’s a story about your parents or grandparents that you want the next generation to know?
MediumMemories
106.
What did church look like when you were growing up, if you went at all?
MediumMemories
107.
What’s a moment you knew you were becoming an adult?
MediumMemories
108.
Is there a teacher or coach whose words you can still hear?
MediumMemories
109.
What’s something you were sure about at twenty that you see differently now?
MediumMemories
110.
Where were you when something big happened in the world, and what do you remember about that day?
MediumMemories
111.
What’s a place from your past you’d love to visit again just as it was?
MediumMemories
112.
What’s a friendship that has lasted longer than you ever expected?
MediumMemories
113.
Where do you fall in your family — oldest, youngest, middle, only — and does it show?
LightFamily
114.
What’s a phrase your family says that outsiders wouldn’t understand?
LightFamily
115.
Who in your family tells the best stories?
LightFamily
116.
What’s the best thing about the stage of family life you’re in right now?
LightFamily
117.
What’s a meal that means “home” to you?
LightFamily
118.
Do you have a family recipe you refuse to share?
LightFamily
119.
Which family member do you look most like, and which do you act most like?
LightFamily
120.
What’s a habit you picked up from a parent that you notice in yourself now?
MediumFamily
121.
What’s something you hope your children or grandchildren remember about you?
MediumFamily
122.
Who in your family has taught you the most about faith?
MediumFamily
123.
What’s a family situation you’d appreciate this group praying for?
MediumFamily
124.
What’s one thing you’d love your family to do more of together?
MediumFamily
125.
What did Sunday look like in the home you grew up in?
MediumFamily
126.
Which family member would you like to know better?
MediumFamily
127.
How did your family shape what you believe about God, for better or worse?
DeepFamily
128.
What’s a hard conversation you’re grateful you had with a family member?
DeepFamily
129.
Who in your family do you find hardest to love well, and what helps?
DeepFamily
130.
Is there something you’ve forgiven a family member for that took a long time?
DeepFamily
131.
What’s the first thing you noticed about your spouse?
LightFamily
132.
What’s a small habit of your spouse’s that you’ve grown to love?
LightFamily
133.
What’s something you’ve learned about God from being married?
DeepFamily
134.
What’s a place the two of you keep going back to?
LightFamily
135.
What’s a way your spouse has encouraged you this month?
MediumFamily
136.
What did you learn about marriage from watching your parents or grandparents?
MediumFamily
137.
What’s the best job you ever had, and what made it good?
LightWork & calling
138.
What’s the worst job you ever had, and what did you learn there?
LightWork & calling
139.
What do you actually do all day at work? Explain it as you would to a ten-year-old.
LightWork & calling
140.
If you could trade jobs with anyone in this room for a week, whose would you take?
LightWork & calling
141.
What’s the best thing about your commute — or about not having one?
LightWork & calling
142.
Who has been the best boss or mentor you’ve worked for, and why?
MediumWork & calling
143.
What’s a part of your work that feels like it matters?
MediumWork & calling
144.
How do you shake off a hard day before you walk in the door at home?
MediumWork & calling
145.
What’s something you’re good at that your job (or your schoolwork) doesn’t use?
MediumWork & calling
146.
What did you learn from a job you were terrible at?
MediumWork & calling
147.
What does a good day at work look like for you?
MediumWork & calling
148.
Where do you see God in your work, if you can?
DeepWork & calling
149.
What’s the hardest thing about being a Christian where you work?
DeepWork & calling
150.
Have you ever felt called to your work, or has it mostly been a job? Either answer is fine.
DeepWork & calling
151.
If money were no object, how would you spend your weekdays?
DeepWork & calling
152.
Retirement, whether behind you or ahead of you — what do you hope it holds?
DeepWork & calling
153.
What does a perfect Saturday look like for you?
LightRest
154.
Where’s your favorite spot to sit and do nothing?
LightRest
155.
What’s the last thing that truly relaxed you?
LightRest
156.
Nap or no nap? Defend your answer.
LightRest
157.
What’s a hobby that quiets your mind?
LightRest
158.
When was the last time you had a whole day with nothing scheduled?
MediumRest
159.
What keeps you from resting when you finally have the chance?
MediumRest
160.
What’s one thing you’d cut from your week if you could?
MediumRest
161.
How do you tell the difference between real rest and just zoning out?
MediumRest
162.
What’s your favorite way to spend a Sunday afternoon?
MediumRest
163.
Who in your life is good at rest, and what do they do differently?
MediumRest
164.
If you took a real day off this week, what would you be afraid of missing?
MediumRest
165.
What would it look like to actually keep a Sabbath in your life right now?
DeepRest
166.
What’s the busiest season you’ve lived through, and what did it cost you?
DeepRest
167.
Do you find it hard to believe God is pleased with you when you’re not producing anything?
DeepRest
168.
What are you tired of that you haven’t said out loud?
DeepRest
169.
How did you first hear about this group, or this church?
LightCommunity & friendship
170.
What’s your favorite thing about the people in this room so far?
LightCommunity & friendship
171.
Who has been a good neighbor to you, and what did they do?
LightCommunity & friendship
172.
What’s the best small group or class you’ve been part of, and what made it work?
LightCommunity & friendship
173.
What’s a way someone showed up for you that you didn’t expect?
LightCommunity & friendship
174.
If our group had a motto, what should it be?
LightCommunity & friendship
175.
What’s the best potluck dish anyone in your church makes?
LightCommunity & friendship
176.
What are you hoping for from this group over the coming weeks?
MediumCommunity & friendship
177.
What makes it easy for you to open up in a group, and what makes it hard?
MediumCommunity & friendship
178.
Who was the last person to encourage you, and what did they say?
MediumCommunity & friendship
179.
What’s one thing you’d want a brand-new person at our church to know?
MediumCommunity & friendship
180.
What’s a way this group could serve someone in our town this season?
MediumCommunity & friendship
181.
Have you ever been welcomed somewhere so well that you never forgot it?
MediumCommunity & friendship
182.
What’s a friendship that started somewhere unexpected?
MediumCommunity & friendship
183.
When have you felt most like part of a church family?
MediumCommunity & friendship
184.
What’s the loneliest season you’ve lived through, and who helped?
DeepCommunity & friendship
185.
Is there someone in your life you need to reconcile with, and what’s holding you back?
DeepCommunity & friendship
186.
Who knows the real you, and how did they earn that?
DeepCommunity & friendship
187.
What’s something you need from this group that you find hard to ask for?
DeepCommunity & friendship
188.
When has the church hurt you, and what helped you stay or come back?
DeepCommunity & friendship
189.
Who is someone you’re quietly looking after or discipling, and how is it going?
DeepCommunity & friendship
190.
What’s a way you’d like to be a better friend this year?
DeepCommunity & friendship
191.
What’s one good thing that happened to you this week?
LightGratitude
192.
What’s something small you’re thankful for today?
LightGratitude
193.
Who’s someone you’re grateful for that you haven’t thanked lately?
LightGratitude
194.
What’s a piece of everyday technology you’re honestly thankful for?
LightGratitude
195.
What’s the best thing about the house or apartment you live in?
LightGratitude
196.
What’s a food you’re grateful exists?
LightGratitude
197.
What’s a prayer God answered this year that you don’t want to forget?
MediumGratitude
198.
What’s a hardship that turned into something you’re now grateful for?
MediumGratitude
199.
Who has been a gift to you this year?
MediumGratitude
200.
What’s an ordinary part of your life that a lot of people would consider a blessing?
MediumGratitude
201.
What’s something you’ve complained about lately that you’re actually thankful for?
MediumGratitude
202.
Whose kindness are you living off of these days?
MediumGratitude
203.
What are you thankful for that you never would have asked for?
DeepGratitude
204.
Is there a season of loss you now see God’s care in?
DeepGratitude
205.
What’s one practical way you’d like to be more grateful this month?
DeepGratitude
206.
What’s the best Thanksgiving dish, and who in your family makes it right?
LightJust for fun· Thanksgiving
207.
What’s a Thanksgiving memory that still makes you smile?
LightMemories· Thanksgiving
208.
Turkey, ham or something else — what actually belongs at the center of the table?
LightJust for fun· Thanksgiving
209.
Who is someone at your Thanksgiving table this year that you’re especially glad is there?
MediumGratitude· Thanksgiving
210.
If you wrote a thank-you note to God for this year, what would the first line be?
MediumGratitude· Thanksgiving
211.
What’s a Thanksgiving tradition, big or small, that you’d never give up?
MediumFamily· Thanksgiving
212.
What’s something hard from this year that you can still give thanks in, even if not for?
DeepGratitude· Thanksgiving
213.
Who is missing from the table this year, and what are you thankful for about them?
DeepGratitude· Thanksgiving
214.
Does your family watch a parade, a ballgame or neither on Thanksgiving Day?
LightJust for fun· Thanksgiving
215.
Leftovers: are you a cold-sandwich-standing-at-the-counter person, or does it all get reheated properly?
LightJust for fun· Thanksgiving
216.
Who does the cooking at your Thanksgiving, and who ends up doing the dishes?
LightFamily· Thanksgiving
217.
What’s a small kindness someone showed you this year that you’re still thankful for?
MediumGratitude· Thanksgiving
218.
If your family went around the table naming one thing they’re grateful for, what would yours be this year?
MediumGratitude· Thanksgiving
219.
Have you ever spent Thanksgiving somewhere unusual — away from home, at work, with people you barely knew?
MediumMemories· Thanksgiving
220.
Thanksgiving can be a tender day as well as a happy one. Which is it for you this year?
DeepGratitude· Thanksgiving
221.
How would you describe your relationship with God in one honest sentence today?
MediumFaith story
222.
Who first told you about Jesus?
MediumFaith story
223.
What was your picture of God as a child, and how has it changed?
MediumFaith story
224.
What’s a hymn or worship song that means a lot to you, and why?
MediumFaith story
225.
Was there a moment your faith became your own and not just your family’s?
MediumFaith story
226.
What’s a question about God you’d love to ask Him face to face?
MediumFaith story
227.
What’s a sermon or talk you still remember years later?
MediumFaith story
228.
What does your prayer life actually look like — not what it should look like?
MediumFaith story
229.
What’s a Christian practice you’ve tried that didn’t fit, and one that did?
MediumFaith story
230.
What’s something about church that took you a while to get used to?
MediumFaith story
231.
What’s a small way you’ve seen God’s kindness lately?
MediumFaith story
232.
Who is someone whose faith you admire, and what do you see in them?
MediumFaith story
233.
When has God felt closest to you?
DeepFaith story
234.
When has God felt far away, and what did you do?
DeepFaith story
235.
What’s a doubt you carry, and how do you live with it?
DeepFaith story
236.
What’s something you used to believe about God that you had to unlearn?
DeepFaith story
237.
What’s a way God has changed you that other people have noticed?
DeepFaith story
238.
What would you say to your younger self about faith?
DeepFaith story
239.
What’s a prayer you’ve prayed for years?
DeepFaith story
240.
Where do you sense God asking you to trust Him right now?
DeepFaith story
241.
What’s a place or a moment where you’ve felt most alive in your faith?
DeepFaith story
242.
What’s a hard truth about following Jesus that you’ve made peace with?
DeepFaith story
243.
What do you hope God does in you through this group?
DeepFaith story
244.
What’s a time you obeyed God when it cost you something?
DeepFaith story
245.
Have you ever felt God’s forgiveness in a way you could almost touch?
DeepFaith story
246.
What’s your honest answer to “How is it with your soul?”
DeepFaith story
247.
What’s a Bible verse you learned as a child that you still remember?
LightScripture
248.
Do you have a favorite Bible translation, and how did you land on it?
LightScripture
249.
Do you read the Bible on paper or on a screen, and does it make a difference to you?
LightScripture
250.
What’s a Bible story you’d want to see made into a movie?
LightScripture
251.
Which Bible character do you think you’d get along with best?
LightScripture
252.
What’s a Bible verse that has carried you through something?
MediumScripture
253.
What’s a passage of Scripture you find hard to understand or accept?
MediumScripture
254.
Which Bible character do you relate to most right now, and why?
MediumScripture
255.
What’s a Bible story that felt different when you read it as an adult?
MediumScripture
256.
Old Testament or New — where do you spend more time, and why?
MediumScripture
257.
What’s a Psalm you go back to?
MediumScripture
258.
Who taught you how to read the Bible?
MediumScripture
259.
What’s a verse you’d want on your wall right now?
MediumScripture
260.
What’s a passage you’d love this group to study together someday?
MediumScripture
261.
What’s a parable of Jesus that you’ve never quite figured out?
MediumScripture
262.
What’s a verse that once made you angry that you now love?
DeepScripture
263.
What’s a promise in Scripture you’re holding onto this season?
DeepScripture
264.
Has a passage of Scripture ever changed a decision you made?
DeepScripture
265.
What’s a command of Jesus that you find hardest to obey?
DeepScripture
266.
If you could ask one Bible character a single question, who and what?
DeepScripture
267.
What passage would you want read at your funeral, and why?
DeepScripture
268.
When has Scripture felt like it was speaking directly to you?
DeepScripture
269.
Do you pray more in the morning, at night, or in the car?
LightPrayer
270.
Who taught you to pray?
LightPrayer
271.
Do you have a prayer you say before meals, and where did it come from?
LightPrayer
272.
Where do you find it easiest to pray?
LightPrayer
273.
What’s a prayer you’d like this group to pray with you tonight?
MediumPrayer
274.
Do you write your prayers down, say them out loud or keep them quiet — and why?
MediumPrayer
275.
What’s a prayer God answered differently than you asked?
MediumPrayer
276.
Who is one person you’ve been praying for lately?
MediumPrayer
277.
What helps you when prayer feels dry?
MediumPrayer
278.
Have you ever had someone pray for you in a way that stuck with you?
MediumPrayer
279.
What’s the hardest prayer you’ve ever prayed?
DeepPrayer
280.
What’s a prayer you’ve stopped praying, and why?
DeepPrayer
281.
What’s something you’re afraid to pray about?
DeepPrayer
282.
When has praying changed you more than it changed the situation?
DeepPrayer
283.
What’s a prayer you’ve been praying for someone else for a long time?
DeepPrayer
284.
Who prays for you, and how do you know?
DeepPrayer
285.
What’s a skill you’ve picked up in the last year?
LightGrowth & habits
286.
What’s something you’re better at now than you were five years ago?
LightGrowth & habits
287.
What’s a habit you’re trying to build right now?
LightGrowth & habits
288.
What’s a good habit you’ve kept for years, and how?
LightGrowth & habits
289.
What’s a piece of feedback that stung but helped?
MediumGrowth & habits
290.
Where do you feel God stretching you at the moment?
MediumGrowth & habits
291.
What’s something you’re learning about yourself lately?
MediumGrowth & habits
292.
What’s a fear you’ve faced down in the last few years?
MediumGrowth & habits
293.
Who in your life pushes you to grow, and how do they do it?
MediumGrowth & habits
294.
What’s a rhythm — daily, weekly or yearly — that keeps you steady?
MediumGrowth & habits
295.
What’s a mistake you’re glad you made?
MediumGrowth & habits
296.
What’s a conversation that changed your direction?
MediumGrowth & habits
297.
What’s a sin you’re tired of, and what would help?
DeepGrowth & habits
298.
How would you like to be different by this time next year?
DeepGrowth & habits
299.
What’s the last thing God asked you to give up?
DeepGrowth & habits
300.
Where are you tempted to settle instead of grow?
DeepGrowth & habits
301.
What’s a hard season that grew you — and would you go through it again?
DeepGrowth & habits
302.
Who has been patient with your growth, and how has that shaped the way you’re patient with others?
DeepGrowth & habits
303.
What’s something you know God has forgiven that you still hold against yourself?
DeepGrowth & habits
304.
What’s a way you’ve grown that you’d like to thank God for out loud?
DeepGrowth & habits
305.
What’s something you’re looking forward to in the next month?
LightHope & the future
306.
What gives you hope when the news is bad?
MediumHope & the future
307.
Who is the most hopeful person you know, and what’s their secret?
MediumHope & the future
308.
What’s a dream you haven’t given up on?
MediumHope & the future
309.
What’s something you’re quietly hoping God will do this year?
MediumHope & the future
310.
When have you been surprised by hope?
DeepHope & the future
311.
What’s something you’re praying will change — and what will you do if it doesn’t?
DeepHope & the future
312.
What do you most look forward to about heaven, honestly?
DeepHope & the future
313.
What’s your favorite thing about fall — the food, the weather, football, sweaters, something else?
LightJust for fun· Fall kickoff
314.
Pumpkin spice: yes, no, or only in pie?
LightJust for fun· Fall kickoff
315.
What’s a back-to-school memory that still makes you smile or wince?
LightMemories· Fall kickoff
316.
Do you feel a fresh start when September comes around, or is that just the calendar talking?
LightGrowth & habits· Fall kickoff
317.
Now that summer is over, what are you glad to get back to?
LightRest· Fall kickoff
318.
What’s a fall tradition — apple picking, a football game, a hayride — you look forward to?
LightFamily· Fall kickoff
319.
Which fall food could you eat all season long?
LightJust for fun· Fall kickoff
320.
What are you hoping this fall holds for you?
MediumHope & the future· Fall kickoff
321.
What’s one thing you want to be true of your life by Christmas?
MediumGrowth & habits· Fall kickoff
322.
As the days get shorter, what helps you keep your spirits up?
MediumRest· Fall kickoff
323.
What’s something you’re picking back up this fall that you set down over the summer?
MediumGrowth & habits· Fall kickoff
324.
What’s a harvest you’re seeing in your life right now — something planted a while ago that’s finally bearing fruit?
DeepGrowth & habits· Fall kickoff
325.
What’s the first thing you cook or bake once the weather finally turns?
LightJust for fun· Fall kickoff
326.
Are you sorry to see summer go, or were you ready weeks ago?
LightRest· Fall kickoff
327.
Fall fills up fast. What are you going to say no to this year?
MediumRest· Fall kickoff
328.
Who would you like to invite to something this fall — a meal, a game, this group?
MediumCommunity & friendship· Fall kickoff
329.
What’s your favorite Christmas tradition, and where did it come from?
LightFamily· Advent & Christmas
330.
Real tree or artificial — and how strongly do you feel about it?
LightJust for fun· Advent & Christmas
331.
What’s the best Christmas gift you ever received as a child?
LightMemories· Advent & Christmas
332.
What Christmas song do you never get tired of, and which one could you happily retire?
LightJust for fun· Advent & Christmas
333.
What smell, sound or sight tells you Christmas has really arrived?
LightMemories· Advent & Christmas
334.
Christmas Eve or Christmas morning — which do you love more, and why?
LightFamily· Advent & Christmas
335.
What’s a Christmas that stands out in your memory, for good or hard reasons?
MediumMemories· Advent & Christmas
336.
What’s the hardest part of December for you?
MediumRest· Advent & Christmas
337.
What are you waiting for this Advent?
MediumHope & the future· Advent & Christmas
338.
Who in the Christmas story do you find yourself relating to this year — Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the innkeeper, someone else?
MediumScripture· Advent & Christmas
339.
What’s one way you’d like Christmas to feel different this year?
MediumHope & the future· Advent & Christmas
340.
Who is someone who might be lonely this Christmas that you could reach out to?
MediumCommunity & friendship· Advent & Christmas
341.
What’s the most meaningful Christmas Eve service you remember?
MediumFaith story· Advent & Christmas
342.
What does “God with us” mean to you right now, in this season of your life?
DeepFaith story· Advent & Christmas
343.
When has waiting on God turned out to be a gift?
DeepHope & the future· Advent & Christmas
344.
What’s one word you’d like to describe the coming year?
LightHope & the future· New Year
345.
What was the best thing about last year?
LightGratitude· New Year
346.
Do you make resolutions? Do you keep them?
LightGrowth & habits· New Year
347.
What’s something you’re looking forward to in the next twelve months?
LightHope & the future· New Year
348.
What’s something you’d like to leave behind in the year that just ended?
MediumGrowth & habits· New Year
349.
What’s one habit you’d like to start this year, and one you’d like to stop?
MediumGrowth & habits· New Year
350.
What’s a prayer you’re carrying into the new year?
MediumPrayer· New Year
351.
If this year were a chapter in your story, what do you hope the title would be?
MediumHope & the future· New Year
352.
Who do you want to be more present for this year?
MediumCommunity & friendship· New Year
353.
Looking back over last year, where can you see God’s hand now that you couldn’t at the time?
DeepFaith story· New Year
354.
How do you usually spend New Year’s Eve — up until midnight, or asleep by ten?
LightJust for fun· New Year
355.
What’s something you’d like to learn this year, purely because you’re curious?
LightGrowth & habits· New Year
356.
Is there someone you lost touch with last year that you’d like to call?
MediumCommunity & friendship· New Year
357.
What would make this a good year, in your own words rather than anyone else’s?
MediumHope & the future· New Year
358.
Looking at the year ahead, what are you quietly nervous about?
MediumHope & the future· New Year
359.
What are you carrying into this year that you’d be better off setting down?
DeepGrowth & habits· New Year
360.
Did you grow up observing Lent, and what did that look like?
LightMemories· Lent
361.
Have you ever given something up for Lent — and did you make it to Easter?
LightJust for fun· Lent
362.
Rather than giving something up, is there something you’d like to take up this Lent?
MediumGrowth & habits· Lent
363.
What’s a habit or comfort that has quietly become too important to you?
MediumGrowth & habits· Lent
364.
What’s something you’re fasting from, or would like to, and what do you hope to find in its place?
MediumGrowth & habits· Lent
365.
Where in your life do you need to slow down and pay attention this season?
MediumRest· Lent
366.
What does repentance actually look like in your everyday life?
DeepGrowth & habits· Lent
367.
What part of the story of Jesus’ road to the cross do you find hardest to sit with?
DeepScripture· Lent
368.
Who is someone you need to forgive before Easter?
DeepCommunity & friendship· Lent
369.
What’s a wilderness season you’ve been through, and what did God teach you there?
DeepFaith story· Lent
370.
Did your church mark Ash Wednesday when you were growing up, and do you now?
LightMemories· Lent
371.
What’s one thing you could do for someone else over these forty days?
MediumCommunity & friendship· Lent
372.
By Easter morning, what would you like to have changed in you?
MediumGrowth & habits· Lent
373.
Lent has three old practices — praying, fasting and giving. Which one comes least naturally to you?
MediumGrowth & habits· Lent
374.
Where do you find yourself hurrying past God lately?
DeepPrayer· Lent
375.
What’s your favorite Easter tradition — a meal, a hymn, an egg hunt, a sunrise service?
LightFamily· Easter
376.
What did Easter Sunday look like when you were a kid?
LightMemories· Easter
377.
What’s an Easter hymn or song you love?
LightFaith story· Easter
378.
What part of the Easter story surprises you every time?
MediumScripture· Easter
379.
Which person in the resurrection accounts do you relate to most this year — Mary Magdalene, Peter, Thomas, the two on the road to Emmaus?
MediumScripture· Easter
380.
What does hope look like for you at the moment, practically?
MediumHope & the future· Easter
381.
Who would you love to invite to church this Easter, and what holds you back?
MediumCommunity & friendship· Easter
382.
What’s something in your life right now that needs resurrection?
DeepHope & the future· Easter
383.
Where have you seen new life come out of something that looked dead?
DeepHope & the future· Easter
384.
What’s a doubt, like Thomas’s, that Jesus met you in?
DeepFaith story· Easter
385.
Sunrise service, big breakfast, ham dinner or a quiet morning — what does your Easter usually look like?
LightFamily· Easter
386.
What’s the best thing that lands on an Easter dinner table?
LightJust for fun· Easter
387.
What’s the first Easter you remember understanding rather than just enjoying?
MediumMemories· Easter
388.
If you had been at the tomb that morning, what do you think you would have done?
MediumScripture· Easter
389.
What does the resurrection change about the ordinary week you’re actually living?
DeepHope & the future· Easter
390.
What’s your favorite summer memory from childhood?
LightMemories· Summer
391.
Lake, pool, ocean or backyard sprinkler?
LightJust for fun· Summer
392.
What’s the best thing you’ve eaten off a grill this summer?
LightJust for fun· Summer
393.
On a hot day, are you a “sit in the shade with a book” person or a “go do something” person?
LightJust for fun· Summer
394.
What’s a summer trip you’ll never forget?
LightMemories· Summer
395.
Did you go to church camp or Vacation Bible School as a kid? What do you remember?
LightMemories· Summer
396.
What does rest look like for you this summer, honestly?
MediumRest· Summer
397.
What’s a slower rhythm from summer you’d like to carry into the fall?
MediumRest· Summer
398.
What’s something you want to make time for before summer ends?
MediumRest· Summer
399.
Where have you noticed God this summer — a place, a person, a moment?
MediumFaith story· Summer
400.
What’s the best thing about a summer evening where you live?
LightJust for fun· Summer
401.
Ice cream, popsicle or sweet tea?
LightJust for fun· Summer
402.
Is there a summer place you keep going back to — a lake, a porch, a park, a cousin’s house?
LightMemories· Summer
403.
What’s a summer week that shaped you more than you expected it to?
MediumMemories· Summer
404.
Summer scatters a group. How would you like us to stay in touch over the next few months?
MediumCommunity & friendship· Summer
405.
When the calendar empties out a little, what do you notice about yourself?
DeepRest· Summer

Want these as cards for the table? Get the 100 printable cards.

Start light, go deeper slowly

Light questions have one-line answers and are safe for strangers. Medium ones ask for a real answer. Deep ones invite honesty — keep those for a group that has been meeting a while.

One question is enough

Ask it as people settle in, go around the circle, and let anyone pass. On a first night, two light ones: one funny, one about why they came.

For a book study, start with books

44 of the questions are about reading — the last book you finished, one that changed you, what you hope for from studying together. Filter by “Books & reading”.

Frequently asked questions

What makes a good church icebreaker question?: One that anyone in the room can answer in a sentence without feeling exposed, that tells the group something true about the person, and that doesn’t have a right answer. On a first night keep it light — food, memories, a favorite — and save questions about faith and hard seasons for a group that has been meeting a few weeks. Every question here is marked light, medium or deep for that reason.
How many icebreaker questions are here, and who wrote them?: 405 at the moment: 163 light, 152 medium and 90 deep. We wrote them for this page — no lists copied from elsewhere — and 44 of them are about books and reading, which is the natural place to start a book study.
How do I use one in a meeting?: Ask it as people are settling in, go around the circle, and let anyone pass. One question is enough for most nights. For a first meeting, two light ones work well: one funny, one about why they came. Press “Give me 5” for a handful that fit your filters, or copy a single question with the button beside it.
What are the printable cards, and do they cost anything?: Nothing. The 100 cards are dealt from whatever filters you have set, laid out eight to a page with cut lines, and emailed to you as a PDF and as a web page you can print. We ask for your email only to send them; that one email also mentions our study guides once, with whatever first-year code is live, and nothing else follows.
Are these suitable for a youth group, a men’s or women’s group, or a recovery group?: Yes — pick the kind of group in the filter. Each question is tagged for the groups it sits well in: questions about marriage, work or retirement stay out of the youth set, for example, and the recovery set leans on gratitude, hope and honesty without putting anyone on the spot. Small group, Women’s group, Men’s group, Youth group, Couples, Senior adults, Sunday school class, Recovery group, Mixed ages / all-church are all covered.
Do you have seasonal icebreakers?: Yes: Fall kickoff, Advent & Christmas, New Year, Lent, Easter, Summer, Thanksgiving. The seasonal sets are small on purpose — a dozen or so each — so if you set a season and the list runs short, the printable deck tops up with year-round questions of the same kind.