{"id":878,"date":"2015-12-11T01:48:17","date_gmt":"2015-12-11T07:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=878"},"modified":"2015-12-11T01:48:17","modified_gmt":"2015-12-11T07:48:17","slug":"12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

We have all been there–those large, social gatherings where we\u2019re supposed to nibble on finger food, balance a glass of cheer, and chat with people we barely know. Aside from being awkward, the talk can be surface and unfulfilling.
\nStagnant Lives Feed on Stale Conversation <\/strong>
\nFor many, our lives have grown stagnant. We do the forced march of our daily routine, throw on our evening holiday attire that we wear every year at this time, and attend another one of those<\/em> events that we\u2019re glad to be invited to, and equally relieved when it\u2019s over.
\nThe problem isn\u2019t the party, or the people, but the predictability<\/strong>
\nAs Michael Frost says in his book, Surprise the World<\/em>, \u201c\u2026one of the primary acts of the evangelistic believer is the arousal of curiosity among unbelievers, leading to questions and sharing faith.\u201d Frost calls it \u201cliving questionable lives\u201d and says, \u201cIf all believers are leading the kinds of lives that evoke questions from their friends, then opportunities for sharing faith abound.\u201d
\nLive questionably this Christmas<\/strong>
\nWhich brings us full circle to that holiday gathering of friends, neighbors, or colleagues. Len Sweet, author of From Tablet to Table<\/a><\/em>, exposes the truth of our dry, relational fare that chokes our relationships. Sweet encourages us to notice our neighbors and loved ones, and look at opportunities for dialogue as sacred (which typically revolves around good food).
\n\"\"<\/a>
\nHere is a gateway to meaningful conversation with someone you barely know. These questions trump talk of the weather, while not being creepy personal. More importantly, these questions will be a welcome surprise, and possibly open a door to share the hope that is in you–your faith in Jesus.
\nTry to remember three from this list to toss out the next time you are standing in that awkward position of what to say, and sprinkle in a few surprises:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. What makes you laugh?<\/li>\n
  2. What song has been stuck in your head today?<\/li>\n
  3. What were the bright moments of your day?<\/li>\n
  4. What do you wish you could have changed about today?<\/li>\n
  5. What would you invent to make life easier?<\/li>\n
  6. If all electronics disappeared, how would you spend your time?<\/li>\n
  7. If you were given $1,000 to help people, how would you use it?<\/li>\n
  8. Who is a person you really valued recently?<\/li>\n
  9. What inspires you?<\/li>\n
  10. What is something you want to learn to do? Why?<\/li>\n
  11. What are you most looking forward to in the New Year?<\/li>\n
  12. Did anything make you laugh today? What was it?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Dive deeper into surprisingly simple ways to share your faith in Surprise the World<\/em><\/a> by Michael Frost. For more on table talk, you\u2019ll enjoy From Tablet to Table<\/em><\/a>, which Worship Leader <\/em>magazine named one of the five best books of 2015.
    \n    \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    We have all been there–those large, social gatherings where we\u2019re supposed to nibble on finger food, balance a glass of cheer, and chat with people we barely know. Aside from being awkward, the talk can be surface and unfulfilling. Stagnant … <\/p>\n

    Read more12 Questions For Holiday Conversations<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[215,317,319],"yoast_head":"\n12 Questions For Holiday Conversations - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We have all been there–those large, social gatherings where we\u2019re supposed to nibble on finger food, balance a glass of cheer, and chat with people we barely know. Aside from being awkward, the talk can be surface and unfulfilling. Stagnant ... Read more12 Questions For Holiday Conversations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/lightstock_279855_medium_david_.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"The Disciplemaker Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\"},\"headline\":\"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\"},\"wordCount\":459,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"From Tablet to Table\",\"Len Sweet\",\"Leonard Sweet\"],\"articleSection\":[\"The Latest\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\",\"name\":\"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations - The Disciplemaker\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker\",\"description\":\"Bold. Loving. Sensible.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization\",\"name\":\"NavPress\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png\",\"width\":4092,\"height\":818,\"caption\":\"NavPress\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5\",\"name\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"The Disciplemaker Team\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations - The Disciplemaker","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations - The Disciplemaker","og_description":"We have all been there–those large, social gatherings where we\u2019re supposed to nibble on finger food, balance a glass of cheer, and chat with people we barely know. Aside from being awkward, the talk can be surface and unfulfilling. Stagnant ... Read more12 Questions For Holiday Conversations","og_url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/","og_site_name":"The Disciplemaker","article_published_time":"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":620,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/12\/lightstock_279855_medium_david_.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"The Disciplemaker Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"The Disciplemaker Team","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/"},"author":{"name":"The Disciplemaker Team","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5"},"headline":"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations","datePublished":"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/"},"wordCount":459,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"keywords":["From Tablet to Table","Len Sweet","Leonard Sweet"],"articleSection":["The Latest"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/","name":"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations - The Disciplemaker","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website"},"datePublished":"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00","dateModified":"2015-12-11T07:48:17+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/12-questions-to-break-the-forced-march-at-holiday-parties\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"12 Questions For Holiday Conversations"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","name":"The Disciplemaker","description":"Bold. Loving. Sensible.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#organization","name":"NavPress","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2023\/06\/cropped-The-Disciplemaker.png","width":4092,"height":818,"caption":"NavPress"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/336a0124246a4b32dfcd97632e442fd5","name":"The Disciplemaker Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/13f656eb42ae7a3178247402a948adef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"The Disciplemaker Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/author\/dgeeslin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=878"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/878\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=878"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=878"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}