Chapter Four
Discussion Questions
1. Read Luke 9:46-48. How does self-assertion and self-justification threaten Christian community? (90-91)
2. Describe the “matchless discovery” and the “amazement” that comes to one who has practiced the discipline of the tongue. (92-93)
3. In a Christian community, “each individual is an indispensable link in a chain” (94). How can we help everyone realize this?
4. To what does Bonhoeffer attribute the “sin of resentment that flares up so quickly in the fellowship”? (95-96) What is the solution?
5. Read 1 Timothy 1:15. What do you think of Bonhoeffer’s claim that we must each think of ourselves as the greatest of sinners? (96)
6. Have you ever experienced that “listening can be a greater service than speaking”? (97) Explain.
7. How do you respond when God interrupts your schedule or cancels your plans by sending you “people with claims and petitions”? (99). How should you respond?
8. What are the two senses in which we are to bear the burden of a brother or sister? (101-102)
9. “Where Christians live together the time must inevitably come when in some crisis one person will have to declare God’s Word and will to another.” (105) Give examples. Would you find this hard to do? Why is it important that you do it? (106-108)
10. Where is genuine authority found in the Christian community? (108-109)
11. Bonhoeffer discusses seven different “ministries” in this chapter. In which do you find your gifts and strengths in ministering to others? In which do you need someone to minister to you?
