• If there is demographic information in the question, take that into consideration before you answer.

• Read between the lines a little. It’s okay to ask curious questions of the questioner or to suggest that they may be asking about something they have not specifically stated. Of course, be respectful and don’t assume, but you can use your intuition and follow the Holy Spirit’s leading.

• Be personable in your tone. Respond to the questioner as an actual person, not as a test question or an article prompt.

• Don’t feel pressured to have a hard-and-fast answer. We’re all in this journey together and sometimes just giving what you know or admitting to the fact that not all of our spiritually-related questions have solid answers is better than trying to provide something solid.

These tips might be more helpful for some of the Christian life questions and counseling-type questions. But certainly there are many more tips and strategies to share. What are some of the things you do when answering questions? Do you use concordances to respond? Do you find it helpful to think through synonyms for some of the questioner’s key words before responding? Do you talk to your family or friends about the questions?

We’d love to hear and share your tips, so PLEASE SEND YOUR TIPS TO  gwen (at) gotquestions (dot) org.