What to Do When Someone Asks a Question You Cannot Answer

It happens to every teacher eventually. You are partway through a Come, Follow Me lesson, things are going well, and someone raises a hand and asks something you simply do not know the answer to. A hard question about Church history. A verse that seems to sit at odds with another. A sincere 'but why?' you have never worked through yourself.

The silence after can feel like a test you are failing in front of the whole class. It is not. How you handle that moment teaches more than any answer would.

Say the true thing: you do not know

The instinct is to fill the gap, to reach for something that sounds authoritative and hope it holds. Resist it. A class can tell when a teacher is improvising, and a confident wrong answer does more harm than an honest 'I don't know.' Nobody in the room expects you to have every answer. They are watching to see whether you are honest when you do not.

Try saying it plainly. 'That is a good question, and I do not know. Let me find out and bring it back.' That sentence does not weaken you. It tells the class this is a place where real questions are welcome and honesty is safe.

Point to sources you can trust, not to your own guesses

Then do the homework. The strongest ground is the material the Church itself has published: the scriptures, the current Come, Follow Me manual, general conference talks, and the Gospel Topics and Gospel Topics Essays on the Church's website. When a question touches history or a hard doctrinal point, those sources are far safer footing than a teacher's best guess or a story someone once heard secondhand.

There is real strength in saying, 'Here is what the Church has actually taught on this,' and then reading it together. You are not the authority in the room. You are the person who knows where to look.

Let the question breathe instead of rushing to close it

Not every question needs a tidy answer by the closing prayer. Some are meant to be sat with. It is completely fair to say, 'I do not think we will settle this in ten minutes, but it is worth wrestling with, and here is where I would start.' That models something honest about faith: that seeking is part of it, and a question without an instant answer is not a crisis.

Follow up, and mean it

If you told the class you would find out, find out, and bring it back the next week. Nothing builds trust in a teacher faster than a person who remembered, did the work, and returned with something real. It tells the class their questions matter enough to carry home.

A teacher who can say 'I do not know, let us find out together' has not lost authority. They have modeled the most useful thing a teacher can: how a thoughtful person handles the edge of what they know. Preparing the lesson well still matters, because a clear plan gives you the room to meet the surprise questions with grace when they come.