These Acts 20 Bible study questions are built for a small group, a Sunday class, or a quiet personal study. Acts 20 follows Paul as he travels back through Macedonia and Greece, gathers believers at Troas for a late night meeting, restores a young man who falls from a window, and then delivers an emotional farewell to the elders of Ephesus. Each question below points to specific verses so the group can read the text together before discussing it.
Acts 20 at a Glance
The chapter moves in three scenes. First, Paul revisits the churches he founded in Macedonia and Greece, encouraging them and handling a threat against his life that forces him to change his travel plans. Second, at Troas, the believers meet on the first day of the week to break bread, and a long sermon ends with Eutychus falling from the upper floor and being brought back to life. Third, Paul’s ship route takes him past Ephesus, and he calls the Ephesian elders to Miletus for a farewell speech about faithful leadership and the danger of false teachers.
The chapter closes with prayer, tears and a painful goodbye as the elders walk Paul to his ship. Groups can treat each scene as its own discussion block or read the whole chapter in one sitting before working through the questions.
Observation Questions
Use these questions first, before anyone offers an opinion. The goal is to make sure everyone has noticed what the text actually reports, so later discussion rests on shared facts rather than memory or assumption.
Acts 20:7
On the first day of the week, when the disciples were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and continued his speech until midnight.
(WEB)
Read this verse to set the scene of the first day gathering and the long evening of teaching. It anchors the group in the setting before they discuss the events that follow.
Acts 20:9-10
9 A certain young man named Eutychus sat in the window, weighed down with deep sleep. As Paul spoke still longer, being weighed down by his sleep, he fell down from the third floor, and was taken up dead. 10 Paul went down, and fell upon him, and embracing him said, “Don’t be troubled, for his life is in him.”
(WEB)
Reading the fall and the restoration together lets the group hear the drama of the moment. It also prepares them to talk about comfort and faith in the face of sudden danger.
Acts 20:24
But these things don’t count; nor do I hold my life dear to myself, so that I may finish my race with joy, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to fully testify to the Good News of the grace of God.
(WEB)
This verse captures Paul’s sense of purpose and his desire to finish his race with joy. Reading it aloud invites the group to reflect on what they are working to complete.
Acts 20:28
Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the assembly of the Lord and God which he purchased with his own blood.
(WEB)
Here Paul charges the elders to care for the flock, which the Holy Spirit has entrusted to them. Reading it slowly helps the group consider the responsibility of spiritual leadership.
Acts 20:35
In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
(WEB)
This is the verse where Paul recalls the words of the Lord Jesus about giving. Reading it near the end of the session can prompt a conversation about generosity and gratitude.
Memory Verse for Acts 20
A Closing Prayer for the Group
Father, we thank you for the example of Paul and the faithful believers at Troas and Miletus. Help us to keep watch over ourselves and over the people you have entrusted to us, and give us courage when the path ahead is uncertain. Teach us to speak the whole truth with humility and tears, and to care for the weak with generous and open hands. Let us finish our race with joy, trusting your grace to build us up. Amen.
