Each meeting covers one lesson. The passage, questions and notes are all on the lesson page, and group members can print their own copy.
Leaders need only this guide: first the flow that is the same every time, then the focus points and tips for each lesson.
A lesson takes about an hour. Meet weekly or every other week — whatever fits your group.
Each Meetingabout 55 min
Snacks and catching up
10 min
Read together
10 min
Discussion
25 min
This week
5 min
Close (prayer optional)
5 min
Opening: Start with last time’s ‘This week’: ‘Did you do it? How did it go?’ For the first lesson, ask everyone to say in one sentence why they want to read about this person. The leader goes first.
Read together: Take turns reading the passage, a few verses each. The leader reads the short notes between sections.
Discussion: You don’t need to discuss every question in ‘Think It Through.’ Pick one or two from each group, add this lesson’s focus points, and that is plenty.
This week: Read it together, and ask each person to decide on the one small thing they will do this week.
Close: You can pray using a verse from the lesson. If some aren’t used to praying aloud, a minute of silence together is fine too.
Focus 1 (v. 7): “formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.” Ask the group: ‘dust’ and ‘breath’ — which one makes you stop?
Focus 2 (vv. 15–18): The garden, the work, the one command, and God saying ‘not good to be alone.’ Ask the group: from these verses, what do you see about how God treats man?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone chooses one thing that has been put into their hands and does it well this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: How long the days of creation were, how old the earth is, and how this fits with evolution are not part of this lesson; where Eden was and what fruit the two trees bore need not be discussed either. Read “a helper comparable to him” (v. 18) as written; don’t turn it into ‘who is higher, who is lower’; and don’t turn the woman being taken from the man (vv. 21–23) into ‘who comes first, who is greater.’ Read “It is not good for the man to be alone” (v. 18) and “they will be one flesh” (v. 24) as written; this is not a marriage lesson, and don’t use it to urge anyone to marry — there may be people in the group who are single, divorced, widowed, or in a hard marriage, so don’t steer the talk toward who is married and who is not. Read “naked, and they were not ashamed” (v. 25) as written; this is not a lesson on sexual morality. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–6): The serpent’s first words are a question: “Has God really said” (v. 1). Ask the group to read God’s actual words (Gen 2:16-17) beside the serpent’s and say where they differ.
Focus 2 (vv. 8–13): They hid, and God called first, “Where are you?” (v. 9). Ask the group: reading this line, where do you most want to stop?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of something they have kept hidden and brings it honestly before God this week; no one needs to say in the group what it is.
Leader tip: The passage says both ate (v. 6), both hid (v. 8), and both named someone else first (vv. 12–13); don’t say ‘Eve brought Adam down,’ and don’t go the other way and say ‘Adam failed to look after her.’ “You shall not touch it” (v. 3) is not in God’s command (Gen 2:17), and the passage does not explain it; no need to use it to say the woman added to God’s word. Read the serpent as Genesis presents it; this lesson does not say ahead of time who the serpent is; and no need to discuss what the fruit was. Don’t turn “Where are you?” (v. 9) into God hunting people down to catch them, and don’t turn it into God not knowing where they were — the passage only records that God called first. There may be people in the group in the middle of a fall; don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to; and don’t let this lesson become a call for public confession.
Focus 1 (v. 15): “He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.” Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read this line — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 2 (vv. 19–21): After ‘return to dust’ come “the mother of all the living” and the garments God himself made. Ask the group: reading these three verses together, what do you see?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of someone bearing the consequences of something and does one practical thing for them. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read verse 15 as written: the New Testament never directly quotes this verse to say it is Christ, so don’t say for the passage ‘her offspring is Christ,’ and don’t go the other way and say it is not; question 7 is for each person to consider. Read “he will rule over you” (v. 16) as written; don’t turn it into God’s order for marriage, and don’t say ‘this has been done away with.’ Read “Because you have listened to your wife’s voice” (v. 17) as written too; don’t turn it into ‘men should not listen to their wives.’ This lesson does not rank men and women. Read the serpent as Genesis presents it; what the cherubim, the flaming sword and the tree of life are, and who “like one of us” (v. 22) refers to, need not be discussed. Verse 16 speaks of pain in childbirth, and there may be people in the group who have known miscarriage, infertility or a hard birth; verse 19 speaks of returning to dust, and someone may be facing serious illness or have just lost a loved one — don’t press; on questions 9 and 10, only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 6–9): God spoke to Cain before he acted (vv. 6–7), and afterward asked, “Where is Abel, your brother?” (v. 9). Ask the group to read this question beside “Where are you?” in Lesson 2 (Gen 3:9), and to say what comes to mind — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 2 (vv. 1, 25): Eve speaks once at the start of the chapter and once at the end. Ask the group: between “I have gotten a man with the LORD’s help” and “God has given me another child,” what happened?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one relationship with a rift in it and does one small thing for it. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This lesson is not a biography of Cain, and not a class on how to control anger; read “sin crouches at the door” (v. 7) as written. Why God respected Abel’s offering, Genesis does not say; read the two New Testament lines (Heb 11:4; 1 John 3:12) as written, and go no further. Where Cain’s wife came from and what sign God gave him need not be discussed; verses 17–24 (Cain’s descendants, Lamech) are not read in this lesson. There may be parents in the group who have lost a child, people living with violence at home, or siblings estranged for years — don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to. Don’t use this lesson to push anyone to reconcile at once, and never urge someone who is being harmed to go back into danger. Question 11 is for the review.
Principles
The leader is not a teacher, but someone walking alongside everyone else.
Give everyone a chance to speak. If some talk a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s hear from those who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If there is silence, wait a few more seconds.
If you can’t answer a question, it’s fine to say, ‘I don’t know — let’s look into it together,’ and come back to it next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the start, the leader can share their own answer first. Keep it simple and honest.
In the lessons, words in double quotes with a reference are scripture. What the passage does not say, we can only guess; guessing is fine, as long as we say we are guessing.
Don’t press on painful things. If someone becomes upset, stay with them after the meeting; if needed, involve a pastor from their church or a professional counselor.