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 (vv. 34–37): Many sold their land and laid the money at the apostles’ feet; among them, the passage writes down one person’s name. Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 33 and 34 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one person who most needs encouragement and writes them a few lines this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read “Son of Encouragement” (v. 36) as the verse itself explains it; there is no need for a word study, and don’t make it ‘his name decided his whole life’; why the apostles called him this, the passage does not say. Read the sale of the field in verse 37 as written; don’t make it a model of giving, and don’t leave the group feeling they ought to give a certain amount; there is no need to guess how much money his family had, or to discuss whether a Levite could own land. Read ‘all things in common’ (vv. 32–35) as written; don’t apply it to today’s economics, or to how churches ought to handle money. Don’t put a personality label on Barnabas; “a good man” is the passage’s own word about him (Acts 11:24) — just read it. This lesson does not read what happens next in chapter 5; if someone asks, say this lesson does not go into it. Barnabas taking Saul to the apostles was read in Paul, Lesson 2; don’t go over it again. There may be people in the group who are in need, or whose money is very tight — don’t press on questions 9 and 10, and don’t talk about people’s incomes in the group; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 11–18): The crowd wanted to offer sacrifice to Barnabas and Paul as gods; the two tore their clothes and said, “We also are men” (v. 15). Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 17 and 23 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of one person they once walked alongside and have lost touch with, goes back to see them this week, and prays for them. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read ‘Jupiter’ and ‘Mercury’ as written; there is no need to explain the myths. “because he was the chief speaker” (v. 12) is the crowd’s reason for calling Paul Mercury; don’t make it a question of which of the two ranked higher or mattered more. Read “We also are men” (v. 15) as written; don’t make it ‘leaders must be humble.’ Read the healing in verse 10 as written; don’t make it a method of healing. Read the stoning (v. 19) and “through many afflictions we must enter into God’s Kingdom” (v. 22) as written; don’t expand them into a theology of suffering, and don’t say ‘suffering shows you have faith.’ Verses 4 and 14 call Barnabas one of ‘the apostles’; read it as written, with no need to discuss whether he counts as an apostle. John (Mark) left them at Perga (Acts 13:13); this lesson only tells it at the start, and does not guess why; he comes back in Lesson 3. There may be people in the group who were hurt at church and left — don’t press on question 10 or on This week; only those who want to need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 37–39): Barnabas planned to take Mark; Paul did not think it a good idea; the contention grew sharp and they separated; Barnabas took Mark and sailed to Cyprus. Ask the group: reading these verses, what do you see?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 31 and 41 — the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of someone who once left, or whom others have thought ‘not a good idea to take along’, and prays for them this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Verses 36–41 were read in Paul, Lesson 4; this lesson reads them from Barnabas’s side; don’t go back and compare what the two lessons say. When the two parted, the passage does not say who was right, and the leader does not judge either; don’t say Barnabas favoured his cousin, and don’t say Paul was too strict. Why Mark left in Pamphylia, the passage does not say; don’t guess (not fear, not homesickness, not defiance); and don’t make it a formula of ‘you can fail and still be restored.’ Read 2 Tim 4:11 as written; what happened in between, the passage does not say; don’t conclude ‘the two were reconciled later.’ What became of Barnabas afterwards, the passage does not tell. Read verses 33 and 40 as written. There may be people in the group who have parted from co-workers or from a church, or who once left themselves — don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to. Question 11 is for looking back.
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.