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. 5–11): Mordecai took in Hadassah, who had no father or mother, and later “walked every day in front of the court of the women’s house, to find out how Esther was doing” (v. 11). Ask the group: reading this, what kind of person do you see in Mordecai?
Focus 2 (questions 7–8): The book of Esther never once mentions the name of God. Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read verses 7 and 17 — 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 looked after them and thanks that person this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: The book never once mentions the name of God; read it as written. Don’t say for the passage ‘God arranged for Esther to become queen,’ and don’t go the other way and say the book is unspiritual. Read Vashti’s refusal (Esth 1:12) as written; don’t make her a model, and don’t make her a bad example. Read the gathering of the young women and the palace customs (vv. 2–4, 12–14) as written; don’t debate right and wrong, and don’t tell it as a Cinderella story; don’t turn Esther’s beauty into ‘if you look good, you get chances.’ Esther did not make known her people (vv. 10, 20); the passage only says Mordecai told her not to. Don’t judge it, and don’t guess why. Read ‘the seventh year’ as written; no need to work out the year. There may be people in the group who lost their parents, were adopted, or grew up in foster care, and there may be immigrants or people for whom it is hard to say who they are — don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 11–14): Esther tells of her difficulty (v. 11), and Mordecai answers, “Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (v. 14). Ask the group: reading these two messages, where do you most want to stop?
Focus 2 (vv. 16–17): Esther asks the others to fast with her and says, “if I perish, I perish” (v. 16). Ask the group to notice verse 17: this time, it is Mordecai who does as Esther commanded.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of someone with whom they can share a burden. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This book does not mention the name of God. Read “from another place” (v. 14) as written; don’t say for the passage ‘another place means God.’ Read the fast (v. 16) as written; the passage does not say they prayed, so don’t add it. On questions 7 and 8, the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree. Don’t turn “Who knows if you haven’t come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” (v. 14) into ‘everyone has a mission; you must find yours,’ or into ‘seize the moment and you will succeed’; what Mordecai said was ‘Who knows.’ Why Mordecai would not bow to Haman (Esth 3:2), the passage only says he was a Jew; no need to guess. Haman was an Agagite; no need to connect it to the story of Saul. Don’t connect the lesson to peoples, nations or politics today. There may be people in the group who are in a very hard place; don’t press on question 9; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–2): Esther “stood in the inner court of the king’s house” (v. 1), and the king “held out to Esther the golden scepter that was in his hand” (v. 2). Ask the group to read 4:11, 4:16 and 5:1-2 together and say how it feels to read this far.
Focus 2 (vv. 9–14): On the same day, Esther is preparing a banquet and Haman is building a gallows. Ask the group: the chapter stops here — what do you most want to know?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone writes down something they have not yet said. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read the king holding out the golden scepter (v. 2) as written; don’t say for the passage ‘God moved the king’s heart.’ On questions 7 and 8, the leader does not draw the conclusion for the group, and the group does not need to agree. Why Esther did not make her request at once (vv. 4, 8), the passage does not say; no need to guess her strategy. Read Haman (vv. 9–14) as written; don’t make him a joke, don’t analyze his character, and don’t use him for a lesson like ‘pride always falls.’ No need to convert ‘fifty cubits.’ There may be people in the group who are resented by someone, or who are holding resentment toward someone — this is not a lesson about revenge, so don’t compare anyone to Haman. Don’t press on questions 9 and 10; only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 3–4): Esther says, “let my life be given me at my petition, and my people at my request” (v. 3). Ask the group: why did she ask for these two things together?
Focus 2 (question 7): The book of Esther never once mentions the name of God. Ask each person to say what comes to mind as they read “On that night, the king couldn’t sleep” (Esth 6:1) and 7:10 — 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 could speak up for. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Read “On that night, the king couldn’t sleep” (Esth 6:1) as written; don’t say for the passage ‘God kept the king awake.’ Read 7:10 as written too; don’t turn it into the formula ‘the wicked always get what they deserve.’ Don’t make Haman a joke, and don’t analyze his character; on 7:8, Haman on the couch, the passage records only the king’s words; no need to guess what he was doing. Don’t say ‘Esther pleading for her people foreshadows Christ interceding for us’ — the New Testament does not say this. No need to convert ‘fifty cubits.’ Don’t connect the lesson to peoples, nations or politics today. There may be people in the group who once spoke up and saw nothing come of it; don’t press on question 9, and don’t use this lesson to push anyone with ‘you ought to stand up.’
Focus 1 (vv. 3–6): Haman is dead and Esther herself is safe, yet she once more “begged him with tears” (v. 3) and said, “how can I endure to see the evil that would come to my people?” (v. 6). Ask the group: reading this, what kind of person do you see in Esther?
Focus 2 (question 7): From “great mourning among the Jews” (Esth 4:3) to “the Jews had gladness, joy, a feast and a holiday” (v. 17). Ask each person 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 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of a group of people whose suffering they cannot bear to see, and does one real thing for them. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This book does not mention the name of God. Read “turned to them from sorrow to gladness” (Esth 9:22) as written; don’t say for the passage ‘this was all God’s doing,’ and don’t go the other way and say the book is unspiritual. Read the new decree in verses 11 and 13 — “to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish” (v. 11), “to avenge themselves on their enemies” (v. 13) — as written; no need to comment, and no need to calculate; the events of chapter 9 are not part of this lesson. Read ‘became Jews’ (v. 17) as written; no need to draw inferences. Don’t connect the lesson to peoples, nations or politics today, and no need to discuss how Purim is kept today. There may be people in the group who care about a group that is suffering and see no change — don’t press on questions 9 and 10, and don’t use this lesson to push anyone with ‘you ought to stand up’; 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.