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. 1–3): The LORD told Jonah to go to Nineveh, “But Jonah rose up to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Ask the group: reading this, what would you most like to ask Jonah? (Why he fled, he will say himself in Lesson 4; no need to guess in this lesson.)
Focus 2 (vv. 4–16): The sailors go from “every man cried to his god” (v. 5) to “the men feared the LORD exceedingly” (v. 16). Ask the group to find together everything the sailors did in between.
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone reads Psalm 139:1-12 once; those who want to can bring one thing they have been avoiding before God. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: The great fish comes in the next lesson; there is no need to discuss whether it was a whale or whether this book is a parable. Don’t make Jonah a joke or a bad example, and don’t analyze his character; why he fled, this chapter does not say, so don’t guess for him. Read the casting of lots (v. 7) as written; don’t teach it as a way to make decisions. Verse 4 says the LORD sent the storm; that is about Jonah this one time. Don’t turn it into ‘if you hit a storm, you must be running from God’ — there may be people in the group who are in hard times right now, so don’t press on question 9. For Nineveh, use only the book’s own words, “their wickedness has come up before me” (v. 2); don’t connect it to places or politics today. Someone may mention that Jesus also slept in a boat (Mark 4:38); the New Testament does not put these two side by side, so this lesson does not develop it.
Focus 1 (vv. 2–7): Ask the group to find, one by one, the words Jonah uses for where he is: Sheol, the depths, the flood, waves and billows, weeds, the bottoms of the mountains, the earth barred in, the pit. Then ask: in a place like that, who is he talking to?
Focus 2 (vv. 6, 9): While still inside the fish, he says, “yet you have brought my life up from the pit” and “Salvation belongs to the LORD.” Ask the group: reading these two lines, where do you most want to stop and stay?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone chooses a line from vv. 2–9 and begins their prayer with it each day this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can say which line it was.
Leader tip: No need to discuss the great fish — whether it was a whale, whether a person can live three days inside a fish, whether this book is a parable; none of that comes into this lesson, and ‘three days and three nights’ is not to be calculated. The passage does not say Jonah repented here; don’t add it for him. Read his prayer in his own words. Read verse 8, “Those who regard vain idols,” as written; don’t point it at the sailors, at other religions, or at people today. Don’t teach this lesson as ‘pray in the pit, and God will get you out at once.’ There may be people in the group who are in a very deep place right now; don’t press on question 9 — only those who want to share need to. If someone shares thoughts of harming themselves, stay with them privately after the meeting, and contact local emergency help or someone they trust.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–3): Read 1:2–3 and 3:2–3 side by side: the same command, and this time “So Jonah arose, and went to Nineveh, according to the LORD’s word.” Ask the group: the passage records no rebuke from the LORD; how does that strike you?
Focus 2 (vv. 5–10): From the people to the king, what did Nineveh do? The king said, ‘Who knows’; how did God respond?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone thinks of something they once ran from or did not do well, and this week asks God, ‘What is one step I can take today?’ Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: Don’t teach Nineveh’s repentance as a method for revival (‘just proclaim and revival will come’), and there is no need to use ‘three days’ journey’ or ‘forty days’ to work out how big the city was or what year it was. Read ‘God relented’ (vv. 9–10) as written; no need to debate whether God changes his mind. Don’t connect Nineveh to places or politics today, and there is no need to bring in outside history. The passage records no rebuke of Jonah from the LORD; don’t add one. Don’t turn ‘the second time’ into ‘God will always give you the same chance again.’ There may be people in the group who have just fallen; don’t press on question 10 — only those who want to share need to.
Focus 1 (vv. 1–4): For the first time, Jonah says why he fled (v. 2). Ask the group: of the things he says about God, which one makes you stop?
Focus 2 (vv. 6–11): The vine, the worm and the east wind were all things God ‘prepared’; at the end God asks, “Shouldn’t I be concerned for Nineveh, that great city” (v. 11). Ask the group: what does God care about?
Focus 3 (This week): Everyone copies out the question in verse 11 and reads it once a day this week. Next time, anyone who wants to can share.
Leader tip: This chapter contains prayers to die (vv. 3, 8). Read them as written; don’t joke about them, and don’t say ‘Jonah was too emotional.’ If someone shares thoughts of harming themselves, stay with them privately right after the meeting, and contact local emergency help (Canada and the U.S. 911 / Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 988; mainland China 110 / 120 / psychological support hotline 12356; Hong Kong 999; Taiwan 110, 119 / suicide prevention line 1925) or someone they trust; this is not something to discuss in the group. The book ends on God’s question, and so does this lesson; don’t answer it for Jonah, and don’t add an ending from outside the book. Don’t make Jonah a bad example, and don’t analyze his character. Read “more than one hundred twenty thousand” as written; no need to calculate. Who “can’t discern between their right hand and their left hand,” the passage does not say; no need to guess. No need to discuss what kind of plant the vine was. Don’t connect Nineveh to places or politics today. There may be people in the group who have been deeply hurt by others; don’t press on question 9, and don’t use this lesson to ask anyone to forgive at once. Question 10 is for writing only; 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.