Group leader’s guide

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Rooting Path · Old Testament Survey · Lesson 1: In the Beginning: A Good World, a Wayward People

This lesson in one sentence: The world God made was good; people went astray, and it was God who came looking for them first.

Timing (about 60 minutes)

Opening5 min
Read Together10 min
Practice Together15 min
Discussion20 min
This Week5 min
Pray for One Another5 min

Opening

Of the Bible stories you heard as a child, which is the earliest you remember?

Read Together

²⁷God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them. ³¹God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. There was evening and there was morning, a sixth day.
Gen 1:27, 31 · WEB

⁸They heard the LORD God’s voice walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. ⁹The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” ¹⁵I will put hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will bruise your head, and you will bruise his heel.”
Gen 3:8–9, 15 · WEB

The LORD God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”
Gen 3:9 · WEB

Practice Together

Write the five events of ‘Primeval History’ on five slips of paper: creation, the fall, Cain killing Abel, the flood and the covenant with Noah, the tower of Babel. Shuffle them, put them in order together as a group, then check against the timeline. For each, the group says one sentence about ‘what people did’, and one about ‘what God did’.

Discussion

“God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Gen 1:31)—when you look at yourself, at others and at the world, do you think, ‘what God made was good’?
When people sinned, they first hid; but God called out first: “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9) How does this change the way you know God?
From Cain to Babel, sin spread further and further. Have you ever seen a small wrong snowball? Start with yourself.

This Week

This week read Genesis 1–3, one chapter a day if you like. After each chapter, write one sentence: in this chapter, what did God do?

Each person names when they will read Genesis 1–3 this week.

Closing

Take a minute of silence, and each answer God’s question in your heart: “Where are you?” (Gen 3:9) Then the leader closes in prayer.

Tips for the leader

How long the ‘days’ of Genesis 1 are and how God created are things churches understand differently; as the lesson says, ask your own church, and don’t debate it in the group.
On Gen 3:15, keep to the lesson’s measure: the New Testament does not say whom this verse refers to, and we do not draw that conclusion for the text; just carry it with you as you read on.
When talking about sin, talk only about yourself; don’t name anyone else.

General principles for leaders

The leader is not a teacher but someone who walks alongside everyone.
Give everyone a chance to speak; with someone who talks a lot, you can gently say, ‘Let’s also hear from friends who haven’t spoken yet.’
Don’t rush to give answers. If someone is silent, wait a few more seconds.
For a question you can’t answer, you can say, ‘I don’t know either; let’s look it up together,’ and note it down for next time.
What is said in the group stays in the group.
At the opening, the leader can give their own answer first, showing that it can be simple and honest.

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