Adaptable Meeting Guide: The Bible's Big Story: From Eden to Egypt

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PREPARATION Print out the Vera Czermak story (below) and cut it into strips.

 

GET THE STORY STRAIGHT

15 mins 

Divide the young people into small groups. Give each the scrambled true story below (cutting it up so that each sentence is on a different slip of paper). See which group can reassemble the story properly, before the others:

She landed on him. She climbed over the balcony of her flat, and jumped. Mrs Vera Czermak was very unhappy. Mr Czermak was coming home from work. Mrs Czermak survived. She became so depressed she decided to commit suicide. He died. Vera was sure her husband was cheating on her. She lived in a seventh-floor flat in Prague with her husband. (Correct order of sentences: 7,5,1,6,9,4,8,3,2.)

Say: Once you get the story straight, it makes much more sense. The Bible can be like that – we all know bits of it; many of us have heard Bible stories all our lives. But when you see how they all fit together, into one big story, the whole Christian message becomes much clearer. Over the next four meetings, we’ll trace the contours of the big story and fix them in our minds. Read out Acts 6:12-7:1 and ask the group to discuss these questions: if you were Stephen, how would you have replied? What did Stephen actually use in his defence? The big story. Read out some verses from Psalm 136. Where’s the proof that God’s love never fails? The big story.

The four sessions will go like this (write the titles on a whiteboard, or display them on your screen, as you outline them):

 

FROM EDEN TO EGYPT:

How it all starts – a story about creation, calling, and captivity.

FROM EGYPT TO BABYLON:

God delivers the people he’s chosen, and gives them leaders – the pioneers, the part-timers and then the princes.

FROM BABYLON TO BETHLEHEM:

How the nation went wrong, and almost lost it all: going away into captivity, coming back 70 years later, looking forward to the completion of God’s promises.

FROM BETHLEHEM TO HEAVEN:

God’s king arrives, the message spreads through the world and the story ends as heaven and earth come together and God lives with humans. So let’s begin…

 

CREATION AND FALL

10 mins 

Show the word ‘creation’ and divide the group into pairs. Ask one person from each pair to face away from the screen / board you’re using, and put on it five statements about creation: God made everything, everything he made was good, it took six days to make everything, only humans were made in God’s image, woman was made because man wasn’t complete without her.

The people facing away from the screen have one minute to tell their partner everything they can remember about the creation story. Every time they mention something on the screen, they gain a point. See how many can get five points in the minute.

Say: The Bible starts with a story of orderly creation. Lots of ancient peoples had creation stories which were about chaos, random accidents, brute force and epic battles but the Bible opens with a God who’s in charge, and does everything right. Humans aren’t peripheral either: they’re the most important element of God’s creation.

Now make the other person face away, and tell their partner everything they can about what went wrong. Can they get five points too? On the screen / board are these statements: Eve was first to eat the fruit, she was persuaded by a serpent, Adam and Eve felt guilty and clothed themselves with fig leaves, God banished them from the garden, life on earth became more difficult because of the Fall.

Say: From the third chapter of the Bible, we have a problem. Humans are imperfect. From then on, we see things worsening: Cain kills Abel, the Earth becomes so wicked that God sends a flood, the Tower of Babel results in language confusion but God has a plan.

 

CALLING OF ABRAHAM’S FAMILY

10 mins 

Show the word ‘calling’. Blindfold one person, and get a friend to steer them round the room (without touching) by issuing a string of instructions. Count how many times the blind person bangs into things.

Say: If you’re blindfolded you’re completely dependent on your seeing friend! God knew he couldn’t begin his rescue plan without a human who would trust him implicitly, and follow his instructions faithfully. He picked a man called Abraham and sent him on a journey. Read Genesis 12:1- 3 and answer these questions in groups:

• What was Abraham’s big ‘blindfold’ challenge?

• What benefits would he get from trusting God?

• Were all those blessings just for his family alone?

Say: God picked one man who was open and receptive and took him on a journey of faith. Through the years he learned many lessons about God, and as his family grew through Isaac his son, Jacob his grandson, and the 12 sons of Jacob, they retained and deepened that information. A human family was getting to know God again

 

CAPTIVITY

10 mins 

Show the word ‘captivity’. In groups discuss: how would you know if somebody really, really loved you? Say: God showed he loved his chosen people by rescuing them from terrible oppression. The Exodus became one of the mostremembered bits of the story: it showed so clearly how far God would go to set people free. What happens next? We’ll see next time.

 

WRAP UP

10 mins 

Refresh their memory: recap everything you’ve covered, perhaps as a final test or challenge. Say: We’ve been dealing with events that happened over 3000 years ago. Even then, God was taking action, building plans that would impact your life now. Isn’t that amazing? Pray, thanking God for his millennia- long faithfulness.