Group guide
Leading a group through First Steps with Jesus
- Kickoff · Getting started togetherBefore day 1
- Session 1 · Receiving your new identityAround day 7
- Session 2 · Learning to abideAround day 14
- Session 3 · Following Jesus with his peopleAround day 21
- Session 4 · Living as a discipleAround day 30
This guide helps you lead a small group of new believers through the book together. You do not need to be a pastor or a Bible teacher. You need to love Jesus, care about people, and be willing to listen more than you talk.
How it works
The group meets five times over about a month. Everyone reads the book or the website on their own each day, and the group comes together to talk about what they are learning.
- Kickoff: before day 1
- Session 1: around day 7
- Session 2: around day 14
- Session 3: around day 21
- Session 4: around day 30
Each meeting takes about 75 to 90 minutes and follows the same pattern: open by sharing, read a passage together, discuss, choose one step for the week, and pray.
Before you start
- Keep the group small. Four to ten people works best, so everyone can talk.
- Pair each person with a mentor. A group is good, but each new believer also needs one mature disciple who checks in with them personally. The mentor guides show how.
- Make sure everyone has the book. They can use the website or download the free book (PDF).
- Pray for each person by name before every meeting.
Leading well
- Listen first. Let people answer before you add anything. Silence is fine.
- Say “I don’t know.” If you cannot answer a question, say so and offer to find out. Then follow through.
- Keep it confidential. What is shared in the group stays in the group.
- Never ask anyone to confess a specific sin in the group. Personal confession belongs with God, and with a trusted mentor or pastor when needed.
- Know when to bring in a pastor. If someone shares abuse, danger, thoughts of self-harm, or a crisis, talk with them privately and involve a pastor or appropriate help right away.
- Point to Jesus, not the booklet. The goal is people who know and follow him.
Free to use
This guide and the book are free to print and copy for church and ministry use. Please do not sell them.