GENESIS 1 (Part 2)

1. Mission Spot: The Power of a Meal — 10 minutes

As we move towards Alpha in Term 4, we will continue spending a short amount of time each week thinking about mission.

Beginning 7 September, we will have a ‘go week’. Instead of meeting in our usual groups, we want everyone to try something intentional that helps them connect with friends or family who don’t yet know Jesus, nd to look for natural opportunities to speak with them about him.

Why meals matter

Sharing a meal is one of the simplest ways to deepen a relationship. Eating together gives us time to slow down, build trust and move beyond surface-level conversation. Hospitality can help people feel welcomed and comfortable, creating space for honest conversations about life and faith. It does not need to be elaborate—a barbecue, takeaway, coffee or simple meal can be deeply meaningful.

Read: Luke 5:29–32

29 Then Levi held a great banquet for Jesus at his house, and a large crowd of tax collectors and others were eating with them. 30 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who belonged to their sect complained to his disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?”

31 Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”

Discuss

  1. How often do you invite people to share a meal? What barriers make this difficult?

  2. Have you experienced hospitality or eating together helping to build trust and create space for meaningful conversation?

  3. Think about the people you have been praying for or trying to be intentional with. Is there someone you have been putting off inviting—or have struggled to find time to share a meal with?

This week’s challenge

Choose one person or family you could invite for a meal, coffee or another relaxed catch-up, either this week, or with more notice on your ‘go week’

Before moving on, ask someone to pray that God would help the group practise generous hospitality and create natural opportunities to speak about Jesus.

2. The Image of God — Genesis 1:26–31

Opening Question:

  1. What do you think makes human beings unique—if anything? How do you think most people today would answer?

Optional: Watch the BibleProject “Image of God” video.

Read Genesis 1:26–31

26 Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
    in the image of God he created them;
    male and female he created them.

Discuss:

  1. Loo back at early verses in the chapter: What changes when the creation account reaches humanity? How are humans both similar to and different from the creatures made before them?

  2. Verse 27 deliberately includes both “male and female.” What does this affirm about who can represent God? How might this truth have challenged cultures throughout history?

  3. Rather than simply being an ability we possess, what if God’s image is also a calling: to represent God and help his creation flourish? How does that deepen our understanding of human purpose?

  4. In which parts of your life are you conscious that you represent God? Where are you most likely to forget?

    Read Hebrews 1:1–3.

    In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

  5. . What words and images does Hebrews use to describe Jesus’ relationship with God? What do they tell us about who Jesus is?

  6. Human beings were created to represent God, but Jesus is his “exact representation.” How is Jesus different from every other image-bearer?

  7. Where do human beings, including us, fail to reflect God faithfully? How does Jesus expose the ways we misrepresent God?

Apply

  1. How should knowing that every person bears God’s image affect how we speak about and treat others? Be practical.

  2. Where do you see people’s dignity being ignored or diminished? What might change if they were genuinely seen as God’s image-bearers?

Pray

  1. Close in Prayer.