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Adult Ministry
How Adults Experience Learning

Consider two different adult classes. In the first, the students are sitting quietly in rows while the teacher lectures on the missionary journeys of Paul. Bibles are open in the laps of students but the looks on their faces speak more of boredom than excitement. The teacher is knowledgable, working hard, and refers to several maps taped to the wall. Yet something seems to be missing.

Down the hall the other class of students are in groups of four talking about how to pray to a sovereign God when they don’t always sense His presence. They have been studying about the practice of spiritual disciplines and how this could change their relationship with God, their families, jobs, themselves, and the church community. The teacher has presented a good study and now has them working together to discover how prayer fits with their discussion. You come away with the feeling that this class is alive with learning.

The difference is more than one’s skill or choice of teaching methods. It is about how we approach adult education in the church. Mark 4:33 offers relevant insight into the Master Teacher’s balanced approach to teaching: “With many similar parables Jesus spoke the Word to them, as much as they could understand.” All Christians value the first part of Jesus’ example: teaching the Word. Yet many of us forget the value of, or lack skills for the second part of the approach: the need to know our students so well that we, like Christ, know their potential and limits.

Malcolm Knowles in Modern Practice of Adult Education has identified some very helpful principles unique to how adults experience learning:

Adults direct their own learning “Being adult” is about moving from dependency to self-directed independence. This self-directed learning stance will vary from person to person but the truth remains: adult education needs to be less teacher controlled, allowing students the chance to direct their own learning agendas. The teacher or small group leader should bring focus to the students’ agenda by helping to shape learning/growth goals, providing resources and learning opportunities, and ideas and feedback necessary for a sense of growth. Adults increasingly appreciate learning that takes place through experience Adults are accumulating a growing reservoir of experience from which they learn. The alert adult teacher or small group leader will use methods that bring experiences into the picture. Case studies, discussion, experiments, simulation, hands on participation are examples of experienced based discovery learning approaches. This does not mean that lectures are bad. Rather it means the learning context should be designed around “inquiry.” Listening is never enough. Understanding must also occur through the use of experience and interaction among leaders and students. The learning readiness of adults arises primarily from their roles, tasks, and identity Real-life situations – as a parent, spouse, worker, professional, neighbour, Christian – create the questions and challenges that motivate adults to learn and grow. From this context emerge adult “teachable moments.” Effective small groups and adult classes will become the community and support systems for adults where Scripture is offered as the source for instruction, direction, and guidance. Adults see learning as a process that needs to have immediate application They want to apply tomorrow what they learn today. Adults vote with their feet! They choose to be involved in our Sunday School or small group ministry, and the choice is based on relevancy. Adults experience learning through the connections to everyday life, so effective adult education must always connect the usefulness of the content to the life situation of the students. Thus, a Bible study on Romans needs to be connected to the questions the students are asking. A good teacher learns the students’ lives and where applications might go.

In the examples above the first class was not designed the way adults experience learning. Good information was being given, but it wasn’t relevant to their lives. They were bench warmers, uninvolved in the process of inquiry and learning. The second class engaged the experiences and minds of the participants, involving them in the process of learning. The subject matter was Biblical and highly beneficial to their lives. This class would be perceived as addressing real life problems and therefore relevant to many adults. The result was teaching that connects with adults.

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Written by John Berard.
Last modified October 31, 2000.

Ideabank is a quarterly newsletter published by the Board of Christian Education Ministries, a board of the Canadian Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches.

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