The WORD in an age of words...For anyone who teaches 'grown-ups.' (Part 1)

One of the great oversights teachers make in the local church is not recognizing the differences in how adults are approached when teaching them. While the process of teaching children and youth is known as pedagogy (rooted in the Greek word pais, child), the process and skills of teaching adults are andragogy (rooted in the Greek word anthropos or andra, mankind, suggesting an adult).

This is the first in a series of blogs on what's different when teaching adults, whether in person or virtually. Each blog presents a key element.

The most obvious is that adults must see that you have something to teach that they perceive as important to them. They must see "Acquiring new knowledge or skills as important for personal growth." (Holton Knowles. et. al. The Adult Learner, (9th edition), New York: Routledge/Taylor & Francis group, 2020.)

This simply means that preachers should not simply open a sermon with, "Please turn in your Bible to...." Teachers can't start a lesson with, "Let's look at the text. Joe, read the first verse and tell me what you think it means." Adults will only give the preacher/teacher their attention if they know that the learning is practical and useful to them.

Some will react, "I already know that..so where's the difference?" Connect to their life and their situation. Show your adult student/listener that this is about them. Unlike children, adults have life experience that they can bring to bear on the topic. Let them share their experience and learning becomes a shared process. Then you are no longer "teaching;" you are "managing learning," and they are engaged.

In this age of instant communication, social media, 24-hour news, watches that talk, phones that Bluetooth to our ears, and countless YouTube channels, we are bombarded with thousands of words every day. You have about 2-5 seconds to catch someone's attention before you lose your listener. As one who speaks for God, the preacher/teacher has THE WORD in an age of words. Open your study, lesson, devotion, sermon, testimony with a 'hook' that tells them "This is the Word of Life and you are part of it"...because it is and they are.