Three Aspects of Adults' Lives That Influence Learning

Written by Dr. Joel B. Sherrer

Approaching adult learners with a “one-size-fits-all” mentality may result in a lack of success in ministry. The adults in our churches present an incredible variety of generational perspectives, developmental needs, learning styles, and cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

Teaching for Results

Think of the adult church members and potential members in your church ministry. Although dozens of categories could be utilized to characterize adults, this article highlights three that significantly impact adult learning.

Adult Learning Is Impacted By an Individual’s Life Characteristics
Most ministry leaders tend to focus on individual adults, but leaders may also benefit by doing more general demographic research (such as population numbers, generational percentages, and gender breakouts) and comparing them to the makeup of the adults in their churches.

For example, planning for a ministry with adults may be impacted by knowing that 75 percent of the United States population is 18 years of age or older, and that the median age in America is 35.3 years. But understanding that the population is 50.9 percent female and 49.1 percent male is not nearly as important as knowing the gender makeup of your individual ministry group.

A greater impact on planning will be gained by knowing the age (and related characteristics) of the specific members of your Sunday School class, church, or community.

Adult Learning Is Impacted By Individual Adult Development
Many adult ministry leaders find that the understanding can be enhanced by discovering an individual’s stage in adult development. Some adult Sunday School leaders even organize classes by life stages. Thus adults with preschool children form one class, while parents of teenagers form another group. “Empty nesters” make up yet another class. This organizational approach uses the developmental theory background to improve adult learning.

A generational approach to adult learning builds on developmental models. It assumes that adults who experience young adulthood at the same period of life tend to share many similar characteristics. Some use the following groupings (and percentages of the adult population in churches) to understand adult learning and worship preferences.

Busters were born between 1965 and 1983.
Boomers were born between 1946 and 1964.
Builders were born between 1927 and 1945.
Seniors were born in 1926 and earlier.

What generational perspectives do members of your adult ministry exhibit?

These life development issues are also apparent in several other potential snapshots. Examining the various jobs held by members of our churches helps to create understanding of personal needs and interests. Marital status provides another insight. Educational level may yield further understanding.

Take a Snapshot of an Adult
Use this checklist of adult characteristics to create mental snapshots of any adult your ministry touches. Avoid the tendency to think of all adults as alike. Look for variety!

Adult Learning Is Impacted By Cultural Background, Ethnicity, and Race
Understanding how the adults in your ministry group prefer to approach learning can also be impacted by an individual’s cultural background, ethnicity, or race. Teaching Adults: A Guide for Transformational Teaching provides insights into high context versus low context cultures. Adults from high context cultures rely on the context - body language, precise order of words, and manner of delivery - to understand what is being taught. Adults from low context cultures only consider what is stated verbally.

Some adults are from cultures that are considered to be high contact, while others are low contact. These terms refer to the amount of physical touching that may be involved in the communication process. But while understanding that the American population's ethnic makeup may be helpful, it is not as important as understanding the cultural background of individual class members.

Dr. Joel B. Sherrer is Associate Professor of Adult Education at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, occupying the John T. Sizemore Chair of Christian Education.