Young Adults are just emerging from their Youth years and are usually at the beginning of their work or college experience. Middle Adults have established themselves in the workforce and are settling themselves into a career. Older Adults are deep into their careers and are thinking ahead to retirement. Senior Adults are usually retired or close to retirement.
Each age group has specific spiritual needs and is usually taught differently. Young Adults are not usually very mature in their spiritual lives. Middle Adults have usually settled in spiritually, but are still learning how to reconcile their spirituality with their daily lives. Mature and Senior Adults are often well set in their spiritual ways. Many are well schooled in the Bible and its precepts.
This post is about teaching Senior Adults.
Preparation in prayer and study is the first step in planning a Senior Adult lesson. In many ways, teaching Senior Adults takes more preparation than teaching other adult levels. Senior Adults are well developed in their daily habits and routines, including prayer and Bible study. Many of them (not all) have spent many years reading and studying God’s Word. They may be as well versed in it as the teacher. This makes thorough preparation very important.
Since they often know a lot of Scripture and have lived out their faith for a long time, they are not really interested in the “milk of the Word,” but are very interested in the deeper, meatier concepts taught in it. They need to dig into doctrinal issues, spiritual insights and the continuity of the Scriptures.
Because of their life stage, Senior Adults often need the comfort and assurance God’s Word can give them. They face physical, emotional and often financial issues, as well as the issue of the length of time they might have in this life. Many will have lost loved ones or may have loved ones who are sick and in need of attention.
Although audio/visual aids are often helpful with Senior Adults, they are less used to learning from them than younger adults are. They should be used when appropriate, but their use should not be overdone.
For Senior Adults, activities that require extensive movement and activity are usually inappropriate. Some of them might be on walkers, use walking canes or be in wheel chairs. They are not in the least bit less important. They just don’t have the physical abilities they might have had in their youth.
When planning to teach Senior Adults, expect to make great use of concordances, Bible dictionaries, lexicons, commentaries, others’ writings and the Internet as resources. Never make the mistake of thinking they take the place of Scripture, but they can provide insight and assistance in planning.
It is perhaps axiomatic that the worse method of teaching is the same method, but too much change in substance and style can make Senior Adults feel as though they are being jerked one way and then the other. They are generally not amenable to radical changes. But it is important to provide them with a variety of approaches to lessons. Plan to prepare things like multiple choice question sheets, fill in the blank lesson sheets and other tools to help them think through a passage of Scripture.
Lessons should be prepared in such a way that they proceed logically through the material offered. Periodic pauses to discuss a particular Scriptural point should be afforded. Senior Adults should be afforded the opportunity to contribute to the class, but opining about things that do not relate to or that are not supported by Scripture should be avoided.
As to the lesson itself, Senior Adults are most geared toward exegetical Bible study. Topical studies do not appeal to them as much since they have for the most part settled the major topical issues in their lives. They enjoy book by book, verse by verse studies that help them relate different part of Scripture to the overall purpose of the Bible: To reveal God’s character, His love of His creation and His plan for its redemption.
Teaching Senior Adults can be a great and fulfilling challenge if it is done with their spiritual and life style needs in mind.
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