PRINCIPLE 6 – OLDER ADULTS HAVE A VARIETY OF PREFERRED WAYS OF LEARNING; BUT WILL TRY NEW WAYS TO ENGAGE

Post 7 of 11 in a series on the 10 Principles of Older Adult Ministry (banner image by Raul Petrie from Unsplash)

Priscilla Sitienei in class

A 90-year-old midwife in rural Kenya who could not read or write decided to go to school with six of her great-great-grandchildren to learn to read and write so she could journal and pass down her experiences and knowledge to the next generation.  “Education has no age limit,” said Priscilla Sitienei, the 90-year-old Kenyan midwife.[1] 

In March 2020, our church, like many across the country, stopped in-person gatherings.  Within weeks, our older adult class on Sunday mornings stopped meeting.  “Zoom is too difficult,” some said.  By fall, however, they longed so deeply for relational contact with their class peers that they trained and learned how to use Zoom for classroom gatherings.  Within months, members now confident with their newly learned computer skills were helping others use Zoom – and they were using Zoom to connect with their extended families!

We all have preferred ways of learning, but if there is one constant in older adult lives, it is change.  Physical, cognitive, social, or financial, changes are real.  A heart attack, diminished eyesight, death of a significant other, reduced income, slowed memory, each of these often force older adults into new ways of living, but older adults adjust, change, often try new ways to engage in their daily routines, their passions, their relationships, and even to challenge their mind and just do something different.  It is important for the church to create a supportive culture for growing old, while at the same time thinking about new ways to do old things.

Alice Updike Scannell, in her book Building Resilience: When There’s No Going Back to the Way Things Were, identifies five conditions that help adults navigate resilience: self-awareness, supportive relationships, openness, reflection, and humor.[2]  While these conditions help older adults with resilience, they are important for the church to cultivate in an environment where older adults can navigate new ways of learning.  Self-awareness helps us know ourselves and strengths and needs.  We can feel free to ask for help.  Supportive relationships encourage us even when we think we cannot.  Openness is the gate to doing things in new ways.  Reflection helps us see where we are in the present.  And we all need a bit of humor so we can take ourselves lightly.

A little resilience humor…

So, if we have an environment conducive to learning, what are some ways we can begin to engage older adults in learning in new ways?  Here are some specific examples of adapting preferred ways of learning:

  • When reading eyesight diminishes, introduce hearing stories through audio books.  Ask a volunteer to read aloud.  Consider telling a story through pictures.
  • TV screens too small?  Use a projector to enlarge the picture.
  • Use a microphone instead of shouting.
  • Do mixers that do not require standing but create camaraderie around the table.
  • Intentionally group people.  No one is to be alone.
  • Connect young people with older adults to teach useful “how to” skills in using technology.
  • Offer opportunities for older adults to learn new skills, such as drawing, photography, finances, meditation, gardening, using the computer.
  • Use different multiple intelligences when teaching a lesson.
  • Keep the pace slow; allow time to pause and reflect.
  • Offer mission and service opportunities that specifically engage older adults.
  • Write instructions (or reminders) on paper.
  • When doing activities, offer choices that have different required skills.

When I work with older adults, I often try to use an activity from Barbara Bruce’s Mental Aerobics: 75 Ways to Keep Your Brain Fit.  These simple, yet challenging activities (ice breakers), engage older adults in fun, interactive ways.  My rules: 1) always have fun, 2) always do it in groups (so everyone feels smarter or can laugh together), and 3) build relationships.  Most older adults will try new ways to engage if they feel supported, encouraged, and work with someone.

Dan Wiard, Director of Christian Education, Mount Pleasant Presbyterian Church, Mount Pleasant SC and Member of Hope4CE Steering Committee

[1] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20170828-the-amazing-fertility-of-the-older-mind. (Accessed June 15, 2021)

[2] Updike Scannell, Alice.  Building Resilience: When There’s No Going Back to the Ways Things Were. New York: Morehouse Publishing, 2020. 7.

Protecting Children through Educator Certification

Having recently finished the process of becoming a Certified Christian Educator through the Presbyterian Church USA I am so appreciative of all I’ve learned and put into practice at my church, Wildwood Presbyterian Church in Grayslake, IL, as the Director of Christian Education. Each course that I completed was immediately applicable to my work as an educator and leader and the completion of the exam for certification was at the pinnacle of putting all that I learned into practice in my ministry. The exam involved designing, implementing, and evaluating an educational event within the context of my current educational ministry. I chose to lead the Christian Education Committee through a process to review and update our Child Protection Policy because we were faced with some new insurance requirements. The ten year old policy had only been updated once, seven years ago, and was long overdue for a review.

I offer the lesson plan, handouts and resource research, and the underlying educational and theological rationale essays, from my exam work for use by the Hope4CE community. Perhaps your faith community’s policy needs a review or you are interested in starting a task force to address policy issues. You are invited to glean ideas, use resources, or borrow any concepts from this design for your own project. The lesson plan file associated with this post contains an introduction to the project, lesson plan outline and details, handouts and resources, and an evaluation of my experience implementing the project. Perhaps you are just interested in what value the certification process may hold for you in your educational ministry. If so, you may want to read the rationale essays, each in it’s own file, which detail how my learning from four of the certification areas was integrated into the educational design.

May God bless your learning and teaching!

Gillmore Lesson Plan for Child Protection Policy Review

Gillmore Rationale Essay Biblical Interpretation

Gillmore Rationale Essay Human Growth and Faith Development

Gillmore Rationale Essay Religious Education Theory and Practice 

Gillmore Rationale Essay Reformed Theology

Kathy Gillmore
Director of Christian Education
Wildwood Presbyterian Church

Vacation Bible School-Yesterday and Today

It’s that time of year again when churches around the country hold Vacation Bible Schools in various formats. For a week or more the church is turned into a biblical marketplace or an underwater reef or a host of other locales to combine Scripture, music, crafts, and games to communicate the Gospel to children and others.

But where did this tradition begin? It seems that the first recorded summer Bible school in the United States was instituted by Mrs. Walker Aylette Hawes in 1898 in conjunction with Epiphany Baptist Church on New York City’s east side. Mrs. Hawes noticed how many immigrant children were roaming the streets in the summer, so she searched for a rented facility where she could begin a six-week summer school. The only available facility was a saloon and thus VBS was born in a bar. Continue reading

PRC Webinars for Church Leaders

The internet has ushered in a new way of doing almost everything, from shopping to research. Here at Practical Resources for Churches (PRC), we’ve seen an increase in the use of the internet in how we interact with people, provide resources, and offer learning and growth opportunities. Although we still offer face-to-face experiences through our workshops and roundtables, our webinar program is continually expanding. Continue reading

Next Church Conference

On March 16, 2015, we looked at a database of Christian Educators of the 20th Century. Today we focus on emerging leaders in the church, specifically the Presbyterian Church (USA) and what they may be thinking about educational ministry and faith formation for the present and future church. The Next Church movement is a network of leaders in the PC(USA) committed to hopeful conversations and reflections on ministry that is more relational, diverse, and collaborative. They host an annual conference and regional gatherings to carry out their mission. If you want to catch this year’s annual conference that began yesterday, they are offering live streaming on their website. There are also members of our Hope4CE Facebook group in attendance this year, who will be contributing their insights via Twitter, Facebook, or through this site.

A portion of this conference is set aside to present short Ignite talks (no more than seven minutes) that detail innovative ideas on a variety of topics. One of these talks from last year, by Landon Whitsitt is linked here. It launched a site of free resources (short videos with accompanying study guides) for new member and church officer training called Theocademy. Although designed specifically to address theology and polity in the Reformed tradition, they may be useful to others beyond the PC(USA) or to “ignite” your own ideas regarding educational ministry for these groups.

I wonder how you address new member and officer training in your church or denomination.

Kathy Dawson, Associate Professor of Christian Education, Columbia Theological Seminary

Intergenerational Ministries Free Resources

GenOn Ministries smallGenOn Ministries’ (formerly known as The LOGOS Ministry) fifty year history has produced many excellent resources and training events to equip church leaders in developing young disciples. GenOn provides resources to lay a firm foundation for faith formation which includes an intentional evaluation and planning tool as well as curriculum for ordered, cumulative learning. GenOn’s primary training event, the LOGOS Encounter, emphasizes three key practices in effective ministry (The theology and practice of Christian Relationships, a Balanced Ministry approach to spiritually nurture the whole person, and a scriptural, prayerful Process of Call to identify volunteers to serve). Many free resources or samples of resources are available on GenOn Ministries’ website: Continue reading