There’s something both humbling and hopeful about walking into a Bible study room filled with adults. Some have gray hair and quiet wisdom. Others show up with tired eyes from wrangling toddlers or 60-hour work weeks. But none of them are there because their parents made them. They’re there because they want to be.

And that makes adult Bible study holy ground.

In my brief four years of ministry—my first at Christ Lutheran in Clarksville, Maryland, and the last three at Divine Savior in West Palm Beach, Florida—I’ve had the privilege of teaching a wildly diverse group of adults. Some have PhDs and quote commentaries. Others didn’t make it through middle school and are more fluent in hard knocks than hermeneutics. Some are new to English. Others could quote the Lutheran Confessions in Latin (no joke). And again and again, I’ve seen how God works when the Word collides with real life.

I’m no expert. Just a fellow learner, fumbling forward. Teaching across cultures, generations, and educational backgrounds has been both exhilarating and exhausting. You can’t take anything for granted. But that’s exactly where the gospel shines.

Here are a few things I’ve picked up—not as a master teacher, but as someone who still prays through his nerves, fumbles with his notes, and is learning to see each class as sacred space.

Five Resources That Helped Me Grow in How I Teach Adults

1. Teaching to Change Lives by Howard Hendricks
   Hendricks doesn’t just teach you to teach—he challenges you to transform. He grounds everything in Scripture and offers bite-size tools. This book reminded me that adults don’t just need an outline. They need Scripture-saturated disruption of assumptions and motivations.
2. The Adult Learner by Malcolm Knowles
   The foundational work on andragogy. Knowles helped me realize that adults aren’t big kids. They bring assumptions, wounds, and wisdom into every classroom. It’s dense—but worth every page.
3. The Adult Learning Hub (Podcast)
   Its practical episodes have ideas you can apply the same week. It helped me think through feedback loops, visual learning, and how to scaffold for mixed experience levels.
4. The Cult of Pedagogy (Podcast)
   It’s geared toward teachers, but I’ve stolen a lot. Its focus on meaningful engagement, better questions, and using silence well has reshaped my rhythm.
5. Learning Can’t Wait (Podcast)
   This one stretches me. It’s especially helpful for thinking about diversity, technology, and how to create belonging for learners who aren’t sure church is for them.

Four Lessons I’ve Learned the Hard Way

1. Adults aren’t afraid to disengage.
   They’ll zone out or scroll—not out of rudeness but because they’re tired or unconvinced this is worth their time. I’m learning not to take it personally. It’s not rejection—it’s an invitation: Earn their focus.
2. Off script is often the sweet spot.
   I am still such a work in progress when it comes to structured guides. These days, I try to prep with a flexible framework. Some of the richest moments happen unscripted—like when a 74-year-old Haitian female member starts sharing good news, Jesus thoughts, you roll with it.
3. Assume intelligence, not prior knowledge.
   Just because someone’s a brilliant engineer doesn’t mean he or she knows what justification means. But this person can grasp deep truths if you build the bridge.
4. Group work isn’t a gimmick.
   But it needs structure. I now ask groups to report someone else’s answer. It shifts focus from talking to listening—and helps quieter voices get heard.

Three Studies That Sparked Something Special

1. Loving the Unlovable (Cross-Cultural Evangelism)
   We explored how Jesus reached outcasts—and who our Samaritans and lepers are today. It got raw. One member said, “I think I’ve built a life avoiding the very people Jesus wants me to love.”
2. Galatians: Free and Forgiven
   We compared Paul’s vision of grace with the United States’ obsession with self-rule. The tension was healthy. The gospel was clarifying. It reframed identity for folks weary of the performative, legalistic, and watered-down mega-church vibe around us.
3. Ecclesiastes: Finding Meaning in a Meaningless World
   We wrestled with burnout, boredom, and striving. And we ended every session with resurrection hope—the only meaning that lasts.

Two Things I Do Differently Now

1. I start with their lives, not the text.
   I used to build studies verse by verse. Now as I read those verses, I’m also pushing myself to ask, “What are they anxious about that has connection to this segment?” Then I build my study to allow them to discover how the text speaks directly to those aches.
2. I center my design around questions, not answers.
   I aim to surface tension. Let the room wrestle. Let silence linger. I still fight the urge to fix everything in 30 seconds. But I’m learning that discovery is discipleship. Growth in discipleship can be fueled as the learners discover things and allow the text to make applications to their own lives.

One Technique You Can Try This Week

Try “open mic Bible study.”
It started with the teens, but the adults love it too. I put a PollEv link on the screen. Anyone can anonymously submit a question about life, church, or Scripture. Then we pick a few to tackle. No prep. No pressure (except for the pastor!). Just raw questions. Gospel clarity. Beautiful vulnerability.

From One Beggar to Another

I still get nervous before Bible study. Still tweak slides five minutes before go time. Still second-guess my tone or wonder if I missed the point. And maybe that’s good. Maybe it reminds me that I’m not the Teacher—just the transmitter.

I will always have so much to learn. But Jesus is still forming adults in folding chairs and fellowship halls. Still opening hearts through trembling voices. Still planting resurrection hope in skeptical souls. Still forming me day by day.

So stay curious. Keep growing. Embrace the discomfort of learning.
And remember: The Spirit is a better teacher than we’ll ever be, and he’s always at our side through the means of grace.

This article in Devote Yourself was contributed by the team that previously created and distributed the e-newsletter, Teach the Word. For nearly ten years’ worth of archived teaching-related articles, tips, and advice, visit nph.net/teach-the-word.