Last month, Pastor Nathan Schulte wrote about what the teachers in your congregation wish you’d do in Bible study. His article is full of practical advice based on a survey he conducted with 75 teachers. Click here for last month’s Devote Yourself newsletter.

In his article, Pastor Schulte referenced the acronym SETPI, which is an adaptation of Malcolm Knowles’ adult learning principles. Knowles advanced the idea that adults bring a unique set of characteristics to the classroom, and by designing a lesson with those characteristics in mind, a teacher could effectively engage learners with the material.

SETPI reminds us that adult learners are:

1. Self-Directed
2. Experienced
3. Task-Oriented
4. Problem-Solving
5. Interested in Immediate Application

Here are some examples:

SELF-DIRECTED: READ through Genesis 2:15-25 and IDENTIFY at least five ways that God shows special kindness to the man he created. (Note: It’s self-directed in the sense that learners get to work quietly on their own and come up with their own wording and answers based on the text.)

EXPERIENCED: REMEMBER A TIME in your life when you saw bad behavior rewarded with good things. THINK OF A TIME in the Bible when people blamed sinful actions for problems in life.

TASK-ORIENTED: See the examples above and below. Action words, often distinguished by capitalized or bold font, set adult learners to a task. Including a number helps them define that task. (See the example for “Self-Directed.” When learners find five ways, they’ve completed the task.)

PROBLEM-SOLVING: RESPOND to a friend who says, “Why should I even bother fighting off temptation? Even if I resist this morning, it will be back this afternoon. And if I fight it off today, it will just be back tomorrow.”

IMMEDIATE APPLICATION: Gideon doubts God’s involvement with and care for the nation of Israel. Apply Gideon’s line of thinking to today. WRITE DOWN three questions that might creep into a Christian’s thinking in 2025. (Note: This category often goes hand in hand with problem-solving.)

Note that with all of these, the Word of God is still the center and focus. And the under-shepherd of the Good Shepherd still maintains his role of feeding his flock and informing, guiding, and correcting as necessary. There is plenty of time to lecture on the truths of the text, both in developing context and especially in reacting to learners’ answers while sharing one’s own.

This is good because as the results of Pastor Schulte’s survey demonstrated, the preferences of adult learners are many and varied. Some love to simply listen to lecture as insights they couldn’t have found on their own are shared. For others, lecture reminds them of high school classrooms they’d just as soon leave behind. Some embrace group work, feeding off the opportunity to verbalize thoughts and to hear others do the same. Others learners loathe “table talk” and think more deeply when the room around them is quiet. The lesson designer will find it hard to keep everybody happy all the time. But keeping SETPI in mind helps us have a little something for everyone.

SETPI isn’t a lesson design framework, per se. In other words, we don’t proceed from a Self-Directed thing to an Experiential thing to a Task-Oriented thing in a linear fashion as we design our lessons. Rather, SETPI is a guide for us when we’re creating our lessons and a rubric for us when reviewing our lessons. Have we included something that draws on the learners’ experiences? Have we included something that allows them to problem solve—and does that tie into something they can actually experience in their lives (immediate application)?

While planning your Bible studies, remember that NPH offers a wide selection of adaptable Bible studies and kits. And don’t forget to check out the Bible Study Workshop. With a one-time payment for a lifetime subscription, you’ll get one or more studies for every book of the Bible and 160+ topical studies covering culture, the church, and more, which you can modify to fit your purpose and teaching style.

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.