I remember sitting down with a pastor of a church quite a few years ago about doing some teacher training at his church.  We got talking about adult ministries and he expressed how he was baffled about the lack of books and training materials for adult ministries. 

The MinTools.com site has a page devoted to adult ministry resources.  You will notice only a few of the books in the general section.  And, of those books, none are current.

Disciple Making Teachers: How to Equip Adults for Growth and Action  (1997)

Ministering to Today’s Adults  (1999)

The 7 Ways of Teaching the Bible to Adults: Using Our Multiple Intelligences to Build Faith  (2000)

The Christian Educator’s Handbook on Adult Education  (1998)

Now, you will find resources on some of the various sub-groupings like men’s and women’s ministry, younger, middle, and senior age adults, single and married adults.  But, — why so few general books on adult ministries?

If you were to check out the children’s ministry and youth ministry resource pages, you will find a good number of general ministry training resources for those age groups and I haven’t listed near all of the ones I could have.  But,  — you will not find this kind of volume for adult ministry training.

A popular online Christian bookstore has specialty stores by age levels.  The list includes infant/toddlers, children, youth, single adult, and senior adult.    Again, you do not find adult ministry listed as you do children and youth ministries.  Though some adults are included (what about married, younger and middle aged adults?), the list does not contain a general adult section.

Children’s and youth ministries are very important but so are adults.  Think about it:  Jesus, though welcoming children to Himself, primarily ministered to adults.  The Bible, though relevant to children and youth, is written as an adult book.  And, the Bible is clear that the main responsibility for the nurture of children and youth belongs to parents.  We need to know how to effectively minister to adults so their walk with God flows into the training of their children. 

Perhaps the pastor I visited is right to be baffled. 

Why isn’t more emphasis put on adult ministry training?