GE-424 Lifespan Development

Churches walk with people from birth to death. Learn how people grow and change in every season of life, and how to serve them well at every age.

Following Every Season Under Heaven, with the OpenStax textbook beside it, this course traces human life from conception to death. It begins with how development is studied and with life before birth, moves through childhood and adolescence, and ends with the adult seasons of love, work, ageing, dying and grief. You learn to weigh the discipline from Christian teaching and to serve people of every age, including the protection of children and vulnerable people. Some chapters speak of abuse, sexuality, suicide, death and grief; if they touch your life, turn to your own church or to a professional where you live.

What you will study

• How human development is studied
• Genes, conception and life before birth
• The first three years: body, mind and the bond of trust
• Childhood: play, learning, belonging and moral growth
• Adolescence: the changing body, identity and belonging
• Early adulthood: love, marriage and calling
• The middle years and late adulthood: care and ageing with grace
• Death, dying and grief: hope at the end

Course materials

• Every Season Under Heaven, a WWES textbook
• Lifespan Development, an OpenStax textbook