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Faith Development and Young People

Over the years – and especially during the twentieth century – many researchers have tried to understand the process of faith development.

One reason for pursuing these studies is that it may give us insights into how best to share the Christian faith with people.

We will look at three ‘models' that have been put forward. Each model can help us to understand some aspects of how faith may develop in people but no model is a complete ‘picture'. As Crusader leaders we are most interested in those aspects of the models that relate to children and young people and so these areas have been highlighted wherever possible.

Model 1 (Based on the work of Westerhoff) 

This model seeks to explain how someone grows in faith within a Christian community. It is perhaps one of the easiest models to understand, and it seems to fit what many youth and children's leaders have found by experience.

Here is the model as it may be applied to young people from a non-Christian background who join a youth/children's group. You will see from this model how important it is to create the right environment in the group - which is why this is often stressed at training events.

Model 2 (Based on the work of Engel)

In Engel's model there are three ‘strands' to consider which work together:

You can see that as a person responds to the work of both God and Christians, and their level of faith and understanding increase, then they progress down the scale. By level –4 a person needs to have a positive attitude toward faith or they will not progress. This is the level at which many people stop. Sometimes a person may get to about level –2 but then decide to reject what they had previously believed, although they may later accept it again and move further down the scale once more.

Model 3 (Based on the work of Fowler)

In this model there are seven identified stages of faith*. Everyone is seen as starting at the beginning stage (Stage 0), gradually moving on to the first stage, then the second, etc. However, Fowler believed that few reach the final sixth stage. Movement from one stage to the next is usually triggered by some unexpected ‘crisis' event that causes a re-think about life, ourselves and our faith in God. Faith development is seen as being intertwined with all aspects of one's development as a person.

* We need to be aware that Fowler talks of faith in the widest sense and not specifically in terms of Christian faith. We have still included his research here because there are some useful outcomes from his theory for us as Christian youth/children's leaders.

The stages are given below in a simplified form. Note that the stages overlap in age:


At this early stage of life the child learns the importance of putting trust in those that look after them – something that is of value throughout life.

Now the child is exploring and interacting with the world around them much more. Countless new events are experienced, all adding to the body of knowledge that is being built up of what it means to be a human. As yet, though, there is little order or meaning to it all. The child depends greatly on the role models around them – especially in the family. Expressions of faith seen in others tend to be copied rather than ‘owned' by the child.

The child can now begin to order its own world. They try to separate out truth from fantasy and can see the difference between real life and fiction much better now. In issues of faith they tend to want to experience things as part of a group rather than individually.

With a growing ability to think in abstract ways, the young person begins to sort out their own moral viewpoints, values and beliefs. To start with these are often based on those belonging to the ‘significant adults' in their lives at this time. However the young person is developing a sense of self-identity and personal value, and so will start to challenge the beliefs in others as they struggle to sort out issues of belief and faith for themselves.

Fowler's research suggests that the faith of many adults has never developed beyond Stage 3.

Now comes the step away from following the faith of others to owning a personal faith. However, once the step has been made there is a tendency to think that the process of faith development has finished! Faith has yet to mature and there is a lot of learning still to be achieved if the personal faith of the individual is to develop.

Fowler suggests few people reach this stage – it often comes after some sort of personal tragedy or major difficulty in one's life. The simple, immature faith of Stage 4 has to be re-evaluated after the realisation that the needs that faith addresses are more complex than first thought. A more balanced faith results, which recognises that some of life's questions must probably remain unanswered.

Someone who reaches this stage will have a vision to take their faith out into the world in order to bring about change in the world. They will be deeply committed to this vision and will follow it whatever happens.

For us as youth/children's leaders, we should note in particular how this model suggests that:

Footnote:

All of us are on our own ‘faith journey' and none of us have finished this journey and reached a stage of having a perfect or complete faith in God. Having looked through these three models you may well have seen something of yourself in them. Whether you are conscious of how far there is still to travel on your faith journey, or how far you've already come, it is important to keep your eyes on the goal at the end. You may find it encouraging to read these passages in the New Testament: Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1 to 2. Philippians chapter 3 verses 12 to 21.