Group 1
THE 6 STAGES OF FAITH
BY JAMES W. FOWLER
PRESENTED BY:
GROUP 1
OPENING
VERSE
John 1 : 1-3
"In the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the
Word was God. He was in the
beginning with God. All things were
made through him, and without him
was not any thing made that was
made."
DEVOTION
1 2 3
ACTS 17: 22-31 1 PETER 3:13-22 JOHN 14: 15-21
ACTS 17: 22-31
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said:
“People of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23
For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of
worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: to an unknown
god. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship—and this is
what I am going to proclaim to you. 24 “The God who made the
world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does
not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by
human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives
everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he
made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and
he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries
of their lands.
ACTS 17: 22-31
27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach
out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us.
28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’[a] As some
of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’[b]
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think
that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image
made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked
such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to
repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with
justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this
to everyone by raising him from the dead.”
1 PETER 3:13-22
13 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? 14 But
even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do
not fear their threats[a]; do not be frightened.”[b] 15 But in your
hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an
answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope
that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16
keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously
against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their
slander. 17 For it is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good
than for doing evil. 18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the
righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to
death in the body but made alive in the Spirit.
1 PETER 3:13-22
19 After being made alive,[c] he went and made proclamation to
the imprisoned spirits— 20 to those who were disobedient long
ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark
was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved
through water, 21 and this water symbolizes baptism that now
saves you also—not the removal of dirt from the body but the
pledge of a clear conscience toward God.[d] It saves you by the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is
at God’s right hand—with angels, authorities and powers in
submission to him.
JOHN 14: 15-21
15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the
Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be
with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept
him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know
him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you. 18 I will not leave
you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Before long, the world will
not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also
will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father,
and you are in me, and I am in you. 21 Whoever has my
commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one
who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them
and show myself to them.”
WHO IS JAMES
W. FOWLER?
James William Fowler III (1940–
2015) was an American theologian
and a Professor of Theology and
Human Development at Emory
University. He was director of both
the Center for Research on Faith
and Moral Development, and the
Center for Ethics until he retired in
2005.
JAMES W. FOWLER
WHO IS JAMES
W. FOWLER?
He was a minister in the United
Methodist Church. Fowler is best
known for his book Stages of Faith,
published in 1981, in which he
sought to develop the idea of a
developmental process in "human
faith".
JAMES W. FOWLER
WHAT ARE THE STAGES OF FAITH
BY JAMES W. FOWLER
Stages of Faith: The
Psychology of Human
Development and the
Fowler’s work is
Quest for Meaning by
considered a classic
James W. Fowler is a
in the development of
seminal work of structural-
the psychology of
developmental psychology
religion.
that delineates an
innovative stage theory of
faith development.
STAGES OF FAITH
PRE-STAGE:
UNDIFFERENTIATED FAITH
STAGE 1:
INTUITIVE-PROJECTIVE FAITH
Stage 4: Individuative-
Reflective Faith
PRE-STAGE:
UNDIFFERENTIATED FAITH
Generally children from birth through about
2 years of age. Have the potential for faith
but lack the ability to act on that potential.
Through loving care from parents and other
adults in their life, young children start to
build a lived experience of trust, courage,
hope and love. At this stage, children
experience faith as a connection between
themselves and their caregiver.
STAGE 1:
INTUITIVE-PROJECTIVE FAITH
Generally pre-school aged children.
The cognitive development of children of
this age is such that they are unable to
think abstractly and are generally unable
to see the world from anyone else's
perspective. As Robert Keeley writes:
"These children cannot think like a
scientist, consider logical arguments, or
think through complex ideas."
STAGE 1:
INTUITIVE-PROJECTIVE FAITH
Faith is not a thought-out set of ideas,
but instead a set of impressions that are
largely gained from their parents or other
significant adults in their lives. In this way
children become involved with the rituals
of their religious community by
experiencing them and learning from
those around them.
STAGE 4: INDIVIDUATIVE-REFLECTIVE
FAITH
This stage usually starts in late adolescence (18 to 22 years
old) People in this stage start to question their own
assumptions around the faith tradition. Along with questioning
their own assumptions about their faith, people at this stage
start to question the authority structures of their faith. This is
often the time that someone will leave their religious
community if the answers to the questions they are asking are
not to their liking. Greater maturity is gained by rejecting some
parts of their faith while affirming other parts. In the end, the
person starts to take greater ownership of their own faith
journey
QUESTIONS
???
REFERENCES
1 James Fowler’s Six Stages of Faith | Free Essay Example. (2021, October 13).
StudyCorgi.com. https://studycorgi.com/james-fowlers-six-stages-of-faith/
2
Religious Experience Resources - Reviews. (n.d.). Religious Experience Resources - Reviews.
https://people.bu.edu/wwildman/relexp/reviews/review_fowler01.htm#:~:text=Stages%20of%2
0Faith%3A%20The%20Psychology%20of%20Human%20Development,in%20the%20developmen
t%20of%20the%20psychology%20of%20religion.
REFERENCES
3
Handout 1: Stages of Faith Development. (n.d.). UUA.org.
https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/wholeness/workshop2/handout1-
stages-faith-development
James Fowler. (n.d.). Biola University.
https://www.biola.edu/talbot/ce20/database/james-fowler 4
CLOSING
PRAYER
JOHN 3:16
“For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten
Son, that whosoever believeth
in him should not perish, but
have everlasting life.”
THANK YOU
FOR LISTENING!
