by John Westerhoff III in Will Our Children Have Faith
A simplified outline by Brian Stoffregen.
Stage 1: RECEIVED FAITH has two parts:
(1) EXPERIENCED FAITH (preschool & early childhood) -- imitating actions, e.g., a child praying the Lord's Prayer without understanding the meaning of all the words -- "This is what we do. This is how we act."
1. AFFILIATIVE FAITH (childhood & early adolescent years) -- belonging to a group, which still centers on imitating what the group does -- "This is what we believe and do. This is our group/church."
Stage 2: SEARCHING FAITH (late adolescence) -- asking questions, "Is this what I believe?" This stage of faith is adding the "head" to the "heart" of the earlier stages. Westerhoff comments:
It appears, regretfully, that many adults in the church have never had the benefit of an environment which encouraged searching faith. And so they are often frightened or disturbed by adolescents who are struggling to enlarge their affiliative faith to include searching faith. Some persons are forced out of the church during this state and, sadly, some never return; others remain in searching faith the rest of their lives. In any case, we must remember that persons with searching faith still need to have all the needs of experienced and dependent faith met, even though they may appear to have cast them aside. And surely they need to be encouraged to remain within the faith community during their intellectual struggle, experimentation, and first endeavors at commitment.
The questioning stage can lead into the two directions. -- Will the questioner become unbelieving or move onto the next stage of faith? This age-level of "questioning faith" is also the age-level when most cult groups recruit their members and when many "drop-out" of church.
Stage 3: OWNED FAITH (early adulthood) -- this stage comes only through the searching stage. After exploring the question, "Is this what I believe?" one discovers a Christian answer that declares: "This is what I believe." This is the strong, personal faith that one witnesses to and one is willing to die for.
Posted for Pastor Bob
