Changes

==INTRODUCTION==

==INTRODUCTION==

Twenty-two years ago I stumbled upon a life changing book.  It was “[[Stages of Faith]]” by [[James Fowler]].  Fowler taught a form of developmental [[psychology]] to seminary students at [[Emory University]]’s [[Candler School of Theology]].  His vision was to train future pastors to recognize that any given congregation will include a variety of people with differing faith-structures.  The idea was to equip the church to accommodate as well as challenge each type of faith.  Fowler’s academic work is based on meticulously categorized interviews with thousands of people, each describing his or her own spiritual journey, and answering specific survey questions.  The result is that Fowler identifies six distinct stages of faith that are universally applicable, as it turns out, to any faith tradition.   

Twenty-two years ago I stumbled upon a life changing book.  It was “[http://jmm.aaa.net.au/articles/2219.htm Stages of Faith]” by James Fowler.  Fowler taught a form of developmental [[psychology]] to seminary students at [[Emory University]]’s [[Candler School of Theology]].  His vision was to train future pastors to recognize that any given congregation will include a variety of people with differing faith-structures.  The idea was to equip the church to accommodate as well as challenge each type of faith.  Fowler’s academic work is based on meticulously categorized interviews with hundreds of people, each describing his or her own spiritual journey, and answering specific survey questions.  The result is that Fowler identifies six distinct stages of faith that are universally applicable, as it turns out, to any faith tradition.   

Here in America we prefer to choose our beliefs from a menu, but the fact that faith develops in stages is not something you can simply choose to believe or not.  It’s one of those things like gravity that is not optional.  Anyone actively engaged in his or her own spiritual growth will inevitably grow upward through at least some of the six stages in a very specific order that will never vary.  And while the direction and order of the faith-stages are inviolable, one may not necessarily ever grow beyond a particular level.  Take a snapshot at any given church and you will find representatives of every stage.  Even a sample of people at the same point in life, say, all 40 year-olds, will represent different stages.  It was stunning to read the book because I was reading my own biography in a sense.  It was unequivocally clear to me at the time that I was in Fowler’s fifth stage.  I had experienced a number of “dark nights of the soul” on the way to that stage and for the first time I fully understood the underlying process.   

Here in America we prefer to choose our beliefs from a menu, but the fact that faith develops in stages is not something you can simply choose to believe or not.  It’s one of those things like gravity that is not optional.  Anyone actively engaged in his or her own spiritual growth will inevitably grow upward through at least some of the six stages in a very specific order that will never vary.  And while the direction and order of the faith-stages are inviolable, one may not necessarily ever grow beyond a particular level.  Take a snapshot at any given church and you will find representatives of every stage.  Even a sample of people at the same point in life, say, all 40 year-olds, will represent different stages.  It was stunning to read the book because I was reading my own biography in a sense.  It was unequivocally clear to me at the time that I was in Fowler’s fifth stage.  I had experienced a number of “dark nights of the soul” on the way to that stage and for the first time I fully understood the underlying process.