How do we help kids build a lasting faith? What does spiritual growth look like?
To better understand that process, we need to look at the stages of faith development that Christian students go through. After working with, training, and observing students for a long time, I think there are four general stages.
Knowing where the student you are trying to disciple is at spiritually or where your child is as you parent them, will help you focus on the right things in the right order.
In a post-Christian culture with confusion, distraction, and outright attack at every turn, it is more important than ever to aim at the right things. And awareness is the first step.
The Four Stages of Faith Development
Beginning.
The first stage is beginning. The key question here is do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?
This describes when a student receives Jesus by putting his or her faith in Jesus. This is the beginning of the journey. This can be at an early age like 5 or 6 or as a teenager like for me at 17, but the point is there is their entry into a relationship with God through Jesus (John 1:12; John 14:6). New life begins.
