Moving from Faith Development to Faith Engagement in Christian Schools: A Scoping Review

Abstract

Fowler’s theory of faith development has been the primary method of assessing faith formation in children since the 20th Century. However, despite some adjustments to Fowler’s theory, there is a need to re-examine it’s relevance in the new millennium. This scoping review aims to provide an overview of current research related to faith formation for children and situate the research in terms of Fowler’s theory of Faith Development. Utilising the Scoping Review methodology developed by Arksey & O’Malley, a review of empirical literature related to faith formation activities with children was undertaken. These articles were placed within Fowler’s Faith Developmental stages. Results indicate that Fowler’s stages of Faith Development hold little relevance to existing research. A discussion regarding the use of the term Faith Engagement as a way of describing the outcomes of faith formation activities occurs.