When I first encountered James W. Fowler’s model, the “Stages of Faith,” I was struck by how elegantly it maps spiritual and existential growth onto familiar developmental stages. As I reflect on my own experiences, I see how each stage aligns with moments of wonder, confusion, crisis, and transcendence in my life.
Stage 0 – Primal or Undifferentiated Faith (Birth to ~2 years)
Fowler describes this earliest stage as one rooted in how infants experience trust or mistrust of the world, shaped by consistent care or neglect. Although it's beyond conscious memory, I know that the warm responsiveness of my mother – especially in the quiet hours of the night – instilled in me a deep, almost intuitive sense that the world could be safe and nurturing. This foundation and the incredible safe, stable and nurturing childhood I had has shaped my lifelong expectation that love should be trustworthy.
Stage 1 – Intuitive-Projective Faith (Ages ~3–7)
At this stage, faith is naive, imaginative, and fueled by stories and symbols. I remember sitting in the pews of my childhood church (Presbyterian at the time), watching light stream through the stained-glass windows, convinced that God was somehow sending me secret messages through the colors. I also took Bible stories at face value, imagining that Jonah’s whale or Noah’s ark could appear in my own backyard if God willed it! I was a magical child and thought that all things were possible! I practiced my secret powers in the forrest by trying to deflect snowballs that friends playfully hurled at me, believing that God would profect me.
Stage 2 – Mythic-Literal Faith (Ages ~7–12)
Children in this stage see faith in terms of cause and effect. I remember praying fervently for the safety of my family whenever my father traveled for business, believing that my words alone kept disaster away. When prayers didn’t work the way I expected, it left me confused — not because I stopped believing, but because I thought I must have “done it wrong.” The simplicity of “good things happen to good people” was comforting, even if reality didn’t always match. This also matches what Marcus Borg calls the "earlier paradigm" of religion where faith is a system of rewards and punishments for our behavior.
Stage 3 – Synthetic-Conventional Faith (Adolescence to early adulthood)
This stage is often about belonging to a community and embracing its worldview. For me, that meant fully embracing my United Church of Christ upbringing (from age 13 on), where I was active in youth group, music, and service projects. It also meant, as a gay teenager in Iowa, learning to live in two worlds - the relatively safe one inside my church, and the often less accepting one outside. At the time, I didn’t question the beliefs I inherited; instead, I found comfort in the collective identity they gave me.
Stage 4 – Individuative-Reflective Faith (Mid-twenties to late thirties)
Here is where questioning begins in earnest. My years living in Europe, traveling widely, and studying at Pathways Intitute exposed me to spiritual traditions and philosophies I had never encountered before. I began to see that God was bigger than my childhood images, and that spiritual truth could live beyond doctrinal boundaries. This was also a period of personal wrestling - with my identity, my relationships, and the gap between inherited theology and lived experience. The ambient noise of religious intolerance from evangelicalism also caused me to question my faith, but thankfully, I was able to find communities that welcomed me to the table, and I was able to remain faithful to God.
Stage 5 – Conjunctive Faith (Mid-life)
In this stage, paradox is no longer the enemy - it’s part of the beauty. This is where I am now. My ministry, especially preaching on shame, grace, and wholeness, reflects my belief that truth is often both/and, not either/or. My work with the LGBTQIA+ community, people who have been wounded by the church, and those on unconventional spiritual paths has shown me that God’s love is wide enough to hold our contradictions. I can speak openly and effortlessly about being a gay man and a pastor, knowing that my authenticity is itself a form of ministry.
Stage 6 – Universalizing Faith (Later adulthood; rare)
This stage is rare, and I don’t claim to have reached it — but I aspire toward it. I see glimpses when I am serving in ways that cost me nothing less than my full presence, whether in pastoral care with someone struggling with life issues or especially in advocating for justice alongside people whose struggles are different from mine. It’s the stage where love overrules fear, and all boundaries begin to dissolve.
Final Thoughts
Looking back, I realize that faith has not followed a strictly linear progression. Rather, I’ve experienced echoes of earlier stages even while growing into later ones - a reminder that the journey is layered and dynamic. Fowler’s model has given me a way to honor each stage, understand my transitions, and embrace the complexity of spiritual growth.
My prayer is that, as I continue walking this path, I will keep holding onto the openness and imagination of my earliest faith, while moving toward the deep, boundary-breaking love that characterizes the final stage. I will also use this system to understand the ways in which people of all ages experience their faiths so I can minister to them at whatever stage they might be at as I help guide their exploration and development.
