Tuesday, June 03, 2025

Stages of Faith: Invitations, Not Instructions

Stages of Faith: Invitations, Not Instructions

What if the way we make meaning shifts and flows—like tides rather than steps?
The idea of stages of faith can be helpful, not because it tells us where we “should” be, but because it shows us the diverse ways humans experience and explore meaning. These frameworks offer gentle maps—not rating systems—for understanding how we and others might be engaging with spirituality at a given moment.

Rather than labeling anyone or measuring spiritual “progress,” these models invite curiosity. They help us, as spiritual companions, offer invitations and questions that resonate with the way someone is currently making meaning.

Gentle Models, Not Judgment

The idea of stages of faith can be used like a bludgeon or used to denigrate types of meaning-makeing. Some models are deeply infused in the 'white savior' or modernist world views. As with any model, seek out more than one to shake up your assumptions, and stay open to real, lived, experience.

A stage of faith isn’t a rank. It’s not about being more advanced or enlightened. It’s just one lens for understanding how a person—sometimes a child, sometimes an elder—makes meaning, seeks connection, and responds to the sacred.

We move in and out of stages. Life challenges, spiritual experiences, trauma, and growth can all shift how we relate to our beliefs and practices. Even within one day, we may dip into different modes of spiritual meaning-making.

Understanding common patterns can help us walk beside others more gently.

Key Models of Stages of Faith

Fowler’s Stages of Faith

James Fowler’s classic work maps six stages of faith development, from early intuitive experiences through reflective and universalizing faith. His work, based in Piaget’s cognitive development theory, comes from a particular time and culture, but still offers a foundational framework.
📘 Summary: https://deep-psychology.com/stages-of-faith-james-fowler/

Ken Wilber’s Integral Stages

Wilber’s “holonic” model emphasizes how each stage includes and transcends the one before. He charts stages from egocentric awareness to deep transpersonal insight. His work can be especially helpful in understanding post-rational and pluralistic spiritualities. For me, his work opened my mind to the idea of stages as a spiral instead of stair-steps. 
🌀 Summary: https://www.institute4learning.com/2020/02/05/the-stages-of-life-according-to-ken-wilber/
🔍 More detail (in Ken Wilber's words): https://web.archive.org/web/20230606092815/https://www.kosmosjournal.org/article/integral-spirituality-2/
🌱 Reflection blog: abeltaine.blogspot.com/2017/09/thats-primitive-sorting.html

Other Models of Spiritual Growth

There are other helpful models, some drawing from world religions, psychology, and personal development.

Why It Matters for Companionship

When we sit with seekers, these models can help us tune into what kind of meaning-making might be most resonant. For example:

  • Someone in a mythic-literal stage may find comfort in ritual or traditional stories.

  • A reflective seeker might need space to question inherited beliefs.

  • A transcendent stage seeker might speak in metaphor or paradox.

We don’t need to diagnose a stage. But we can listen for how someone makes meaning and offer tools, stories, or silence accordingly.

Trauma and Shifting Stages

People healing from trauma may revisit earlier stages, question previous certainties, or struggle with the concept of “faith” altogether. That’s not regression—it’s sacred work.

Stages of faith models shouldn’t be weaponized. Instead, they can offer us gentle language for being present with seekers exactly where they are, helping them uncover which metaphors, stories, or questions feel life-giving now.

Try It: A Reflective Practice

Choose one of the stage models above. As you read:

  • Ask yourself: What resonates? What doesn’t?

  • Where do you see yourself right now?

  • What invitations might be helpful to someone who makes meaning differently than you?

Remember, these aren’t “levels.” They’re languages. Try to hear what each stage is trying to say about the sacred.

Beloved, you are whole, holy & worthy,

Rev. Amy

For Further Exploration

• Fowler, James. Stages of Faith – A foundational model of faith development, exploring shifts from childhood belief to universalizing faith.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240528184134/http://www.psychologycharts.com/james-fowler-stages-of-faith.html

• Dillard, Joseph (summary). Understanding Wilber’s Developmental Stages – A helpful overview of Ken Wilber’s framework and its implications for spiritual practice.
https://web.archive.org/web/20250315101928/https://www.integraldeeplistening.com/understanding-wilbers-developmental-stages/

• Pursey, Kirstie. The Seven Stages of Spiritual Growth – Clear and simple stage descriptions grounded in self-discovery.
https://www.learning-mind.com/spiritual-growth-stages/

• Gabriel, Roger. The Seven Stages of Spiritual Development – Describes an inward journey of unfolding wisdom through multiple traditions.
https://web.archive.org/web/20240808024230/https://chopra.com/blogs/personal-growth/the-7-stages-of-spiritual-development

• Beltaine, Amy. That's Primitive Sorting – A personal reflection on how the Wilber model supports multi-tradition spiritual growth.
http://abeltaine.blogspot.com/2017/09/thats-primitive-sorting.html

• UUA Tapestry: Stages of Faith Development – Introduces a poetic, metaphor-based framework used in Unitarian Universalist formation.
https://www.uua.org/re/tapestry/youth/wholeness/workshop2/167602.shtml

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