Research-led insights into supporting the faith of children and young people today

Worsley, Howard and Holmes, Sarah E and Crispin, Gareth and Cromwell, Carmen (2026) Research-led insights into supporting the faith of children and young people today. British Journal of Religious Education. ISSN 0141-6200

Text BJRE June 20206 - Research-led insights into supporting the faith of children and young people today.pdf - Accepted Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 21 December 2027. Download (713kB)

Abstract

With a focus on Christian and church ministry, this paper reviews the literature on faith formation/development and spirituality and presents research findings on how to support the faith of children and young people. First, the development of faith is considered in children and young people, by listening to those who minister amongst them. The
findings show that whilst some ministry workers hold to a more conservative pedagogy which perceives that faith needs to be taught in a top-down manner, others espouse a more bottom-up approach whereby faith is discovered within a church or home environment.
Subsequently, the paper considers how faith grows in children and young people by listening to their perspective through three focus groups. This revealed that there are key marker points in Church life which enable their faith to grow and that there are recognisable lifestyle practices that encourage their faith development. They valued interge
nerational Church culture which includes them, and the rite of baptism as being a point of commitment to their committed faith. They also showed appreciation of festivals and camps, age-related groups and online engagement as they learn how to read the Bible.
Theological reflection is then offered.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	faith development; support for CYP; children's ministry
Faculty / Department:	Faculty of Education and Social Sciences > School of Education
Depositing User:	Sarah Holmes
Date Deposited:	20 Jul 2026 10:56
Last Modified:	20 Jul 2026 10:56
URI:	https://hira.hope.ac.uk/id/eprint/4945

Actions (login required)

View Item