What Helps Christians Grow? An Exploratory Study Distinguishing among Four Distinctive Pathways

Abstract

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What helps young Christians grow in discipleship? Exploring connections between discipleship pathways and psychological type

“…In their exploratory study, Francis, Foster, Lankshear, and Jones (2019) identified two scales that served as indicators of growth in Christian discipleship. The first scale of seven items was identified as assessing depth of discipleship and styled Index of Depth of Discipleship.…”

“…In their exploratory study, Francis, Foster, Lankshear, and Jones (2019) set out to identify distinctive pathways by which the 1,123 participants had 'been helped in their journey of faith'. Factor analysis, employing principal component and varimax rotation, identified a clear four-factor structure.…”

“…In their exploratory study, Francis, Foster, Lankshear, and Jones (2019) identified two further factors that either supported or challenged growth in discipleship. The first of these two measures they styled Index of Church Support.…”

“…A recent strand of research in the UK, established within the broad fields of empirical theology and the theology of individual difference, has begun to explore the science of Christian discipleship learning. In a pioneering and exploratory study, Francis, Foster, Lankshear, and Jones (2019) drew on data generated by a detailed survey completed by 1,123 churchgoers in England to identify indicators of Christian growth in discipleship and to map distinctive pathways that may lead to such growth among different people. This study was rooted in a theology of individual differences that argues that different people may hear and respond to God's call to discipleship in different and distinctive ways.…”

“…This study was rooted in a theology of individual differences that argues that different people may hear and respond to God's call to discipleship in different and distinctive ways. The present study has been designed to build on the foundations put in place by Francis, Foster, Lankshear, and Jones (2019) among a sample of young Canadian Baptists between the ages of 12 and 18 years, and to extend that study by exploring the effect of psychological type preferences on shaping pathways to growth in discipleship.…”