Faith development theory of Fowler and Saddha of Myanmar Theravada Buddhism: Foundations for the nurturing faith

Abstract

Anyone who has spent time in Myanmar attempting to communicate the Gospel, either inside or outside the Christian community, must come up against the exasperating fact, that no matter how brilliant a linguist one may be, how sincere in presenting the Gospel, how totally saturated in the local culture, one’s message seems to fall along the path, on rocky ground, among thorn bushes, or on the deaf ears. Why? There are two situations which we must consider. The first is that Christians in Myanmar teach the Gospel without giving serious attention to the people we preach to, their spiritual background, what they believe, and how they believe, etc. The second thing is that after preaching to the people we neglect the importance of follow-up and nurture. The above tendencies can be handled by means of faith development theories: Fowler's stages of faith development theory and that of Theravada tradition.