The spiritual development of adolescents in their experience of discipleship

This study explored the spiritual development of adolescents in their experience of discipleship. Adolescents\u27 understanding of spiritualiy and how they experience this in the discipleship process, as well as the factors that facilitate and impede their spiritual development in the process were looked into using interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Six teenagers, all undergoing discipleship, were interviewed for the study. Using thematic analysis, the adolescents\u27 understanding of their spiirituality centered around four superordinate themes: exoteric practices, transcendence, relationship, and sense of purpose, while their discipleship experience emerged themes on nurturance, evangelistic orientation, and morality checks. Factors that faciliate spiritual development are nurturance, exoteric religiosity, and transcendental experiences, while those that impede are life challenges, discouragement, negative feelings, and environmental influences. The adolescents generally have positive expecatations in the process