Barbara Rogoff Comes to Church: Sociocultural Development and Its Implications for Sydney Anglican Children’s Ministry in the 21st Century

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This paper was originally written for ‘Evolution of Education’, a Bachelor of Philosophy subject at Macquarie University in May 2021.

Confessional Anglican Churches form identifiable cultural communities that have distinctive beliefs, patterns, and practices. It is the intent of the adults within those communities to pass on these markers of Christian faith and tradition to the next generation, so that these children will develop as faithful members of the Christian church, continuing to hold these beliefs and participate in the patterns and practices of the faith into adulthood. In this paper I argue that a critical adoption of Barabara Rogoff’s intent community participation theory of development, would not only support the meaningful adoption of Christian faith practices amongst children, but also aligns with stated Confessional Anglican theology.

Key words: Rogoff, Anglican, Faith Formation, socio-cultural, intent community participation.

UPDATE: The paper is currently under review for journal publication. If you would like to find out more about this research, please contact me.