Kings Road Church

Session 6

Spiritual Pathways

Mary Batchelor - April 4, 2004

What Is a Spiritual Pathway?

  • A spiritual pathway is the way we most naturally connect with God and grow spiritually.
  • We do tend to favor one or two main pathways.
  • There’s usually at least one pathway that is very unnatural for us.
  • The goal is for you to feel great FREEDOM and joy using it.

Seven Spiritual Pathways

  1. Intellectual
  2. Relational
  3. Serving
  4. Worship
  5. Activist
  6. Contemplative
  7. Creation

  1. Intellectual

    Characteristics
    • You draw close to God as you’re able to learn more about him.
    • The study of Scripture and theology comes naturally.
    • You have little patience for emotional approaches to faith.
    • You are a thinker.
    • When you face problems or spiritual challenges, you go into problem-solving mode.
    Examples
    • Biblical: The Apostle Paul
    • Other: C. S. Lewis
    Strengths
    • Read great books that challenge you.
    • Expose yourself to lots of teaching.
    • Find like-minded people with whom you can learn.
    Cautions
    • Guard against becoming all head and no heart.
    • Don’t confuse being bright with being spiritually mature.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Devote yourself to corporate worship and to private adoration and prayer.
    • If your learning doesn’t lead to worship, it will get dangerous.
    • Engage in self-examination to assess whether or not you are being loving.

  2. Relational

    Characteristics
    • Spiritual growth comes most naturally when you’re involved in significant relationships.
    • Small groups and other community life experiences are key.
    • Your life is an open book.
    • Being alone can drive you crazy.
    • In key times of growth, God will often speak to you through people.
    Examples
    • Biblical: The Apostle Peter
    • Other: John Wesley
    Strengths
    • You need a relationally-rich life.
    • Use your spiritual gift to serve others.
    • Pray with others in community.
    • Learn in a class with other people or in a small group.
    • Use your network of contacts to further God’s kingdom.
    Cautions
    • Guard against superficiality.
    • You can grow dependent on others and become a spiritual chameleon.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Develop a capacity for SILENCE.
    • Keep some of your experiences with God secret.
    • Study Scripture for yourself.
    • Invite close friends to speak truth to you.

  3. Serving

    Characteristics
    • God’s presence seems most tangible when you’re involved in helping others.
    • You’re often uncomfortable in a setting where you don’t have a role.
    • You constantly look for acts of SERVICE you can engage in.
    Examples
    • Biblical: Dorcas in the Book of Acts
    • Other: Mother Teresa
    Strengths
    • Get plugged into a COMMUNITY.
    • Look for glimpses of God’s presence in the people you serve, and in the execution of your tasks.
    • Prepare to serve first by praying so your service is genuinely spiritual service.
    Cautions
    • Be careful not to resent other people who don’t serve as much as you do.
    • Remember that God loves you not because you are so faithful in serving him, but because you are his child
    • Don’t confuse serving with earning God’s love.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Balance your service with small group and community life.
    • Learn to receive love even when you’re not being productive.
    • Practise expressing love through words as well as actions.

  4. Worship

    Characteristics
    • You have a deep love of corporate praise and a natural inclination toward celebration.
    • In difficult periods of life, worship is one of the most healing activities you engage in.
    Examples
    • Biblical: King David
    • Other: Darlene Zschech
    Strengths
    • Experience great worship on a regular basis.
    • Use worship tapes or CDs and make your car a private sanctuary.
    • Learn about other worship traditions, and incorporate what you learn into your personal worship time.
    Cautions
    • Be careful not to judge those who aren’t as expressive in worship.
    • Guard against an experience-based spirituality that always has you looking for the next worship ‘high’.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Engage in the discipline of study.
    • Serve God in concrete ways as an extension of your worship.
    • Remain committed to your community of faith.

  5. Activist

    Characteristics
    • You have a single-minded zeal and a very strong sense of vision.
    • You have a passion to build the church; a passion to work for justice.
    • Challenges don’t discourage you.
    • You do everything you can to bring out the potential God has placed in other people.
    • You love a high-paced, problem-filled, complex, strenuous way of life.
    Examples
    • Biblical: Nehemiah
    • Other: William and Catherine Booth
    Strengths
    • Create a sense of challenge in your life.
    • Find a team of people you can invest in and work with to accomplish big goals.
    Cautions
    • You may run over people or use them.
    • Guard against going too long without pausing to reflect on what you’re doing.
    • You can end up not even knowing your own motives, spiritual condition, or emotional state.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Spend time in solitude and silence.
    • Cultivate a reflective discipline like journalling.
    • Develop close spiritual friendships with one or two other people.

  6. Contemplative

    Characteristics
    • You love uninterrupted time alone.
    • Reflection comes naturally to you.
    • You have a large capacity for prayer.
    • If you get busy or spend a lot of time with people, you feel drained and yearn for times of solitude.
    Examples
    • Biblical: Mary, Martha’s sister
    • Other: Henri Nouwen
    Strengths
    • You need regular, protected, intense times of solitude and stillness.
    • Faithfully follow the intuitions and leadings that come in your times alone with God.
    • Act on what you hear from God in the silence.
    Cautions
    • You have a tendency to avoid the demands of the real world.
    • Be careful not to retreat to your inner world when friends, family, or society disappoint you.
    • Resist the temptation to consider your times of private prayer and solitude as less important than the more public acts of ministry performed by others.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Choose a regular place of active service.
    • Stay relationally connected, even when those relationships become difficult or challenging.
    • Connect with those who have an activist pathway.

  7. Creation

    Characteristics
    • You respond deeply to God through your experience of nature.
    • Being outdoors replenishes you.
    Examples
    • Biblical: Jesus
    • Other: George Washington Carver
    Strengths
    • Spend time outdoors.
    • Find a location for getaways.
    • Make beauty a part of your spiritual life.
    Cautions
    • You may be tempted to use beauty or nature to escape.
    • You will find that people are sometimes disappointing.
    • Guard against the temptation to avoid church.
    Ways to Stretch
    • Stay involved in a worshipping community.
    • Be willing to help out in less-than-beautiful settings.
    • Take Scripture with you into nature and meditate on God’s Word.

Making the Most of Your Spiritual Pathway

  • Give yourself permission to be who you are in God.
  • Be willing to engage in activities that move you out of your comfort zone.
  • Be careful not to envy someone else’s pathway.
  • Beware the temptation to judge someone else because of his or her pathway.
  • Explore and develop the other pathways.

Summary

  • Each of us has one or two preferred spiritual pathways.
  • It’s good to explore all the spiritual pathways.