So, what are the 9 pathways? They are: naturalist, sensate, traditionalist, ascetic, activist, caregiver, enthusiast, intellectual, and contemplative. I will give a brief explanation of each but please remember that these are titles that the author ascribed to certain activities that he observed. There might be other terms that better describe the pathway but the issue isn’t the name but the activity that restores your soul.

The naturalist is a person who finds being outdoors does something to awaken their hearts to God. Naturalists find more spiritual stimulation in a natural setting rather than in a cleverly crafted human one. I find water particularly soothing and a doorway to intimacy. When we lived on Vancouver Island, I would go to a beach, find a large boulder to lean upon and then soak up the presence of the Lord. An hour or two would fly by and I would leave with such a sense of refreshing in my inner most being. At the time of this writing we are in a landlocked city with no sea nearby. But I find the little brook in the park down the street or a walk along the canals so incredibly worshipful. The majesty of a first growth forest is great but nothing does it for my soul like water.

The sensate finds God through the five senses: taste, touch, hearing, seeing, and even smelling. A sensate becomes spiritually attuned when their senses are brought into play. We went to a prayer meeting organized by the youth of a church. Before we could go into the meeting they blindfolded us and kept us in the hallway of the building. They then gave us a spoonful of bitter lemon juice to stimulate our prayers for those believers who were suffering prosecution for their belief in Christ. Inside the hall they had stations of prayer. Some stations had a video playing, others writing in sand, one centre wall had sheets of white paper where you wrote the names of those you were praying for. There was incense and loud music with lights. We put handprints on the paper on the other side of the centre wall. They had a time of worship with dancing and then a short message, which ended with the speaker crashing through the centre wall. It was an amazing experience but it did not personally bring me into an intimate place with the Lord. It did for others who were deeply moved by this expression of worship.

The traditionalist is designed to appreciate the role of ritual, which builds on the power of reinforced behaviour. There is something profound for you in worshipping God according to set patterns. You may choose to make good use of Christian symbols. It is wise to record insights and truths before we forget them. A traditionalist uses carefully chosen symbols to trigger those truths we want to live by. The types of symbols are unlimited. I know of believers who have experienced the most profound connection with the Lord through a traditional liturgy from the Anglican book of prayer. They had been to many free flowing and prophetic meetings but had never experienced the intensity of God’s presence like they did at a formal liturgy. When I was leading a church, I encouraged my worship leaders to have total freedom to flow wherever the Spirit led. At times I wondered about one of my leaders in that they struggled with the freedom. I used to wonder if I should put more structure into the format for that person’s sake. They lived with us in community and I noticed that in their room they had all kinds of icons, posters and even incense. At that time it never clicked with me that this person found God through tradition and a set pattern. This person’s journey eventually brought them to a church with a very defined, structured format for worship. I thought that they would never be happy in this situation but now realize it is exactly where they will find their greatest fulfillment in meeting with God. They love the role of ritual in worship.

The ascetic is someone who goes off on his own to meet with God and recharge. You like to meet God internally by shutting out the world and basking in solitude. Silence is ideal for personal worship, preferably no distractions. If you need to have alone time on a regular basis you most likely are part ascetic. Ascetics are advocates of many of the classical disciplines of the faith like fasting and meditation upon scripture. I love worship music but often when I want to draw close to God it is silence I crave. Over the years I have learned to be alone in the midst of crowds of people. I will find a café or park where I can sit with people all around but not have to interact. I withdraw into myself and find God in the inner silence. When you have a family it isn’t always expedient that you withdraw from everyone. You need to function in this while you are traveling home in the car or on the subway. Lately I have had to call myself back into being present when there are people around that I need to connect with.

The activist is one who loves to meet God in the vortex of confrontation. If you're an activist, you want to fight God's battles. As an activist, you're one of the movers and shakers of the Christian community. God seems most real, present and exciting when you are in the midst of God's active work. Your focus may be social justice or evangelism or intensely pastoral but the joy and life flows from doing something to bring change. I know pastors who spend all day meeting with people from their fellowships speaking intensely into their life situations. For me to do that is exhausting, for them it is exhilarating. They finish a day of constant coffee meetings refreshed, not to mention buzzed from the caffeine. Activists seem to always be busy and if you aren’t one of them you think when do they get time for God. But the time for God is found in their doing. They can’t understand why the ascetics have to draw away by themselves and sit around doing nothing. Not all people who appear equally as active in the same projects will feel refreshed afterwards like an activist will.

Caregivers love God by loving others. The opportunity to serve and meet others’ needs spiritually energizes you, drawing you ever closer to the Lord. Caring and serving doesn’t weigh you down or feel obligatory or a duty. Caring is the doorway to intimacy with God. This type of service is fulfilled in multiple expressions such as nursing sick people, fixing someone’s plumbing, serving as a volunteer firefighter, or researching a cure for a disease. Again like the activist it seems as if these people are avoiding intimacy with the Lord and may even feel guilty, as their joy doesn’t necessarily come from being alone with God. Care needs to be exercised with this pathway so that it isn’t abused by being overused or busyness draws you from the other paths in your unique blend. I recently met a man who shared that he had the opportunity to purchase gifts for a Christmas gift project. He was so moved by it he said that he would love to do something like that all the time. He was surprised by how much caring brought him into a place of intimacy with God.

The enthusiast loves excitement and celebration reveling in God's mystery and supernatural power. As part of your pursuit of the Lord you tend to buy far more worship CDs than books. You favor group worship, as enthusiasts are generally more relational. The excitement of other believers praising God encourages and strengthens you. Your exuberance draws you to expressions of worship, such as dancing, music, and singing. A spiritual risk taker you look to God to do something new and fresh. You not only want to know the word but you want to experience it too. I would say that enthusiast is part of my unique pathway to God. I love taking spiritual risks and seeing the Holy Spirit move in a meeting or in my life. I came to the Lord through witnessing my father in-laws physical healing. Up until that point in my life I had discarded Jesus’ claims because I had not experienced what the bible said He did. When it happened that close to home, I could no longer ignore the reality of God but had to engage with Him. It led to my conversion to Christ. As it was so fundamental to my conversion it has always been a part of my pursuit of knowing Him more.

The intellectual experiences worship when they receive new revelations about God. These are people who Gallop’s Strength Finder would label as learners because new intellectual understanding literally releases awe and a love for God. They may pursue learning in subject matter beyond the Bible where the more they understand the more they worship the Lord. Intellectuals usually start with the Bible as their initial point of contact with the Lord. As I said earlier I found that reading the word of God led me into a place of intimacy with Him. If I observed a principle or precedent in the environs around me, I would ask Him to show me if this was a godly principle found in His word. I would use scripture as a plumb line for interpreting or confirming my observations.

Often I will think in questions. I wonder why this or that doesn’t happen. I have learned that those questions are often God speaking to me. When I have been wondering about something for sometime and asking myself if we can do it or not, I have realized that God is speaking by making the question a statement. When I was first on my journey towards Christ, my in-laws would say that they prayed against intellectualism standing in my way of coming to Christ. But it was through reading scriptures and books and asking questions of God that I received understanding that helped me respond to God. I knew from scripture that I had to come to Him by faith and not by my understanding, which I eventually did. But they were praying against one of my sacred pathways to Him. Good thing He didn’t answer those prayers.

The contemplative can be distinguished by their emotional attachment and abandonment to God. Contemplatives are lovers of God who spend time in God's presence listening to Him and simply just enjoying Him like Mary. Solitude is a key for you as it is for ascetics. You love to sit still enjoying being in God's presence. Relationship is very important to you. You even relate to the Lord along the same lines as a couple would to each other. Keeping a journal is essential to expressing your heart's devotion. One of my wife’s pathways is contemplative. Her first encounter with the Holy Spirit was late at night when a presence filled our camper awakening her and filling her with awe and wonder. Often over the years since then she has awakened in the middle of the night to go and sit in His presence talking and writing in her journal. I have been amazed how refreshed and physically sustained she has been after hours spent in prayer rather than sleep.

Take some time to analysis your responses to God. What pathways resonated with you? What is the unique blend that brings you into intimacy and the presence of God? There may be elements of one that you don’t flow in simply because the characteristics of your other pathways modify that pathways expression. There may be one that is slightly more dominant than others.