WIO 149 I loved chatting with Gary Thomas about Sacred Pathways — there's nine, just like the enneagram! Intrigued? You're going to love this episode!

Sacred Pathways with Gary Thomas

When I first started on my Christian journey, I was so thankful for God’s grace and forgiveness, He was all I could think about. Then, as the journey continued, that “first love” began to fade, and I went through a season when I struggled to connect with God. Sometimes I would go through the whole day and not even think about Him.

The most consistent way to grow spiritually is to spend time with Bible Reading and Prayer, yet there are other ways to draw close to God, too. Here are ones that Gary Thomas identified:

Naturalists: These Christians love spending time outdoors, and they prefer to pray while sitting by a river or walking through a meadow.
Sensates: These Christians feel closest to God when many of their senses are engaged. Sensates enjoy the smell of incense; beautiful works of art and old, magnificent architecture; and classical music or formal language.
Traditionalists: Traditionalists feel closest to God while enjoying rituals such as communion, tithing, and attending regular church services. Traditionalists have a need for ritual and structure.
Ascetics: Ascetics want nothing more than to be left alone to pray in silence and simplicity.
Activists: Activists are all about justice. They define worship as standing against evil and calling sinners to repentance.
Caregivers: Caregivers often claim to see Christ in the poor and needy, and their faith is built up by interacting with other people.
Enthusiasts: Enthusiasts worship God with joyful celebration. They love clapping, dancing, and shouting, all for God.
Contemplatives: Contemplatives enjoy journaling to the Lord and even writing love letters to God.
Intellectuals: These people love to study God’s Word and Christian principles. They may feel closest to God when they first understand something new about Him.

Does this intrigue you? Tune in to today’s podcast!

Who is Gary Thomas?

Gary Thomas is a writer in residence at Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas, and an adjunct faculty member teaching on spiritual formation at Western Seminary in Portland, Oregon and Houston Theological Seminary in Houston, Texas. He is the author of 19 books, including Sacred Pathways, Cherish, Sacred Parenting, the award-winning Authentic Faith, and Sacred Marriage which sold over one million copies.

You can order Sacred Pathways HERE.

About the Book:

Sacred Pathways reveals nine distinct spiritual temperaments—and their strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies—to help you improve your spiritual life and deepen your personal walk with God.

It’s time to strip away the frustration of a one-size-fits-all spirituality and discover a path of worship that frees you to be you. Experienced spiritual directors, pastors, and church leaders recognize that all of us engage with God differently, and it’s about time we do too.

In this updated and expanded edition of Sacred Pathways, Gary Thomas details nine spiritual temperaments and—like the Enneagram and other tools do with personality–encourages you to investigate the ways you most naturally express yourself in your relationship with God. He encourages you to dig into the traits, strengths, and pitfalls in your devotional approach so you can eliminate the barriers that keep you locked into rigid methods of worship and praise.

Plus, as you begin to identify and understand your own temperament, you’ll soon learn about the temperaments that aren’t necessarily “you” but that may help you understand the spiritual tendencies of friends, family, and others around you.

Whatever temperament or blend of temperaments best describes you, rest assured it’s not by accident. It’s by the design of a Creator who knew what he was doing when he made you according to his own unique intentions. If your spiritual walk is not what you’d like it to be, you can change that, starting here. Sacred Pathways will show you the route you were made to travel, marked by growth and filled with the riches of a close walk with God.

Walk It Out Scripture

So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come close to God, and God will come close to you. James 4:7-8 NLT

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Walk It Out #149: Sacred Pathways with Gary Thomas