Just as people have different personality temperaments, they also have different ways they prefer to approach God for worship and connection. It's like how the various people in Jesus' day encountered Him - some through doing an activity with Him, others by wrestling over a question, and so on. It's possible that every person has at least one way they usually best connect with God, while others may discover many different pathways.

This isn't to say that all activities or beliefs lead to God. Sometimes even the thing we do on a regular basis may become more about the action of it than the Lord Himself. Use the survey below to identify what you may be most open to today. If your ability to connect with God has hit a snag, perhaps it is because you're trying to follow someone else's pathway or haven't ever considered the alternative methods the Bible instructs us to seek our Creator with.


To better figure your out, rate each statement on a scale of 1 to 5. (1 = the least true, 5 = the most true.

1. I feel closest to God when I'm surrounded by natural things He has made - the mountains, a forest, or the sea.
2. I enjoy connecting with God through elements - like communion or incense.
3. The words tradition and history are very appealing to me.
4. It's worth the sacrifice for me to take extended time away by myself where I work on my relationship with God - spending large amounts of time praying and studying his Word.
5. I am constantly trying to awaken fellow Christians from sleepy, lazy attitudes and apathy.
6. I feel closest to God when I connect with the needy, the poor, the sick, or the imprisoned. Sometimes when I am sitting quietly beside the bed of someone or simply providing a ride to someone in need of one, I feel like God's hands and feet.
7. God is an exciting God, and we should be excited about worshiping him. I don't understand how some Christians can say they love God, and then act lifeless when they gather on Sunday to explore how great He is.
8. The words lover, intimacy, and heart are very appealing to me.
9. I feel close to God when I participate in study time - reading the Bible or good Christian books, and then having an opportunity to share what I'm taking away from them with others.
10. I feel cut off spiritually if I have to spend too much time indoors - nothing helps me connect with God better than being outside.
11. It really helps me when I'm in a church gathering and I am given something to do with my body - holding an object during a sermon, shaking a hand of someone next to me, singing songs of worship that I can close my eyes and get lost in, and so on.
12. I think I'd get a lot out of a formal liturgy or prayer-book service. I think I'd even get a lot out of developing a Christian calendar for our family to follow based around important events in Church history.
13. I would really enjoy spending time trying a new spiritual practice - maybe staying up late in prayer, fasting from food, or taking a short vow of silence. Perhaps even just simplifying my life.
14. I connect with God best when I'm joining Him in standing up for justice... righting wrongs, correcting a public issue, standing up for the unborn, etc.
15. I grow weary of Christians who say they love Jesus and yet a sick neighbor goes without a hot meal or a family in need doesn't get help fixing their car.
16. The fact that God is unpredictable gives me great comfort.
17. I really enjoy having thirty minutes of uninterrupted time a day to sit in the presence of God.
18. I spend more money on books than music.
19. I would prefer to worship God by spending an hour beside a small brook and talking with Him than by participating in a group service.
20. The words colorful and aromatic are very appealing to me.
21. I would really enjoy developing a consistent personal pattern (or ritual) of prayer.
22. I feel closest to God when I am able to take part in something predictable.
23. I get very frustrated if I see Christians who aren't doing their part to contribute. Sometimes I want to give them a good talking to, if I could muster up the courage.
24. The words serving and change are very appealing to me.
25. I would enjoy learning a new way to worship God, even if it stretched me into something that seems different than my usual patterns... not because I'm bored but because I expect that God is going to move in unexpected ways and I am easily willing to be uncomfortable to connect with Him.
26. When I think of God, I think of love, friendship, and adoration more than anything else.
27. I connect with God best when I learn something new about him that I didn't understand before. My mind needs to be stimulated. It's very important to me that I know exactly what I believe.
28. If I could escape to a garden to pray on a cold day, walk through a park on a warm day, and take a trip by myself to the mountains on another day, I would be ecstatic.
29. I would really enjoy using drawing, exercise or art to improve my prayer life.
30. I feel closest to God when I'm participating in a familiar form of worship that has memories dating back to my childhood. Rituals and traditions move me more than anything else.
31. I would describe my faith as more "internal" than "external."
32. The words courageous, confrontation and social activism are very appealing to me.
33. I sense God's power when I am counseling a friend who has lost a job, preparing meals for or fixing the car of a family in need, or spending a week at an orphanage in Mexico.
34. I spend more money on music and worship CDs than books.
35. I would rather be alone with God, contemplating who He is, than participating in a formal liturgy or being distracted by a walk outside.
36. I get frustrated when the church focuses too much on feelings and spiritual experience. Of far more importance is the need to understand the Christian faith and have proper beliefs/doctrine.
37. Seeing God's beauty in nature is more moving to me than understanding new concepts, participating in a formal religious service, or participating in social causes.
38. I feel closest to God when I'm in an environment that allows my senses to come alive - when I can see, smell, hear, and almost taste his majesty.
39. Individualism within the church is a real danger. Christianity is a corporate faith, and most of our worship should have a corporate expression. God creates us to worship Him in community.
40. The words silence, solitude, and discipline are very appealing to me.
41. Activities like confronting a social evil, attending a meeting to challenge the new curriculum before the local school board, and volunteering on a political campaign are important to me.
42. I prefer relationships where our lives are open books to each other. I want people to speak loving truth versus ignore and tolerate my shortcomings. And I want the freedom to do the same with/for them. Relationships are one of the best ways God reveals challenges I am to receive and give.
43. I connect with God best when my heart is sent soaring and I feel like I want to burst, worship God all day long, and shout out his name. Celebrating God and his love is my favorite form of worship.
44. The most difficult times in my faith seem to be when I can't slow down and carve out uninterrupted time to reflect on what God is doing in and around me.
45. The words concepts and truth are very appealing to me.




Compiled Results

Creation:
People who enjoying drawing near to God through nature and creation.

Senses:
People who draw near to God by letting all of their senses get engaged.

Tradition:
People who draw near to God through ritual and symbol.

Sacrifice:
People who draw near to God through solitude, simplicity, and self-denial.

Activists:
People who draw near to God through bringing about social change.
 Relationships:
People who draw near to God through caring for/being there for others and having accountability with them.

Enthusiast:
People who draw near to God through celebration and mystery.

Contemplative:
People who draw near to God through personal adoration and heartfelt devotion.

Intellectual:
People who draw near to God through their minds - by studying and pondering great Truths.

 

Which is highest? Which is lowest?

What does this tell you about the way you most easily connect with God?

Now that you're clarifying your preferred pathway to connect with God,
give yourself room to grow in it. Likewise, know that while you
may not enjoy other ways as well it is often a good idea
to take a risk/step in those areas somehow.

Print this page or write down your results BEFORE clicking CLEAR RESULTS.
Once you click it, the test will end and your results will be erased.



Adapted from SACRED PATHWAY - HC by GARY L. THOMAS.