The Most Natural Way to Connect with God

What is the best, most natural, most spiritual way for human beings to connect with God? What spiritual practices result in the greatest spiritual passion and fulfillment?

Some say it's all about the Bible. Others say no, the Bible is good, but the Bible is really just to point us toward the real thing, which is experiencing God's power.

Wait, another one says. If you really want to connect with God, go in a closet and close the door and stay there. But that idea freaks out somebody else, who really finds God best by taking a walk in the woods.

As a pastor and a musician, I have had to faced the frustrating fact that in Sunday morning worship services, some people put up with the music in order to get to the sermon, while others endure the sermon as the price they have to pay to hear the music.

And then there are those who say all that is OK, but Christianity is all about serving people, and the only way to truly connect with God is by actively serving someone in need.

Who's right?

All of the above.

Two recent books each outline nine different ways in which different people most naturally connect with God. Christian Schwarz, in The Three Colors of Your Spirituality, calls these spiritual styles. Gary Thomas, in Sacred Pathways, calls them spiritual temperaments. Every denomination and tradition contains people of each style or temperament. The key to spiritual growth is first to discover your natural or native syle or temperament (both books provide help in this), and then to intentionally develop an appreciation for the others.

The point is that no one way is right for everyone, and no way is wrong (as long as it leads you to Jesus, as Jesus is described in the Bible). No one way is more or less spiritual or Christlike. But when we all work together and pool our connection with God, then we have something awesome.