What We Believe

At Seven Pathways, we believe in the power of spiritual disciplines to connect us more deeply to the Triune God of the Bible, to help us grow, overcome life’s challenges, and thrive in life through creating a daily rhythm of these practices. We hold to an orthodox Protestant Christian view of theology.

God

We believe there is one God who exists in three Persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 1 This Triune God has always existed, since before there was time. God was not created, but is the Creator of all things, even time itself. ²

• God the Father shows us grace, mercy, and everlasting lovingkindness, ³ guides us in the right paths, ⁴provides us with everything we need, ⁵ and disciplines us with love and compassion. ⁶

• God the Son is God made flesh – fully God and fully human. ⁷ God the Son has always existed with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit and came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth in first century Israel. ⁸

• God the Holy Spirit has been active in the world from the beginning. ⁹ In the Old Covenant, the Holy Spirit came upon people at different times and empowered them to do God’s will in a variety of ways, including prophecy, miracles, strength, wisdom, and craftsmanship. ¹⁰ In the New Covenant, the Holy Spirit not only works in the world, but also lives in the hearts of all believers, ¹¹ comforting us, ¹² teaching us, ¹³ growing spiritual fruit in us, ¹⁴ and making us more like Jesus every day. ¹⁵

The Bible

We believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and that every word of it is useful for us today. ¹⁶The Bible does not contain every truth in the world, but contains all that we need to know to be in right relationship with God, love others, and follow Jesus in this world. ¹⁷ The Bible is living and active, able to judge the intentions of our hearts. ¹⁸ We believe that studying the Bible is an interactive experience because the Holy Spirit speaks to our hearts and explains spiritual wisdom to us through God’s Word. ¹⁹

Salvation

We believe in salvation by grace through faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by works. ²⁰ The overarching story of the Bible is the story of the reconciliation of God and His Creation. ²¹

• Creation: God created the world good ²²

• Fall: When sin entered the world through the Fall of Mankind, it caused brokenness in our relationship with God and brokenness in all of creation ²³

• Redemption: When Jesus died as a once-for-all sacrifice for the sins of all humanity and rose again, He conquered death and redeemed us from slavery to sin. ²⁴ In Christ, believers are reconciled to God and made new creations in Him, ²⁵ though we still live in a broken world. ²⁶

• Consummation: When Christ returns, all of creation will be made new in Him. ²⁷

All human beings have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Yet by His grace, God made a way for all who believe to be justified before Him by the sacrifice of Jesus, through Christ’s righteousness on our behalf. ²⁸ We believe that the gospel is GOOD NEWS – a message of hope for a dark and dying world. ²⁹ The gospel brings freedom from the power of sin over our hearts and minds. ³⁰

Good works only come after salvation by grace through faith in Jesus. ³¹ We don’t do good works to gain God’s approval or love, but in response to the love He has already freely given. The biblical definition of “good works” is not things we think are “good” that we try to do in our own power, but the way that the Holy Spirit works through us to reflect God’s character to the world. When we come to faith in Jesus, God changes our hearts and puts His Spirit in us so that we can do “good works” which reflect Jesus to the world. This is how our good works bring glory and honor to God the Father – because they show the world who God is. ³²

The New Creation

When we come to faith in Christ, God makes us a new creation in Him, but Scripture also tells us that we are being renewed day by day. ³³ Justification is a one-time event; the moment we accept Jesus as our Savior, we are justified before the Lord by His righteousness. ³⁴ But sanctification is both a one-time event and a life-long process of the Holy Spirit changing our hearts and growing spiritual fruit in us.

From the minute we believe, we are declared holy or “saints” in Christ. ³⁵ This doesn’t mean we’re perfect! Holiness means being “set apart” for a sacred purpose. God is set apart from everything else in the universe by nature. He is completely perfect. As His people, we are set apart from the rest of the world by calling. Though we are far from perfect, we are set apart for Christ – His kingdom and His purposes. And yet, the Holy Spirit is also changing us to become more like Him. So we are both declared holy and we are also being made holy more and more each day. ³⁶

Just like it takes years for a tree to grow from a seed and begin to bear fruit, so it takes time for the Spirit grow spiritual fruit in us. Spiritual growth is hard, too – it takes pruning for the fruit to grow! ³⁷Spiritual maturity is a life-long journey. We will never be finished growing in spiritual maturity until we are made perfect in heaven. ³⁸

This is why we are so passionate about spiritual disciplines at Seven Pathways. God can work in our hearts through His Word, ³⁹ through other people, ⁴⁰ and through life experiences, especially suffering and struggle. ⁴¹ But the spiritual disciplines are specific tools God has given us to connect with His Spirit and hear His voice so we can live out the life of peace and freedom which only comes through Jesus, the source of lasting freedom. ⁴² The more we practice spiritual disciplines over a lifetime of walking with Jesus, the more we live from a place of His purpose, which brings wholeness by transforming our thoughts, emotions, desires, and affections. .

The Church

We believe that the Church is the body of Christ – God’s hands and feet in the world. ⁴³ As people who have been reconciled to God, the church is called to a ministry of reconciliation – to reconcile the world to God. ⁴⁴ So in one sense, the church is a community which exists for the benefit of those outside their community. Yet they are also called to live together as God’s family in community, loving one another, and building one another up in the faith. ⁴⁵

It is in community that we learn how to love others the way Jesus loves us, even those we find difficult to love. ⁴⁶ It is in community that we learn to forgive, repent, and reconcile; rebuke, correct, and encourage; and share, serve, and humbly put others’ needs before our own. ⁴⁷ Without community, we could never experience iron sharpening iron or learning from the wisdom and experience of another believer. So the spiritual disciplines cannot only be practiced individually, but must also be experienced in community with other believers.