WALKING A SPIRIUTAL PATH: SPIRITUAL CONNECTIONS ARE NOT NECESSARILY FOUND IN ORDERS OF WORSHIP

New churches that can break through denominational strongholds and traditions are the wave of the religious community's future, an area pastor says.

Less worried about loyalty to a specific church than about individual spirituality, people are more open about what other religions teach, pastors and religious leaders say. The Rev. Grant Gillard said churches today have to become more fluid as people move about and use non-traditional means to communicate.

"Spirituality seeks God," he said. "And he is always seeking us."

Gillard, pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Jackson, Mo., will graduate from Aquinas Institute of Theology next weekend with a doctorate of ministry in preaching. Gillard said he chose the Catholic seminary because of its teachings.

"I wanted spirituality," he said, adding that the Catholic church has been teaching it.

When seminaries teach new pastors about preaching, they sometimes overlook the spiritual connection. Any book can explain the structure of a sermon, but miss what's underneath, Gillard said.

Preachers must ask "where's the Holy Spirit in this?" Gillard said. "When I'm preaching it's not what I say but what they hear. That's the component of the Holy Spirit."

Centuries ago, all Christians were part of one catholic, or universal, faith. Denominational differences hadn't formed, Gillard said. And the structure of a worship service in a denominational setting sometimes can be so rote that it lacks a spiritual element.

Spiritual connections aren't found in an order of worship, although some people can be moved by Bach or Beethoven as a setting for worship others might require praise hymns to set the mood. Today the church as an institution is a far cry from what the Bible describes and what God intended, Gillard said. "Spirituality is much more than religion."

People speak generically about spirituality but that is an underlying part of every person, he said.

Margarita Sandelmann Thatcher, who speaks about spirituality and Christian Science belief, agrees. She will lead a discussion today at 2 p.m. at Hastings Books on "Science and Health" by Mary Baker Eddy.

Thatcher said the fact that people are looking for spiritual healing is evidenced by the number of self-help books that fill bookstore shelves. "It's not just about religion but answering a demand for better answers and spiritual answers."

People are turning to something other than just religion, which Thatcher says is shown in the growth of New Age books and self-help manuals and not just books on religion.

Religion sometimes brings up negative images because of its rules and regulations. Churches set doctrine and standards for membership while spirituality relates more to things that connect people to a creator or God.

"It's what connects us to the supreme being and whatever is pure and whatever is beautiful," Thatcher said. For some people that connection is made on a mountain or watching a sunset. For others it happens during a worship service inside a sanctuary.

Thatcher, who lives in Colorado, likens the spirituality movement to a tsunami, an enormous wave that comes crashing to shore. "It's sweeping away the old-fashioned ideas and bringing a great awakening. This is a spiritual search going now."

The journey toward spirituality is an individual one, Gillard said. "It's the key to where our solutions lie."

People are looking for the same things in life -- a connection to God or creator, Thatcher said. She speaks about Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of Christian Science who wrote about how science and health have played a role in her religious journey.

Eddy has proven that the power of spirituality can change a life, and that there is a connection between mind and soul and body, Thatcher said. But people don't have to just take Eddy's word but put the issues to test for themselves. She relates stories of her own life experiences as practical spiritual lessons when her husband recovered from a bad car accident in nearly half the time doctors expected. Thatcher said it was through prayer and a spiritual connection that his body healed so quickly. "One can turn to something besides just material solutions. It's reading ideas and understanding and putting those into practice."