Precepts vs Preferences

Pastor Perry preached a great sermon yesterday as he continued the On the Farm series by answering questions people ask the staff.

One of the questions he answered was about whether multi-site campuses are biblical which led him to talk about the differences between God's precepts/commands and our preferences. In the Bible God commands believers to take the gospel to the world but He doesn't tell us how to do it so the "how" is a preference. The senior management team (or elders) at NewSpring obey the command to "go", God is honored, and the gospel is preached to lots and lots of people through the multi-site concept we use.

God doesn't have a big, one size fits all approach to ministry. Peter stayed pretty much in Jerusalem; Paul traveled all over the middle East ending up in Rome. Paul traveled by various methods; Phillip got "beamed up" to a new location. God didn't use the same methods all the time so there is no reason for us to use the same methods. Whether there is one church location or 50 under the same leadership doesn't matter.

Perry shared some statistics about attendance growth and salvations but what struck me was when he said more people attend the satellite campuses and watch the preaching on a big screen than actually see him preaching live. (He wasn't live on any campus this week.) We have no expectation of meeting the pastor or shaking his hand or talking to him between services but rather interact with our own campus pastor and staff who challenge us to be the hands and feet of Jesus. Perry is one of the greatest preachers I have ever heard but NewSpring would go on even if he wasn't there.

Thinking about preferences got me thinking about convictions. God has given me some convictions about money - like not spending it on a smart phone (which I want) or cable TV (which I don't) - so that I can use that money to impact lives. But that doesn't mean that is the right thing for everyone. The convictions God puts on my heart are mine and no one else's. There is no reason not to talk about my convictions but I should never expect others to live by them. That applies to a lot of things in the Church like music style, Bible translation, clothes to wear and the number of services to have.