At our St Christopher’s youth church, we are learning that there is a difference between a preference and a conviction. One of the ways this shows itself is that preferences collapse under certain kinds of pressures, convictions don’t. A conviction is a non-negotiable belief, and preferences can often feel like that, but they aren’t.
In the past I have gone to war over what I have believed to be a conviction, only to find it was actually only a preference. I know this now because I don’t even care about those things any more.
Our youth church leadership team represents the full breadth of the spectrum of churchmanship, and there are countless issues around worship style over which we could fall out. We don’t fall out partly because we have come to realise that we share convictions about all the stuff that matters, and our preferences are exactly that – just preferences and they can easily take a back seat.
In life, like in church, preferences are many, but convictions are few. You will have far less drama in your life if you can figure out the difference.
“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons] neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Romans 8:38-39
Mr Pountain
Head of Religious Education/Director of Spirituality