The Main and the Plain
This is a phrase that John Wimber used to say all the time. He talked about the Vineyard focusing on the main and the plain of the Word of God. This is one of the things that attracted me to the Vineyard. Throughout the years I have analyzed the Church Disciplines or Doctrines of many denominations. I have been asked to join several. I really love some of the people and Pastors in those denominations and was sorely tempted to join them. What kept me back was that invariably I would come across something that I just couldn't reconcile with the Scriptures. When I asked about those points I never received a satisfactory answer. I know historically how they developed, the challenges that arose and the reasons for the response, but I felt it went beyond the main and the plain. I felt like they had taken 2+2 and come up with 5. I felt like what was in Scripture was good enough but they had felt the need to take it an extra step. Often mistakenly attributed to St. Augustine (I my