Well, I hope you're enjoying reading the Navigator's Bible Reading Plan with us in 2025.

You can join in with us today by downloading the reading plan for free online.

There's four Bible readings per day.

And tomorrow we read 1 Peter 5 verses 2 to 7 together.

And the timing is perfect because we're talking today about how to find a good

local church. And that text in 1 Peter 5 versus 2 to 7 is all about the kind of leadership you want to find.

That's what you're looking for. The question comes to us today in an email from an anonymous woman.

Dear Pastor John, here's the situation I find myself in right now.

I move to a new city, and there are wonderfully several doctrinally faithful churches in my area of town. It's a great problem to have, I know. Yes, it is. This is a great problem.

If you were in my situation, how would you narrow down these good options? I don't want to make my

decision merely on my preferences, but what role do

preferences make in a church decision like mine? Let's take that last question first. In general,

I would say preferences, by which I assume she means tastes that don't have any direct biblical mandate behind them.

These preferences can be a legitimate part of your decision to the degree that they are shaped and formed by the Word of God, even if not mandated, shaped, and to the degree that they don't take precedence over more important things.

And by such preferences, I mean things like a small church versus big, meditative versus exuberant,

formal versus casual, traditional versus contemporary, organ versus guitar, pews

versus chairs, 10 o'clock service versus 11, evening service, no evening service, and on and on

and on. We all have our preferences on such things, and if they're shaped by the Word of God and they're subordinate to more important biblical things, then it would be okay, I think, for them to guide you as part of your decision-making process.

So let me go away to the more important things

and mention nine steps that you might take in searching for a home church.

And this is not just your situation.

I'm thinking maybe more broadly, but I think it'll apply to your situation as well.

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