My Rant on Church Relevance
Welcome to my rant on relevance.
I think I am at my limit with all the talk about the church needing to be relevant. Sure, some of this “relevance talk” involves meeting the needs of contemporary people and providing answers to contemporary issues. All good! However, MOST of this talk about Christian relevance seems to revolve around changing your church’s name to sound cooler, changing pews to seats, showing millennials your “with it,” playing Rated-M video games in youth group, being able to talk about the Grammys, Oscars, or latest super-hero movie, etc.
Listen, and I mean this with (grouchy) love, NONE of that last part above makes a Christian relevant. It really just makes us like the world!
Here’s what makes Christianity relevant. Everyone is a sinner, and we know where to find forgiveness. Everyone has a hole in their heart, and we know the only One who can fill it. And everyone is aching for real, unconditional love, and we know the Savior who gives it.
If you want to be truly relevant, talk about forgiveness, point to the Father, and seek to be like the Son. That seems easy enough, doesn't it? Only, to talk about forgiveness means you need to tell people they're sinners, and that doesn't go over well in this culture of ours. To point to the Father means we are pointing away from Allah, Buddha, Confucius, and other "ways," and that just makes us look narrow minded and exclusionary which certainly isn't relevant for our culture! And to be like the Son, to be holy as He is holy, to love like He loves, that means denying myself...and that just doesn't sound fun at all.
So, I guess it is easier to settle for this other kind of relevance, so let me pre-order my tickets for Infinity Wars and DVR the next award show…
