—Chris Krycho
Of all the words used to describe outreach to my generation, the one I've heard the most is "relevance." We need our messages, our music, and our media to be relevant if we're going to attract twenty-somethings. We need to make sure that we don't look like we're out of touch with their interests, concerns, and way of life. In fact, I've seen a number of prominent figures become so consumed with being hip that they've all but abandoned the gospel.There's something to be said for relevance, of course. It's important to meet people where they are, and it would be foolish to act like the world is the same place it was 30 years ago. We must be wary, though: several dangerous mistakes are close at hand in the pursuit of relevance.
- A Relevant Gospel can become a Relative Gospel
Our concern for contextualizing the gospel can easily lead us to relativize the gospel, especially in a hear-no-truth, see-no-truth, speak-no-truth culture. Understanding how postmoderns see the world is important, but embracing their worldview is deadly to the Christian faith. There is no room for relativism in following the one who is the only way to know God. - Pursuing a Relevant Gospel can make the evils of culture seductive
The pursuit of relevance requires us to know many of the ins and outs of culture. Again, this can be a good thing, to a point. Every culture has much good in it, and every culture in some way reflects the glory of God. We should embrace those parts of culture. We should not, however, approve of Sex and the City simply because it is popular. There is a fine line between studying culture and being seduced by culture. - A Relevant Gospel can become a Diluted Gospel
It is possible to entirely miss the gospel as we aim to be sufficiently hip. We can begin to believe that the gospel doesn't really fit in this culture, and begin to tweak it. The cause of the day becomes a "gospel cause," and eventually the gospel itself fades away. Whether it's abandoning Scripture's claims about Jesus' exclusivity, compromising on sexual mores, or putting social causes above proclaiming Christ crucified, culture's demands can overwhelm the gospel in our minds and in our messages if we do not keep it first. In each case, it's because we've forgotten that the gospel is up to the task.
Churches should like Paul "become all things to all people, that by all means [they] might save some," but the end goal here is not relevance itself. It's the gospel. Paul finished: "I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings" (see 1 Corinthians 9:19-23).
The relativism that permeates our culture has created an immense hunger in people my age. We seek transcendence, meaning, and purpose for our lives. We've been told that we must create it for ourselves, but we cannot. We need prophetic voices who are not afraid to proclaim truth boldly and clearly.
We appreciate men and women who will strive to understand the way we see the world—but we need men and women whose first commitment is to the word of God. We long for churches that are neither afraid of the world nor in love with it—churches that are sufficiently secure in the truth to engage culture without being corrupted by it.
Next week: 3 Reasons to Pursue Relevance
4 comments:
Good post!
"...churches that are neither afraid of the world nor in love with it..." Fantastic! This pretty much sums it up with two Biblical concepts: we have none to fear but God,and anything that we put before Him is an idol. I enjoyed this post!
the problem with this issue is actually that it often shows an inadequate view of the gospel. it is impossible for the gospel to be irrelevant. it simply cannot be. every philosophical, artistic, cultural, relational, theological, or moral failure in human history is because we have at that point been out of touch with what god has been doing in history to relate to and save us and the universe we live in. how can this be irrelevant?
the problem, I think, is simply poor word choice. instead of irrelevant, the problem is often unintelligibility. people just don't get it, often because we don't speak their language or understand them. and I think, like you've hinted at, "relevance" in gospel proclamation can actually conceal the greatness and mystery of the gospel of Jesus. Just like Jesus, it is the messenger, but not the message, that changes.
ETSX-MAN and Jaimie: thanks!
tim—I quite agree. That's one of the points I'm going to hit on next week, and it's one of the points I've tried to make before and that we'll come back to again and again. I think "relevant" has come to the forefront as our word of choice because irrelevance has so often characterized the church. People have spent time dithering—and splitting churches—over carpet color, where to hold the next church potluck, etc. on the one hand, and filled the church with "therapeutic moralistic deism" on the other. The gospel is relevant—but it's been the gospel thathas been left out one way or another.
Making the gospel intelligible is in many ways a direct contrast with our often futile efforst in the direction of "relevance" (which usually means trying to act enough like the world to seem cool but little enough that we aren't across our lines of moralism).
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