Its no longer a fad to talk about the relevance of a particular church this has now become a mainline "sport". I have had these conversations and I am not ashamed of them to be honest. However, I wonder if our language isn't a bit misplaced here.
Usually when we are talking about the relevance of a church we are talking about music style, presentation in building, print and media. However, is this really what makes a church relevant? I don't think it is. What makes a church relevant is it's message and the way that message is lived out. Should a church's relevance be judged by anything other than the amount of transformation taking place (both within the church internally and through the church externally).
What we are really talking about when we have these conversations about style, presentation, etc. is the accessibility of a church. Granted, this may have an impact on the relevance of the church but these are not how we should judge the relevance of the church. There may be transformation taking place, it just may not be very accessible.
The bonus of making this distinction is that it may help us lead up to older generations. Our communication styles, print and media presentation are important not because it makes the message relevant (it is if it is the Gospel) but because it makes that message accessible. Language matters!
1 comment:
The language shift would definitely help people be interested in addressing the issue.
If I'm irrelevant, then I've been judged by someone other than myself as somehow failing to measure up to their standard of relevance. My response is either a dismissal of their judgment (Who cares what you think?) or resignation to having been passed over by some cultural wavefront (Yeah, I guess I'm a little out of touch).
But inaccessible gives me something to work with, because it means I have somehow failed to fully communicate something and I might do better if I chose different communication tools (Well, how about if you look at it this way?) I may see if I can't find ways to use this shift if I happen to be in conversation about these issues.
Probably be too much to ask the magazine to change their title, though.
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