Relevance doesn't exist

I remember when I was first starting out in ministry one my mentor's who also happened to be the senior pastor would frequently talk about having an "edge" in the worship service. This usually meant that we wanted to keep people on the edge of their seats, always wondering what was coming next. Basically, we needed to give them the feeling of being entertained. No one would ever admit to that; I think we were just naively unaware of the dangers of this approach.

Al Mohler speaks wisely to this issue in his post from the TG4 blog.

The other problem with the “cutting edge” is that it really has no edge. The culture is moving at warp speed in so many different directions that absolute relevance is a mirage. Faithfulness to the Gospel produces the only relevance that matters. Of course, we use forms of language and mechanisms of communication that others can understand, but the basic structure of our ministry and the substance of our beliefs are unchanged and unchanging – and still ever relevant.

I think that most would agree that this "warp speed" that he speaks of is primarily due to the Internet. For example, when my parents were growing up in the 60's there was basically one choice of music, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Beach Boys, etc... These bands stayed around forever because there wasn't a means by which easy mass exposure to other forms of pop music could be found. Musical trends and preferences changed over the course of years, sometimes by decades. Today, with the rise of the internet musical trends and preferences can change literallly by the day. I don't really think that they do, but the potential is there.

This is why the pursuit of "relevance" in the church or in worship music (if that means a certain style) is a empty and futile pursuit. I would submit that what we need is more Christians who really know who they are and who they are called to be and then do that with an excellence that the world has to take note of. If we seek to be "relevant" for the sake of bringing attention to the gospel I think we need to forsake the pursuit of this concept, (because it doesn't exist) and embrace a doctrine of excellence and personal calling in all facets of life and ministry. This speaksmuch more relevantly to the culture around us than us trying to "make Jesus cool" by showing the world that we can use their forms but just infuse our theology into it.

The flip side of this coin is the issue of creativity. What is it's place in worship? Unfortunately, many churches that forsake the idea of "relevance" have lazy pastors who don't want to put the mental effort into presenting anything creative in their worship services for fear that they might be labeled, "seeker-sensitive" or "man-centered". Our God is creative! We need not go any farther than the first verse in the Bible to begin to have a doctrine of creativity for the church. The question is not whether we should be creative in our worship services, but rather, what is our motive for wanting it? I believe that when we seek to honor God with our creativity it glorifies him as the ultimate Creator and one result may be that people are drawn to Him through us.

In the end, forsake "relevance" as a concept and pursue Gospel-infused, creative excellence. I believe this may be one pathway to consistent authentic ministry in our churches and ministries.