More on "Relevance"

Mark Lauterbach has some good thoughts here from part 4 of is blog series entitled "Gospel and Culture". He writes:

The goal is to get at true relevance -- which is in connecting to people's experience of their humanity and speaking of timeless truth about God and redemption in a way that relates to them. This is not man-centered -- it is the wisdom of Jesus in his teaching as he told stories and explained truth in the culture of the people of his day.

How do we become irrelevant? I have sat under preaching that seemed irrelevant -- and I have one simple thought on this -- irrelevant happens when unreal happens -- when truth preached seems to have little bearing on life and my experience of myself and my world. If a pastor seems a bit too holy, if his world seems a bit too ideal, if his morals seem a bit too simple, if his solutions to problems seem superficial -- then people will disconnect. Let me add to this -- if the preacher stereotypes lost people, he will lose all credibility quickly. Prejudice and stereotypes will turn off the typical American listener.

Here are parts one, two and three.