5 Ways to be IRRELEVANT
by Carl McMurray
Jesus spoke to the people where there were, downtrodden politically, in poverty financially, and familiar with an agrarian culture where people watched the skies, noticed the flowers and crops, and built things with their hands. Paul likewise said in his teaching that he became all things to all men. That is, he talked the Law and the prophets with Jews and philosophy and literature with Gentiles. These great communicators were “relevant” with the culture around them. I wonder if we always are.
Outreach magazine recently listed five ways to be out of touch, difficult in communicating, and irrelevant to our culture. I’ve “edited” them a little to apply to “us” but they basically remain the same. They are...
1. Stay close to home. Don’t try to develop new friendships or understand others outside your established circle. By doing this we can be assured that 175 million American unbelievers will never see a Christian example and we will never learn about their challenges and struggles to find faith and light in a dark world.
2. Read only material from your brethren. That way we can be sure to simply read and rehashing the same ideas and interpretations of scripture over and over. You will never be faced with the challenge of changing and growing in knowledge.
3. Consider technology as something for youngsters. Don’t worry about blogging. podcasting, web hosting. e-books, etc. After all, there are only about 75 million Americans under the age of 18 who are more familiar with web sites than books, and IPods than VCRs. Since you don’t use them, no one else must use them either, right? These things are not worth our time to learn and used effectively.
4. Don’t use modern day examples. Use dated stories and corny jokes to open your classes and talks. Don’t quote studies, polls, sports figures, or modern day “heroes” and modern day Bible versions to illustrate a point because young people or “unchurched” folk might get the message in a way they can understand and relate to. Just batter them with quote after quote from the King James Version. Everyone understands English that is OVER 500 years old, with well over 100 archaic words, that is in a form that Jesus NEVER used. And if they don’t, they should.
5. Don’t make relevancy a goal. As we think about and plan outreach and teaching let’s not think about who we’re communicating with or what our real goal is’ that of converting them to children of God by understanding his message of grace. That way, we will be sure to follow steps 1 through 4.
Kinda silly isn’t it? But try and tell me you haven’t heard the above promoted.