Kary Oberbrunner, who has written for RELEVANT, has a new book on the way called Journey Towards Relevance. From an early chapter:
I guess I saw how the ?Christian subculture? was making me more and more irrelevant with the people I was trying to interface with. I felt like I was becoming more and more withdrawn from the world. I was convinced I needed to be more relevant, but what did that mean? Was it as simple as getting a couple tattoos (one in Greek and one in Hebrew), a new wardrobe, some edgier music, and some books on philosophy, poetry, and saving the planet? Is this what being relevant means?After all, the argument on being relevant begs the question. What does it mean to be relevant? If our generation is going to draw a line in the sand against dead orthodoxy and heartless religion, then we better know not only what we are turning from, but also what we are turning to in its place.
…it s not the earrings we wear or the music we listen to that makes us relevant. It s not how close we can come to the line of ?mainstream? before we fall into sin. Being relevant is not about the fashion of our vocabulary, the packaging of our philosophical bent, or the level at which we detest the traditional Evangelical church. These things all breathe of the external.
Relevance is fundamentally internal. It s conceived through an internal relationship with God. Not only is it birthed internally, but it s maintained and sustained from an internal soul directed and connected to the Person of Jesus Christ. All of life can and should be the outflow of that relationship. Simply, what makes us relevant is our love for God and people.
Kary has developed a paradigm of conformist / separatist / transformist to describe different options in relating to culture. I’ve enjoyed his writings in the past, as well as other books published by RELEVANT. You can order Journey Towards Relevance from Redeem the Day Ministries here.
Update: I previously called the book Redeem the Day, but that’s the name of the ministry itself. Oops.
Justin, it’s good to be back in the blogging neighborhood. I’ve been away for a bit, but I’m glad I came back today.
I appreciate your post. We must continue to evaluate what we mean by relevant. If it is becoming more like “the world”, then is that relevance or compromise? I truly believe that if we listen for God’s heartbeat, then He will make us relevant in a way that will point to Him, not our clothes or our music…
I look forward to reading more.
is “conformist; separatist; transformist” similar to the distinctions that H.R. Niebuhr makes in “Christ and Culture” about “of culture; against culture; transform culture”?
In Niebuhr’s system, their is no really role for ecclesial activity as its own politic, just that of individuals. is this guy saying something different?
I’m not sure…I’ll let Kary field that one.
Geoff,
To be honest I have never fully read “Christ and Culture”. However, I am somewhat familiar with his 5 models of Christ and culture. Intentionally, I chose not to fully read his book prior to writing my own. You might call that choice stupidity, you may call it wisdom. I am not sure at the moment which one it is. Only time will tell.
Your question reads: “In Niebuhr’s system, there is no real role for ecclesial activity as its own politic, just that of individuals. is this guy saying something different?”.
If I break this down into layman’s terms, I believe you are asking, Is there a role for Church activity as its own governing and ruling entity.
Now that I have broken that sentence down, I am not quite sure what you are asking. Could you please define your question?
My book addresses two camps (the separatists and the conformists) that have become unbalanced and therefore irrelevant. Unbalanced in what? Irrelevant in what?
Media often presents two pictures of Christians.
#1 Christians boycott everything. They can never enjoy anything in culture. They are resurrected Pharisees.
#2 Christians are just like the world. They are hypocrites. They are the ones sitting on the barstool next to them getting drunk.
Neither Christian transforms anything. My book is a fresh view of a struggle that plagues each one of us. These camps have plagued humanity since the beginning of time. It presents a model that is simple to understand (and like anything, tough to live out).
It gives a solid Biblical definition of what RELEVANT truly means. It invites the reader to take the Journey Towards Relevance. Hope this helps. Let me know if it doesn’t.
Kary