One of the most recent buzzwords around the coffee tables of preachers has been the word 'relevant.'
It seems that to be successful, even the oldest established churches need to discover this new concept of being relevant to the community. So how do you do that? Hire the best musicians in town? Play the latest craze in music? Hip-hop, rock, contemporary Christian? Get a band? Serve coffee? These things aren't what make us relevant. Rather, these are things that we consider "IF" we are relevant.
Relevant is not what we do! Relevant is what we are!
Relevant doesn't mean the music is cool. Relevant means that the heart is warm. If you want to be relevant to your community - Love them! Start building a bridge today. Maybe your bridge is a comfortable contemporary environment where new visitors can feel welcome. Or maybe your bridge is a ministry where you serve your community with no expectations in return? So they can know you love them.
I am a Ministry Coordinator for a food ministry that exists almost solely for this purpose. We give churches a tool to reach their community for Christ. How? By offering a reasonable alternative to the escalating costs of food. Our cooperating churches setup a food cooperative. People come and purchase a box of groceries for about half its normal price. They are met by friendly people that shake their hand, smile at them and most churches even have volunteers that will take the groceries to the car.
We ask, "How have you been this month? Can I pray for you?" Then we pray for them if they will let us, (almost all do!) and tell them we will see them next month. Why? Because we are relevant. We love people and if the only way we can build relationships (bridges) into their world is through food - then we will feed them.
There are literally millions of ways that a church can reach out to the community. The secret isn't whether or not you choose the right ways. The secret is whether or not you really care enough to be worried about whether you have chosen the right ways.
Relevant - it's what we are!
People want answers to why we have so many bad things happenning in this world. They respond to true in love. Truth that these are signs of His coming return and that judgement begins (or has begun) in the household of God. They need to know that being overcome is not as big a sin as remaining overcome, not using His Spirit to be an overcomer! He is looking for those that will overcome to be molded into those that will minister to those around them in these last days. Therefore, Stand!
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