Beyond Relevance: Navigating the Perils of Church Engagement in a Culture-Obsessed Society
Yet ANOTHER Andrew Root inspired post (and Dave Boden)
If making the church relevant is your plan to get people into church, the moment the church stops being relevant, these same people will leave the church.
Recently, I was interviewing Dave Boden for an upcoming episode of the Future Christian Podcast, and we were having a conversation about that big, scary word to Mainliners; “evangelism.” Dave is the author of the book Parallel Faith, a book about helping others on their journey to Christ. Dave works and ministers in the UK, a very secular context where fewer and fewer people have any connection or familiarity with God, church, or Christianity.
In his book, Boden writes:
You can’t inspire or argue someone into their salvation. If a decision is based purely on an emotional response, then their will to continue may pass with that feeling. Nor can you just logically argue someone into the kingdom of God, lest they become demotivated as as soon as a better option or more logical argument comes along.1
Boden is familiar with the work of Andrew Root, so perhaps Root is inspiring his thought here. Even still, reading this and talking with Boden myself, I couldn’t help but think of Root’s examination of methods to how churches seek to bring people to faith, particularly his discussion of relevance. He writes:
Ultimately, the church is lured into thinking that if we redesign what seems to be falling behind, such as the congregation’s life, giving it an injection of the aesthetic through design, it will magically catch up (i.e. be relevant").2
Root writes in another book:
it’s the immanent frame and the loss of a God who is God—not the loss of relevance and resources that threatens the church.3
In many Mainline contexts, there seems to be this prevailing idea that if we are somehow culturally relevant enough, on the “right side of history,” people will be compelled into our spaces. I saw this firsthand after the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) passed a resolution at our General Assembly condemning Christian Nationalism. DOC pastors and leaders were very excited when a Tik Toker then made a video praising our denominations efforts condemning such. Even still, in all likelihood, I strongly doubt that Tik Toker ever made their way into church, let alone, a DOC church.
Before I continue, let me first add a couple strong assertions. I absolutely do want the church to be on the “right side” of history, especially as the church has been on the “wrong side” so many times. Yet, this is the thing about history, we can’t know whether or not we’re on the right side until many years down the road. Secondly, Christian Nationalism absolutely should be condemned, I just strongly doubt anyone is seriously sitting on the fence about deciding to attend worship will make the decision to come based on this condemnation. But I digress.
Even if we are somehow able to “relevance” someone into faith or church attendance through being on the “right side of history” (or at least being in agreement with their current social/political opinions—whether they be correct or not), as soon as the church says (or does not say) something which does not relate (is relevant) to their own viewpoints and opinions, they will leave the church behind, castigating it as being backward, stuck in the past, etc.
Frankly, we’re seeing this play out in the Christian right as we speak. If Russell Moore is to be believed (and I think he is), people are telling pastors that the Sermon on the Mount is too woke:
"Multiple pastors tell me, essentially, the same story about quoting the Sermon on the Mount, parenthetically, in their preaching—'turn the other cheek'—[and] to have someone come up after to say, 'Where did you get those liberal talking points?'" Moore said.
"When the pastor would say, 'I'm literally quoting Jesus Christ' ... The response would be, 'Yes, but that doesn't work anymore. That's weak," he added. "When we get to the point where the teachings of Jesus himself are seen as subversive to us, then we're in a crisis."4
In short, by seeking to so closely align Christianity with conservative political ideology, many on the far right have apparently chosen to reject the words of Scripture—something that seems almost incomprehensible to me who grew up fundamental Baptist and was taught “the Bible says it, I believe it, that settles it.”
I absolutely do believe Christianity should and does have answers (or at least wisdom) for life’s most pressing questions—but when the purpose or highest good of Christianity is to be relevant, as Root would argue, we’ve missed the boat.
Christianity, I’ve come to believe, as much as it has this-wordly implications, is ultimately about someone (or something—God) far beyond us. Our only hope, rather than getting on the treadmill of keeping up with cultural relevance, is to together seek and encounter with God—for when we truly encounter the divine—we are never the same. To close with Root:
If a congregation wants to change, it will start not by being concerned with relevance and resources, but with…seeking the living Christ where Christ can be found, in the disclosure of personhood, where time is not made to accelerate but becomes full and sacred.5
Through the writings of Root, Boden, and others, I’ve come to realize (and recognize for myself) what compels me into faith is the amazing possibility of an encounter with God; sacred moments. With so many cultural currents competing for relevancy and attention, churches will NEVER be able to win the lasting attention and relevancy recognition of others—our only hope is an invitation to together seek to experience the Divine.
Boden, Dave. Parallel faith: Walking alongside others on their journey to christ. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, an imprint of Hendrickson Publishing Group, 2023.
Root, Andrew. The church after innovation: Questioning our obsession with work, creativity, and entrepreneurship. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2022.
Root, Andrew. Churches and the crisis of decline: A hopeful, practical ecclesiology for a secular age. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2022.
Slisco, Aila. “Evangelicals Are Now Rejecting ‘liberal’ Teachings of Jesus.” Newsweek, August 12, 2023. https://www.newsweek.com/evangelicals-rejecting-jesus-teachings-liberal-talking-points-pastor-1818706.
Root, Andrew. The congregation in a secular age: Keeping sacred time against the speed of Modern Life. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2021.