The danger of relevance

Lesslie Newbigin on what can go wrong when we try to be relevant:

In discussions about the contemporary mission of the Church it is often said that the Church ought to address itself to the real questions which people are asking. That is to misunderstand the mission of Jesus and the mission of the Church. The world's questions are not the questions which lead to life. What really needs to be said is that where the Church is faithful to its Lord, there the powers of the kingdom are present and people begin to ask the question to which the gospel is the answer.

Comments

[wilsonian]

That is really excellent. Of course, if we're not living in a way which is relevant, the world will not witness the Church's faithfulness to the Lord, and won't ask the questions to which the gospel is the answer.