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What does “relevance” mean to you? Christ. In fact, He's beyond relevant.

What doesn’t “relevance mean to you? Cool. Or any other current church description: missional, postmodern, emergent…

Current, timely, and significant.

To me, relevance has two parts.

1. Understand the "language" of your target audience. Know where they're at in life, what their culture is like, etc.
2. Speak their "language," and show them why your message is of import to them personally. Don't just give them soundbites, but demonstrate how their lives can be impacted by accepting your message.

Relevance doesn't mean flashy, slick, produced or packaged. What you might use to reach out to 20-somethings, just won't work with the little old lady sitting in her chair at the local nursing home. She just wants you to hold her hand. Even the stuff we use for the younger set can't be empty of message and meaning.

The Gospel is relevant to the soul. The way we present it often isn't. Relevance requires us to walk a fine line. We must be educated about and seek to understand the culture outside of our churches so we can communicate in a way that can be understood and speak into the culture. However, I think we have to be careful not to become the culture because when we do I think we simply become conformists and the Gospel doesn't conform.

In short relevance means the Gospel. Relevance doesn't mean conforming

Thanks Collide. Great topic. Here's my interview with Ed Stetzer on the topic of Relevance. http://www.edstetzer.com/2008/12/bh-church-leader…
Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

I’m interested how a couple of the posts defined relevance as the Gospel. If we are seeking to reach a culture that is not defined by the Gospel, how can we define what is relevant by using the Gospel?

Something that is relevant “does something” for you. If someone can’t see how the Gospel can “do something” for them, then we have a tough job to not make the Gospel relevant to their context but to uncover their need for something else to be added. You can’t make something fit where it’s not needed.

The problem is that while eveyone has a great need for the Gospel, we have been tricked to think it isn’t relevant to our lives. So, our mission is not to become more culturally relevant, but to seek the best means to uncover the relevance (it does something for me) of truth in our lives. How do you uncover this relevance in a culture that is potentially the most diverse in history?

Scott, I can't wait to see your thoughts. On the topic of relevance, oftentimes it seems as though church leaders (and those they lead) have gotten it backwards, assuming that Christianity is true because it is relevant to our lives, rather than believing that Christianity is relevant to our lives because it is true. Of course Christianity has relevance, but not because it is exciting, helpful, or full of adventure, but because, first and foremost, it is rooted in the historical reality of the coming of Jesus and his work of redemption.

When I've counseled with students, it has been my aim to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity by first asserting its truthfulness. That way, I'm approaching the task of teaching from a worldview approach, rather than from a "patchwork"' or band-aid approach. That way, we don't have to make Christianity relevant. By virtue of being true, it simply is.

Jason: My point was I think we have to look at what we are trying to be relevant to and make sure we strike a balance. Trying to only be relevant to life I think leads us to water down or manipulate the Gospel to make it so. You are right in that the Gospel isn't relevant to culture because culture isn't defined by it. It is, however, always relevant to the soul. I guess the trick is being relevant to the soul in message but relevant to culture in communication of the message. I think it goes along with that whole "being in the world but not of the world" thing.

[...] few days ago, Scott McClellan threw out a question on the Collide Magazine blog that is worth thinking about. He asked, “What does relevance mean to you?” And, [...]

I think relevance is an end result and not a concerted effort.
(It seems the harder we try to be relevant, the less so we become.)

I think relevance is what happens when we're authentic, and our shared communication resonates with one another in a deep an meaningful way.

Relevance to me denotes a message that is being delivered in a way that the observer can effectively understand and use.