Ragamuffin: relevant

Is the Army relevant?

A

re churches relevant to their society and culture? What does it mean to be relevant?

With the background of recent comments from others about Willow Creek Community Church “repenting” of the seeker sensitive model, I have been thinking of the importance of the church today. I want the church to be relevant.

Sometimes there are people who cry out, “The Bible isn’t relevant.” Or they state that we need to “make the Bible relevant.” I understand the cry and the need but as I read the scriptures I often see the direct relevance for today’s ills. I want us to see the relevance of God’s Word for today.

H. B. London recently wrote on the topic of church attendance. A new Ellison Research surveyed 1,007 American adults on their attendance activity at church worship services. If adults in America are placed in more practical groupings based on their church behavior, attendance stats at church services would look similar to this:

• Attend more than once a week (11%)
• Attend once a week (22%)
• Attend two to three times a month (14%)
• Attend once a month (5%)
• Attend occasionally, not on a regular basis (9%)
• Attend only on religious holidays (10%)
• Do not attend at all (29%)

H. B. London states - “The study also showed that if an adult attended worship services regularly at some point before the age of 18, there is a 55 percent chance that person is currently attending once a month or more. If the person never attended prior to age 18, there is only a 21 percent chance that individual is currently attending worship services on a regular basis.”

In general, the USA does a little better than some other countries when it comes to the church population. Any type of decline is a concern though. I want the church - the community of faith - to regain it’s relevance to the day we live in.

Over the course of my 52 years I have attended all types of church services: from Catholic liturgical to charismatic chaos. In most cases I can “take home” something that has helped me become a better believer.

In The Salvation Army the services are generally tame, non-liturgical and traditional. There are exceptions but I am talking in general. Are we relevant by remaining with the status quo? Are we reaching who we want to reach by continuing this path of traditional Salvation Army protocol? Is our code of conduct or current modus operandi making a difference in society and gaining turf for the kingdom? I want to see the church/corps be relevant to the community it lives in. The tradition of The Salvation Army is to be untraditional.

I tend toward the radical side in thought but in practice I may have mellowed. I love rock, jazz and variety but see little of it in a normal church setting. I love creativity, drama, and the occasional unexpected but again see little of it in our services. I get tired of long boring services by anyone, anywhere. I yearn for a Salvation Army that will risk, gamble and venture into the unknown to become relevant to a subculture or a youth culture that desperately needs the Jesus we hold dear. What will it take for us to be pertinent to society? What does it mean to be a significant spiritual force today? Are we germane to the world we encounter? Will we endeavor to be useful for the kingdom to this current age?  Will we be connected with the least, the lost, the lame, the lonely? Will a new generation rise up and call us “blessed”?

Ragamuffin appears every Monday on theRubicon. Find past Ragamuffin posts and a bio of Capt. Jay Davis here.

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