Being Relevant without Being Important
In a recent conversation with a European pastor of a small congregation I heard an important distinction. "Because we are not important, we try to be relevant." It is arguable that American Christians, and American Methodists of all types, have forgotten that our task isn't to be important, it is to be relevant. If we look at the ministry of Jesus we find that he never sought to be important. Satan gave him that opportunity from the very beginning and he rejected it. He rejected it at the end when he stood before Pilate and said "my kingdom is not of this world." Neither Satan nor Pilate had the insight to understand the difference between relevance and importance, and the always threatened powers and principalities of the world still don't. But Christians following Jesus should be able to see it clearly. From the beginning of his ministry Jesus' teaching and actions directly addressed the needs of real people in real time. If his actions came in conf