The room was warm. The hymnals were easy to reach, and printed with large type. We sang familiar, encouraging songs with words like “Oh happy day, He taught me to watch and pray, and rejoice all day . . .” The sanctuary was clean and tidy. The lighting was bright, and the sound clear and fairly loud, making it easy to hear everything that was said. The minister wore a robe, and spoke slowly and deliberately. The message was right out of the biblical text, straightforward yet simple. Before the service ended, we recited the Apostles’ Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. Then we sang “What a Friend We Have in Jesus,” heard the benediction, and the service was over.

It was one of the most relevant events I’d ever seen.

Why? Because it was the chapel service at the nursing home of my grandmother, Effa Mittelberg, and most of those attending were men and women in their 90s who had grown up in traditional churches. Whether or not they all knew Christ in a personal way, they knew this was what church was supposed to look, sound, and feel like. The message of the Gospel was clear in the words of the minister and of the music, and the method of presenting it was right on target. To have tried anything remotely contemporary would have been irrelevant and even offensive.

Two weeks later I walked into a crowded gymnasium. I was handed a bag of popcorn on the way in, along with a program that said “Axis at the Movies.” The atmosphere was dark, noisy, energetic, and filled with edgy music pouring through the high-powered sound system. Soon the stage lights came on and the music kicked in at an even higher decibel level for the portion of the service labeled in the program, “Band Jam.” In fast-moving sequence, youthful men and women stood up front and greeted us, led us in a few upbeat worship songs, performed a true-to-life drama, and showed clips from the recent movie “The X-Files.” Then a casually dressed teacher got up and presented an honest, hard-hitting message about how we can all search for truth – and find it – in the Bible and ultimately in Christ Himself.

It was one of the most relevant events I’d ever seen.

Why? Because this was a ministry designed to reach people in their 20s – from Gen-X – who grew up with these kinds of media and communications, and who needed to hear biblical teachings in language they could understand.

Relevancy is a relative concept. Different audiences, different events. Both well designed for the people they were intended to reach, and for the intensity-level of evangelism they were trying to execute. The message didn’t change, but the methods certainly did.

It’s the basic missionary principle of contextualization. As our church puts it in our list of core values: “We believe that the church should be culturally relevant while remaining doctrinally pure.”