Yesterday I had a bizarre conversation with a lady at the post office as I waited in line to ship a package. She started the conversation by properly identifying me as the Pastor at WCC. I acknowledge her and greeted her back. But now is where it got a bit strange. Within seconds she shared how she had attended Willowbrook a number of years ago with a close friend (who still attends WCC), but she went on to add, "I guess I'm just more conservative in my beliefs than my friend and your church." With about a dozen people standing in line with us, I didn't want to get into a theological discussion, but I did say to her, "You mean that you prefer a more traditional service?" She said, "Well, I do enjoy more traditional music, but I am deeply rooted in a more conservative approach to the Bible." Now, I thinking, what the heck did I preach on that Sunday that gave her the impression that I do not hold to a conservative view of the Scriptures? As you might guess, my brain was really spinning. So I didn't let it stop there. I said to her, "Sometimes we get accused of being too relevant at WCC." Good Brad. Nice zinger. She looked at me and said, "Ya, for some reason, it just wasn't for me."
Okay...herein lies the rub. Do you feel that a relevant or creative church is more apt to veer away from a conservative approach to the Bible? In other words, does relevance equal = liberal? Another question: Was Jesus relevant to his culture? I would say that you couldn't get more relevant. I would also suggest that Christ's relevance was not liberal, but in fact, - liberating.
Okay... so I wonder if people sometimes confused traditional with conservative. Is this making any sense? Do people wrongly make statements about your church being less conservative rather than saying "less traditional?"
And most importantly, why does any of this even matter when all a guy is trying to do is mail a stupid package? !!
