Adapting and Connecting: Keys to Relevance

I spent quite sometime in the hardware stores and computer shops, looking for jacks. I ended up buying a wrong cable jack, so my speakers won't be much of use for the meantime. What was needed was some kind of special adaptor for it to work. Well, for the non-techie like me, an adaptor is a special gadget that will allow one type of cable to be connected to a different type so that the needed function can be achieved. It's a sort of a bridge between two different types of cable jacks.

Reflecting on this, how do we adapt to our environment, so we can connect with the people around us? During the early Christianity years in the Philippines, the Spanish priests had to adapt to the native culture so Christ can be understood better. Thus, we see the Sinulog celebration in the Cebu in honor of Sr. Sto. Nino. There was an inculturation. According to wikipedia, inculturation is a term used in Christianity, especially in the Roman Catholic Church, referring to the adaptation of the way Church teachings are presented to non-Christian cultures, and to the influence of those cultures to the evolution of these teachings. The early Catholic church in the Philippines did not compromise its core teachings when they had an inculturation of the natives.

What kind of culture are we in today? How can we inculturate our Christian values without compromising our teachings? "Behold, I am sending you like sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and simple as doves (Matthew 10:16)." What would be sad is if our way of evangelization is in disconnect with the culture around us.? There is a need to strive for relevance, so people can relate and not be repelled. It is important to stand firm in our religious principles, even if we become unpopular. But it is also as important to stand firm in relevance, so that Christ be known to many.

We have to be conscious and be very careful to put "new wine into new wine skin." "And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, he pours new wine into new wineskins (Mark 2:22)." We are to review if our methods are still working. Some refuse to embrace change even if the old way is not anymore effective in achieving our goals. There is a great need for the humility to adapt to new ways because we are now living in a different environment.

We are now past the industrial age and embracing the information age or the internet age. The rules are different; the pace is faster, the kids are getting smarter, information is a search engine away, the technology is getting more sophisticated, and the world is getting smaller (yes, i'm referring to the world of facebook). How do we now become an "adaptor" to all these and get them "connected" to Christ?

To be able to adapt and gain relevance, we ponder upon questions like; What do people of today or our target audience need the most? What is common to everyone wherein we can start to agree? What are today's compelling issues that can be commonly addressed? What are particular interests that attract certain types of people? What are common areas of strength that people can work together? If we have answers to these questions and inject Christ in each of them, then I believe that we will be off to a good start towards our journey to relevance leading to inculturation in this new world we are in today. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)."