Is the Church Still Relevant in the 21st Century?

We live in an increasingly post-Christian culture.

This culture and generation is overwhelmed with loneliness, anxiety, and depression… and sadly, they are NOT looking to the Church for answers. These are our brothers and sisters, sons and daughters, friends and co-workers.

The American church has a rich history of bold evangelism, but lately, we’ve been doing a poor job. As culture changes, our approach to evangelism has to change as well, but we are lagging behind.

We must ask ourselves: is the Church still relevant in the 21st century? The answer depends on whether we are willing to adapt, engage, and truly meet people where they are. If we continue to rely on outdated methods, we risk fading into irrelevance. But suppose we embrace a renewed commitment to authentic community, compassionate outreach, and a faith that speaks to today’s struggles. In that case, the Church can once again become a vital source of hope and transformation in our culture.

To do this, we need to rethink how we engage with the world around us. Below, I will share five key thoughts on how we can reclaim our relevance and more effectively reach people in today's society.

‍1. Stop using Christian language and assumptions that are foreign and strange to secular culture

‍Many well-meaning followers of Jesus sincerely want to share the gospel but are still using their grandfather's words and explanations.

This oversight in communication is costly because many secular people are open to the gospel but simply don’t understand, or are put off by what we are trying to communicate.

We have to become aware of our “in-house” terminology and discard anything that wouldn’t make sense to someone without a church background.

This applies to our use of the Bible in an outreach setting. For many Christians, the Bible offers a sufficient defense for the Christian faith. The problem is a secular person doesn’t accept the Bible as an authority, making this approach circular and illogical.

Jesus was brilliant at knowing His audience and shaping his message in a way that spoke in a visceral and relevant way.

Unlike in your grandfather’s day, people are less familiar with biblical language. We have to discard these distractions and learn how to point people to Jesus using words and symbols that speak powerfully to them.

‍2. Recognize Gen-Z’s suspicion of religious institutions.

‍In the past, you could invite a skeptic to a church event to hear a compelling speaker share the Gospel, and they would actually come, but this will not work today.

The emerging secular culture isn’t coming to our “cool church nights,” no matter how often we invite them or how we dress it up.

While we are undoubtedly sincere in our desire to reach people through these events, this approach is quickly losing relevance. We must focus our efforts on those who will not normally come to our churches looking for answers, e.g. the growing majority of culture today.

I think many followers of Jesus are aware of the need, often painfully represented in the lives of their own family members, yet they don’t know what to do about it.

The simple response is to be like Jesus – to get out of our Christian bubbles, develop authentic relationships, and share the Gospel in relevant ways with unbelievers in their places.

‍3. Accept the limits of Christian entertainment as a draw for secular people.

‍When our “in-house” outreaches invariably fail, we respond by taking the church outside. We line up the best Christian speakers and entertainers, rent a world-class facility, and expect them to come to us. This approach simply relocates the problem.

Our approach remains foreign to a world that did not grow up in our Church context and culture. Bringing church culture outside only proves that we don’t recognize the massive cultural gap that exists between the Church and secular people.

Relevant and effective evangelism is about expressing the truth of the Gospel in the language of the people God has called you to reach.

‍4. Focus on what we are “for.”

‍To the average secular person today, Christianity is seen as a system of rules intended to suppress freedom and kill joy. We are against gay people, women, and the environment. We’re anti-science and close-minded. We seem to have an attitude toward the outside world as if to say, “If they would clean up their lives, then maybe we would accept them.”

Youth culture esteems tolerance and inclusion above all else, making this false version of Christianity antithetical to their values.

Too often Christian outreaches focus on moral issues, and behavioral modification which perpetuates this religious version of Jesus, and drives secular people further from the truth.

We need to present a positive vision of the Gospel, after all, it’s good news! Secular people don’t need to be reminded of what we are against, they already know, but many of them wonder if we are for anything - let’s start there.

‍5. Focus on the power of God.

‍Every fruitful outreach approach, whether your grandfather’s or the most current form, has one thing in common: God’s supernatural power.

Secular people don’t need a fancy new approach, they don't need world-class entertainment or compelling arguments, they need to encounter God.  When our outreach approaches rely on looking cool or clever taglines, people see a marketing pitch or just another brand, not an opportunity to experience God.

This is what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, “And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit.”

This is still true today.

This means we need to hold loosely to any method and seek God like never before. He is the vine, we are branches. In humility, we must recognize that strategies come and go, but if God isn’t in what we are doing, it will produce nothing.

The Church can only remain relevant in the 21st century if we adapt to a changing culture while staying true to the Gospel. This means moving beyond outdated methods, speaking in ways that connect with today's world, and recognizing that younger generations are skeptical of religious institutions. Instead of relying on entertainment or church events, we must prioritize authentic relationships and engage people where they are.

Rather than being known for what we oppose, we should emphasize the hope and transformation found in Jesus. Above all, we must depend on God’s power, not just strategies or programs. The Church is still needed—but only if we are willing to meet this generation with real love, truth, and relevance.