Idol worship is not a new problem to the church or the people of God. The issue of idol worship is addressed in a variety of ways throughout the Bible. The Modern American church is dying, a death that varies in its speed and scope. The faith will never die, but the local church as we know it may. There are many reasons for the reality of this death. In my mind, I see idol worship as one of the causes of the pain and death of the church. The American church has many problems. Our inability to embrace and honor mystery, our overly corporate nature and approach to life and ministry, and our worship of relevance are the three most profound issues in my mind. Relevance is one of our idols. We worship relevance. We see relevance as the answer to our death when it really is more of a source. There is much Biblical validity to being relevant to the culture you are seeking to transform. We forget that second part. We speak the truth in love…but we have left out truth in our pursuit of relevance. People do not come to church for relevance. They can find that anywhere in the world they want. What people want and need is a church that is transformative. Transformation comes in relevance to people’s struggles and joys, but we must not muddle the message of the Gospel for the sake of relevance. The Gospel message is and always has and always will be relevant. Other than trying to be relevant to the hearts of our listeners so that we may open their hearts to the relevant Gospel message—there is no other relevance that we need.