After a very successful career in nursing, pharmacy, and teaching at the university level, Dr. Kaufman also attained a Master of Theology degree from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Today he serves on Dr. Floyd’s staff team at Pinnacle Hills. A prolific reader, Dr. Kaufman has authored numerous articles on topics in medicine and theology.

Many Christians have the mistaken idea that the gospel appears irrelevant to non-Christian people, and that something more must be done in order to make it relevant. Consequently, they end up stressing their similarities to the world, trying to help them feel at home, understood, and cared for. They highlight how the gospel can help them succeed, or have greater purpose, or joy, or some other desired benefit. They assume that the more we emphasize our similarity to those we are trying to reach, the more the gospel will appear relevant to them, and the more successful we will be in reaching them. 

But according to Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vid-jin), serious seekers today aren’t looking for “similarity”, “trendy” or anything like what they already have. They’re looking for something deeper.  Tullian, who happens to be the grandson of Billy and Ruth Graham, writes, “Truthfulness, not trendiness is what new generations are thirsting for. They want to know there are different people out there with their sights set on a different world.”

Tullian ardently believes that this yearning for something different gives Christians a great opportunity to make a difference.  But being different means Christ followers have to provide a meaningful alternative to what the world has to offer. It’s when they go against the cultural grain that Christians reveal a faith and life worth living and dying for. In his book, Unfashionable, Tullian explains how Christians can make a difference by being different or “out of style” with culture, and patterning ideas, beliefs, methods, and tastes in alignment with God’s ways rather than the world’s.

So, “Don’t try to improve the gospel by making it more relevant–you’ll lose the gospel,” warns Mark Dever, author of The Gospel and Personal Evangelism.  To be sure, we must understand the issues of our age and connect meaningfully with people for effective evangelism and discipleship, but we must not give in to the temptation to compromise or dilute the gospel message.  It is the pure, undiluted gospel of Jesus Christ that people want, and while it may be an “unfashionable” message, it is always and forever relevant!