I once heard Erwin McManus comment on the term, "relevance" in which he asked: “Why are we just trying to be relevant, playing "catch-up” with the world? What we really need to do is create something great that the world will come and follow. 

I think he makes a great point. The true meaning of relevance has been hijacked by the idea of being trendy, rather than referring to something that is appropriate for the issue at hand. We certainly don't need to be trendy and contemporary for the sake of being trendy and contemporary. Rather, we need to connect what is timeless—TRUTH—to a changing culture. And when you don't upgrade some systems, you lose your capacity to support a more relevant approach.

Consider the Biblical parable where Jesus spoke about pouring new wine into new wineskins. In Mark 2:22 he stated: “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins—and the wine is destroyed, and so are the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.” 

Three principles to keep in mind here:

1. People are going to keep drinking wine.
2. Wineskins don't last forever.
3. New wine requires new wineskins.

Some will say that certain churches are abandoning what is timeless by changing when actually the opposite is true. In fact, we can end up abandoning the truth by not changing. The KJV debate is a great example. While it was a great version for several centuries in the English world, continuing to use it miscommunicates what we hold dear and sacred. Just consider how the word “conversation” has changed in the last 400 years. Once it meant a way of life, now it means an interactive discussion with another person. I remember reading about the “sure mercies of David” one time in my KJV only to discover later that it wasn't David's mercy that was reliable but rather God's mercy extended to David that was assured! Sticking with the KJV led to wrong belief—a wrong understanding of truth.

Now I realize that this may be a very volatile issue for some of my readership. So let me refer you to a great article found at lukek.me/kjv (and please read it before you begin “throwing stones”). Furthermore, consider that the KJV debate is not an issue for the non-English speaking world. There are around 7000 languages in the world and 94% of the world's population does not speak English as their first language. In fact, 75% do not speak English at all! Translations in all other languages are based on the original texts of Hebrew and Greek, not the English KJV script, so perhaps you will need to learn Hebrew and Greek instead of relying on your current version! Practically speaking, we must change or upgrade our systems to stay relevant, otherwise, we may end up “changing the truth.”