How do we make Christianity relevant?

One of my good friends shared an interesting article from the Wall Street Journal with me earlier in the week on "Hipster Christianity." The author, a young evangelical named Brett McCracken acknowledges the growing concern amongst Christian communities, namely, the flight of younger generations away from the church. McCracken doesn't explore the reason behind the mass exodus, rather he critiques attempts by churches to make Christianity relevant to younger generations by making it cool, hip, trendy, shocking, etc. It is really not hard to think of churches, congregations, worship leaders, and writers who 'revamped' their image to reach their audience. Today, everyone's in the business of marketing. So, why not the church? Several questions popped into my mind as I read this article: Is this wrong? Is the "image overhaul" even necessary? Better yet, how do we make Christianity relevant?

There is no reason to make something relevant if it was never irrelevant in the first place. Last I checked, creation had fallen, man was sinful, and Christ had yet to return. Therefore, the Gospel is still relevant. I think the real problem is the fear, laziness, and unbelief amongst Christians. We, myself included, believe the Gospel is powerless and that somehow Jesus is not enough. Why else would we present another image to non-believers? Why else would we revamp our churches or feel the need to make Christianity cool? I think we are ashamed of the Gospel and I think we have convinced ourselves that that preaching the Gospel and calling upon the Lord to intercede is not enough to save sinners. Christians need to reach the broken, the sex addicts, the hipsters, the failures, and the youngsters, but we don't need to be hip, shocking, or trendy to do so. We just need to be bold enough to preach the Gospel there - and believe in its power and the power of our Father to change even the hardest hearts.

I love the way that McCracken concludes:

If the evangelical Christian leadership thinks that "cool Christianity" is a sustainable path forward, they are severely mistaken. As a twentysomething, I can say with confidence that when it comes to church, we don't want cool as much as we want real.

If we are interested in Christianity in any sort of serious way, it is not because it's easy or trendy or popular. It's because Jesus himself is appealing, and what he says rings true. It's because the world we inhabit is utterly phony, ephemeral, narcissistic, image-obsessed and sex-drenched—and we want an alternative. It's not because we want more of the same.

Thoughts?