"Set Apart" v "Culturally Relevant"

[msh]

Today a post on facebook provided a link to this article, and commented that “The unchurched are hungry for places that are set apart.” (I am not making any comment on the person making the post, so I will not identify them.) That was followed by a comment and a reply, as follows:

Comment: Amen; the places that are set apart must be run by people who are set apart - credible witnesses.”

Reply: Yep; that's why I don't understand the saying "At our church, we do things that are relevant to culture." (In regards to music, technology, atmosphere...etc)
That's completely opposite to me.

There are a couple of presumptions made in the linked article that are worthy of discussion. Also, I note that the interchange on facebook would seem indicate that there is some belief that “set apart” and “culturally relevant” are at odds with one another. While this thread is open to all discussion relating to the article, my initial goal was to discuss the facebook interchange within its entire context.

So, is “relevant to culture” completely opposite to “set apart”?

[Nate]

is “relevant to culture” completely opposite to “set apart”?

Nope. I think one of the poster's got it wrong. The set apart piece refers to our moral character, not how we express or share or even live out those morals.

[Jodi]

I believe, in a church setting, cultural relevance IS setting apart from the rest.

unchurched prefer cathedrals to contemporary church designs

I don't believe this. I don't know who they polled to come up with this info, but I don't know any "unchurched" people who feel that way, and I myself in no way feel that way. The last thing I want if/when I go to a church is to sit in a pew and get screamed at by an old guy saying things I can't understand. If I'm going to discuss something as important as my soul with someone, if I'm going to accept their credibility and listen to them and get advice from them, I want to feel like I'm on their level (culturally). And my level isn't a pew and a hardback copy of the King James, it's a comfy chair and a laptop.