You say you want a Revolution

I hate the Beatles and it caused me pain to write that title but it's catchy and related to the matter at hand. I hear the term "revolution" used all the time now by churches across America. Some churches even give themselves the name "Revolution Church" or just "Revolution". For example there is a church in New York City that caught my attention called "Revolution New York City" (there is also one in Atlanta and Charlotte if I'm not mistaken). The reason they caught my attention is because they have a big sign on their home page that reads "As Christians, we're sorry for being self-righteous, judgmental bastards". I thought - ok, I guess Christians have earned a bad reputation in the media and we have done things that I'm not proud of. But hating the traditional church and/or denouncing christianity does not constitute a revolution. Neither does podcasting your sermons, or being accepting of homosexuals.

So what DOES constitute a true revolution then? Well for starters, here is how Webster defines Revolution:
a: a sudden, radical, or complete change b: a fundamental change in political organization ; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed c: activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation d: a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm

Ah yes - a change of paradigm. That sums it up nicely. Taking a traditional church out of its physical building and restructuring it into a series of house churches is not a change of paradigm. Taking an existing church and opening the doors to a "rough crowd" is not a change of paradigm. They may be great ideas but they are not a revolution.

The revolution of today's church, which I feel has already begun on a small scale, has to start with the individual. When you think about all the great revolutions in history, both religious and political, they always have a small group or one individual that is full of so much passion for the cause that they will do anything for it and therefore make the revolution successful.

This is what I envision "the revolution" being:
Imagine a group of, let's say, 200 believers in your city that all get together because they want to experience authentic community and a deeper relationship with God. Now imagine if you could take that group and form a tightly knit community of niche-based churches - maybe a group of 20 are passionate about evangelism and they form a house church; another group of 15 want to focus their energy on serving the poor and they form another house church; another group are all in their early 20's and single, they form yet another house church; and so on. Now imagine if these groups could all get together as one large group every couple of weeks or so (aside from their normal house church meetings together) and share the experiences they have been through on their journey together! The relationships would run so deep. These niche based communities would allow each person's talents, passions, knowledge and ideas to be wonderfully weaved together into an organic and fully-alive church body! Now that is a change in paradigm! How exciting! This kind of stuff gets me fired up.

Strip away the non-essential

Sometimes, in order for certain things to be effective you need to strip away everything that is non-essential that surrounds the entity at hand. Take a top-notch athlete for example. In order to reach peak performance the athlete is going to cut out everything that is not relevant or does not allow the athlete to reach his/her physical potential.

In my case, I am talking about the traditional church as it stands today in American culture. There are many non-essential (but not necessarily "bad") elements surrounding the traditional church that are now starting to prevent it from being relevant in this ever changing society. Some of them include: a church building, a paid staff, a worship leader, kids programs, and outreach programs. I'm sure you can think of many others but these are a few that come to mind. When you strip away these non-essential elements, you are left with a church that very closely resembles the early church in the book of Acts.

So what are the essential elements that make up an effective church today? Well over the past year and a half I have come up with four essential elements that any church which desires to be relevant to today's culture need to pursue. The manner in how these elements are incorporated into a particular church are not important.

1. Relationships. A church should encourage strong and healthy relationships not just on Sunday mornings but it should enable and promote new friendships among the church body every day of the week. The church is not a building; it is us. We are the church. The church can only be as strong as the relationships that comprise it.
2. Encouragement. The Christian life is far from a guarantee of an easy life. In fact, it is the opposite most of the time. There will be times when we are depressed, burned out, and fatigued. The church should be a place that such a person can find unconditional encouragement in. This can be done through prayer, sympathy, or just having a good time together!
3. Affirmation. Sometimes we have crazy ideas or seemingly random events in our life that don't make sense to us (some more than others!). The church should be a place that offers insight and direction in these moments. For example, I may come to church on a particular day and tell everyone how I randomly ran in to a friend I haven't seen in years. Someone in the church body may speak up and say "well that's no coincidence dummy, remember that you've been praying you would have an opportunity to share the gospel with someone this week!" More generally speaking, affirmation could simply just be accountability between the members of the church body.
4. Service. "A church that serves together stays together". Ok that doesn't rhyme but it's still true. If you want to bring a whole new depth to your relationships with each other, find ways to serve in your community or even the world. The Apostle Paul tells us to "test our faith daily". I can't think of any better way to test our faith than to serve in ways we didn't think were possible.

"Wait a minute Dan!! Where is WORSHIP? How can you leave Worship off this list?!?!". Well, first of all, worshipping God is more than just singing songs to Him on Sunday. Secondly, I stand convinced that these four elements are, in their basic form, pure and true ways of worshipping God.

In your own life, evaluate what is essential for you to become the amazing spectacle of Christ-likeness that God intended for you and quit everything else. What other point is there in living?